LeftyBassist.com

So I was adjusting the intonation on my Roscoe when suddenly I heard a loud popping sound. At first I thought I had broken a string, but I soon discovered to my horror that I had broken off the screw holding one of my bridge saddles in place. Nards!



You can see that the head of the screw just popped right off. Here's a view of the bridge where the saddle once sat:



Crudbucket! Fortunately I think I can simply replace the screw, which would go down as one of the cheapest repairs I've ever had to do. I don't know where I'm gonna find a black screw however. Here's one more shot:



I wasn't even twisting that hard, and I had detuned the string pretty far to ease the tension. I emailed Hipshot for the specs on the screw so I can find the replacement. Yarbles!

If it's a Hipshot part, it should be fairly easy to replace. Otherwise, you could try this place:

http://www.nutty.com/

I need to contact them as well soon, as I stripped a couple of intonation screws in my Steinberger, which has very similar bridge saddles to yours. The Steiny screws are impossible to find, however. They're an odd 6-40 thread count, and stripped screws are a common problem with old Steinys so nutty.com was recommended to me for replacements but they don't come in the same length as the originals so I'm going to have to cut them down. Proprietary parts on something as idiotic as a screw is a real pet peeve of mine.

if you bought the Roscoe new, I'd first contact them for a replacement (which they probably won't have in stock, but can easily get from Hipshot)

if you bought the bass used, I'd recommend contacting Hipshot (http://www.HipshotProducts.com) directly. from past experience I know they'll take good care of you. it might take a week for shipping, but you'll end up with a direct OEM replacement part that should match the appearance of the other adjustment screws


thankfully I never stripped a screw on my XL-2. I can't imagine the pain of sourcing a proprietary in a timely fashion

all the best,

R

Oh I know where you are coming from there. I can't imagine a bigger little mistake than to make proprietary parts for things that should be easily replaceable like screws.

I bought my Roscoe used, so I went directly to Hipshot for the part. In the meantime I've tested the other screws in the bridge to ensure their stability. They all work just fine, so this obviously was a freak accident.

But this brings up an interesting question, Rodent. When adjusting intonation, should the string be detuned to relieve pressure on the screw? I detuned it reasonably well but there was definitely still tension on it. I imagine that the force being applied on the head of the screw would be tremendous if you tried to tighten it while the string was at full tension. However, I've seen people adjust intonation of their strings at full tension dozens of times with no problems. Was this an isolated incident, or does this kind of thing happen often?

I always adjust the intonation with the string tuned to pitch, and then re-tune up to pitch after each adjustment (this means that you need to de-tune below pitch and then tune up to pitch when adjusting the saddle away from the nut)

I've never had an adjustment screw break before, but I can see how it could happen if the sadle was full of playing crud or repeated exposure to sweat had caused the saddle and/or screw threads to corrode

all the best,

R