Why Is the Foundation™ Bass Bridge Better Than Other Bridges On The Market?

I have been getting a lot of questions from people asking why the Foundation™ bass bridge by KSM Guitars is better than other bridges that are out there on the market. So, I decided that I would put this information into a document that people could read, and then take it and conduct their own research to validate these claims. Well, here it is.

The Foundation™ bass bridge is designed to function as one solid unit. It achieves this by using two patented designs that, in essence, tie the separate parts of the bridge together to create what is by function one solid unit while remaining fully adjustable. The “Clamp Plate” and the “Pinch Plate” are one way that the Foundation™ bass bridge is able to accomplish this unification of parts.

The Clamp Plate locks down intonation adjustments by preventing the intonation screws from turning, keeps the ramps locked into place, and keeps the intonation screws from vibrating loose. Also, the locking system, when working in tandem with the ramp system of the Foundation™ bass bridge, allows the Foundation™ bass bridge to eliminate the use of springs on the intonation screws which can cause unwanted artifacts in the sound of a bass guitar through unwanted vibrations.  The Foundation™ bass bridge further eliminates movement of the ramps by using the patented Pinch Plate. The Pinch Plate locks the ramps into place by eliminating space between the individual ramps and by nestling each of the ramps into a solid housing designed to eliminate lateral movement. The effect of these systems is a joining of all moving parts on the bridge which causes the bridge to act as though it is one solid piece. This joining occurs since the locking systems tie each moving piece together with the foundation of the bridge (i.e. Base Plate) through several points of contact. The fusion of moving parts that occurs as the result of these locking systems compliments the superior design of the Foundation™ bass bridge’s patented “Ramp” system.

KSM Guitar’s patented Ramp system eliminates air under the strings and maximizes the transfer of string-to-body vibrations. The benefit of these qualities is understood by first understanding the function of a solid body guitar. So, I will give a brief description of how a solid body guitar works.

A solid body guitar produces sound by using pickups that utilize electromagnetic fields in order to convert the vibrations of the strings into electrical energy. This energy is then transferred via an instrument cable to an amplifier which then produces the sound at a level that is usable.

The system of the solid body guitar benefits from a solid bass bridge because of the relationship between string-to-body vibrations and the vibration of the instrument’s strings. Every solid object has an inherent resonance frequency which, when sound energy equal to the resonant frequency or any other frequency within the resulting frequency spectra comes into contact with the solid object, cause the solid object to resonate and therefore create sound vibrations. The resulting sound energy can be transferred to other mediums causing other mediums to vibrate in the same way. It is this fundamental property of sound physics that the Foundation™ bass bridge exploits in order to maximize the transfer of string-to-body sound transfer.

The solid construction of the Foundation™ bass bridge allows the bridge to function as one solid unit. Since it functions as one solid unit the excitation of the bridge by sound energy and through sound energy transfer is maximized because each point of contact is working together as one unit. Therefore, the excitation that the bridge undergoes as a result of this energy transfer is transferred through the entire bridge rather than through minimal contact points similar to that of other bridges on the market. In addition, since the bridge functions as one solid unit rather than several units that are all subject to vibration at their own respective frequencies it is able to eliminate unwanted vibrations in loose parts that can cause unwanted interference with the desired frequency or frequencies that are being transferred. This heightened ability to transfer accurate sound energy from the strings into the body through the excitation of the bridge is made possible because the bridge functions as one solid unit and because the bridge is made of aircraft grade Anodized Aluminum 7075.

The use of Aluminum in the Foundation™ bass bridge increases the transfer of sound energy into the body because of its ability to transfer sound at a higher velocity than other commonly used materials in bass bridge construction (i.e. brass, zinc, stainless steel). Aluminum has a speed of sound of 6420 m/s whereas brass has a speed of sound of 4700 m/s, stainless steel has a speed of sound of 5790 m/s, and zinc has a speed of sound of 3.7×10³ m/s. See http://physics.info/sound/ and http://www.periodictable.com/Elements/013/data.html. Due to the higher velocity of sound that is inherent in Aluminum, the fact that the Foundation™ bass bridge is made from this medium allows for maximized transfer of sound energy from the bridge into the wood of the bass guitar’s wooden body since the higher velocity of sound being transferred allows the sound energy to be transferred at a lower level of loss due to the impedance of the guitars wooden design. Therefore, when combined with the solidity of the bridge, this superior ability of Aluminum to transfer sound into the body of the guitar enables the bass guitar to function more efficiently as a unified whole from which sound is more accurately and efficiently produced. The Foundation™ bass bridge therefore facilitates the solid construction of a solid-body guitar by functioning the most efficiently with its construction.

Some other benefits of the Foundation™ bass bridge’s construction that set it apart from other bridges on the market are:

• The use of Anodized 7075 Aluminum in its construction eliminates corrosion

• It eliminates the round edges at the witness area allowing the string to vibrate unimpeded

• There is no unwanted lateral movement in the strings

• The Foundation™ bass bridge retrofits the Fender Jazz and P bass with ease and is excellent as an OEM install

• It is competitively priced given its superior quality to other bridges on the market

Intonation

Intonation
by Adam Moore - Guitar Tech for KSM Gutiars

Most people do not even know what intonation is or how it effects the playability of a guitar/fretted instrument. On every fretted instrument ever made there are two spots where there are breaking points. One breaking point is at the top of the instrument with a part called the "nut" (part on the instrument where the string rests in grooves) the other breaking point is at the bottom of the instrument  with a part called the "bridge" (part on the instrument where the string rests in saddles). Usually, the bridge has an adjustable action where the strings can be raised or lowered and the intonation can can be adjusted.

The intonation is usually adjusted by turning a screw located in various places depending upon the model. The Foundation™ Bass Bridge allows for intonation adjustments by turning the intonation screws located parallel to the base of the bridge beneath the saddles. The Foundation™ Bass Bridge utilizes a patented design to lock in these adjustments once they have been made preventing any part from vibrating loose after extended use.


Intonation is an instruments true pitch, say for example that you tuned your instrument to exactly the note it is supposed to be and you move up the neck and hit another note and but the note you moved up to was a little flat or sharp this would mean that the your intonation is off. The best way to adjust your intonation is to buy a an electronic tuner and then tune the the open note to precisely the correct pitch. Once you have tuned the open note, hit its octave note on the twelfth (12th) fret and if the octave note is flat then that means the  length of the string needs to be shortened and that is done by moving the saddle toward the top of the instrument (toward the nut or tuning keys). If the octave note reads sharp, then the you would adjust the intonation in by doing the opposite and moving the saddle toward the bottom of the instrument (toward the rear of the bridge). The reason I use the twelfth (12th) fret to adjust the intonation is because it is exactly half the length of the string. This helps because I can get the full range of notes, and I know right away if the intonation is off since a pitch exactly one octave above my original pitch should be, when tuned properly, exactly twice the frequency as the original note. Also, it is important to make sure that you have a chromatic tuner because a standard guitar or bass tuner will not work since they only focus on the standard pitches fro the open notes on a guitar or bass. I recommend using a "strobe tuner" when making intonation adjustment since they are the most accurate tuners on the market however they are more expensive tuners.    

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