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Brass vs. Aluminum Bridge – Which Is

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I’m going to say right up front that when it comes to Electronics

comparing one type of metal to another concerning Pickups
whether your bass guitar bridge is made out of brass Preamps
or aluminum, one is not better than the other – but –
Hardware
it does matter concerning what type of sustain and
tone you’re going for. Funny

Advantages and disadvantages of

ALUMINUM bridges

An advantage of having an aluminum bridge is that

you will be heard better in a mix, and this is due to an aluminum bridge having a more “punchy”
sound. “Punch” is de ned as having more initial amplitude at the beginning of the note, which
in other words means a note is louder at the initial moment the sound is produced.

In addition, aluminum bridges are very light in weight, so if you were looking to lighten up your
bass guitar, using an aluminum bridge is an easy way to do that.

The disadvantage to aluminum is that notes decay faster, commonly described as “having less
sustain”.

Advantages and disadvantages of BRASS bridges

You’ve probably heard many times from many people that brass bridges have great sustain. Do
they? Yes, they do. You can get nice long note decays when using a brass bridge, however there
are a few tradeo s to this.

Brass is a dense and heavy metal as it is made of copper and zinc (and possibly a small amount
of tin depending on brass type). As such, most of the string vibration stays within the bridge
and is not transferred out to the body because of its high mass content. The advantage is that
you’ll get great sustain
Wantforto
your
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Out ifbut
Thisthe disadvantage
Will is that
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much punch in a mix.

Practical application

You’ve been told over and over again that it’s all about SUSTAIN! SUSTAIN! SUSTAIN! with bass
guitar. And yeah, brass bridges do promote sustain. Big time. But ask yourself this: Do you really
need a note to sustain for 13 full seconds? Probably not.

If the goal is to be heard above all else, aluminum is the better choice. If on the other hand the
goal is to have long sustaining notes, brass is better.

Another factor to take into consideration is the tonewood your bass guitar body uses. Generally
speaking, it’s true that lighter woods such as alder, swamp ash, basswood and poplar are
already “punchy” concerning the tone they produce and might be better suited for a brass
bridge. Denser woods such as walnut, bubinga (commonly referred to as African rosewood),
bocote (commonly referred to as Mexican rosewood) and maple could be better suited for
aluminum bridges because the bridge can add in the desired punch.

It’s also important to note that there neither bridge metal type will be a cure-all for giving you
both monster punch and monster sustain. Your choice of bridge metal type is determined by
whether you prefer more punch in a mix or more sustain for longer note decays.

Check out some of our brass and aluminum bass bridges here for options and styles to choose
from.

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19 thoughts on “Brass vs. Aluminum Bridge – Which Is Better?”

eloann
November 16, 2012 at 7:17 pm

Steel is the best anyway

(just kidding)

Reply

sublow
November 16, 2012 at 7:34 pm

i found more to like brass bridges, the old dimarzio’s for example… punch can be given
by the ngers and enlighted by electronics =)

Reply

Doug Parent
November 16, 2012 at 7:41 pm

I nd brass enjoys a little more acceptance perhaps because it’s more traditional, but
aluminum has the clear edge when it comes to making the note “pop” more. Brass is
more even and I nd the lows seem a little more focused. Depends on your wood
choices more than anything else.

Reply

Ian Perge
November 16, 2012 at 7:56 pm

As someone whose Main Basses are primarily made up of both light as well as dense
woods (Alder backs & Zebrawood tops, others are Alder/Maple & Swamp Ash/Maple)
I’ve found that Aluminum Bridges “help” in giving me the punch and high-end I’m
looking for when coming up with “My Sound” both unplugged & ampli ed (I’m a
“Chimey Piano Note” steel string type o’ guy anyway). And as they’re of bolt-on
construction, *all* the woods used as well as electronics (Nordstrand Big Singles &
Aguilar OBP-3), all are factors that contribute to a fast attack and punchy note vs. the
slower but more sustained note from your “typical” Neck-Through Basses (which I used
100% for 5 years, so I feel I have a good sense of the general di erences between the
two). And given that I’m usually playing with 1 if not 2 loud, distorted guitars, I’ll take the
trade-o in sustain for attach and punch any day of the week… and twice in sessions.
😉

Reply

Jack Geisenheimer
November 16, 2012 at 8:55 pm

I have a third alternative. I have a KTS Titanium bridge on my bass that produces what I
can only describe as a very transparent tone. Cuts through the mix and is great if your
going for a bright, round wound tone.

Reply

J. Seismic
November 16, 2012 at 9:16 pm

My bass has the best of both worlds. A Tone Pros Bridge with brass saddles!

Reply

james
November 16, 2012 at 11:15 pm

How about Titainium?..Im working on this concept with my brother who is in the Ti
business…Illlet you know.

Reply

David
November 17, 2012 at 1:41 am

I changed the zinc and brass bridges on my basses for aluminum Hipshot type A
bridges. It really opened up the tone. Before they were darker and kind of congested
sounding in the midrange. Now they have a tone that is more acoustic sounding. But
brass is good for overly bright basses. or if you like more fundamental than harmonics.

Reply

Iceboxbass
November 17, 2012 at 2:32 pm

I believe your custom hand-built bass guitar shops have this gured out to where you
can have the dense tight woods and brass bridge, but they have their preamps specially
designed to get that punch & grit dialed in or the warm smooth crystal piano type tones
if you want it. Basses can be versatile in our modern day. Certain “Boutique” builders
had this gured it out back in 1978.

Reply

DaveAceofBass
December 1, 2012 at 7:56 am

When I ordered my last few custom basses I went with brass Hipshot bridges. Brass
bridges are used by Ken Smith, Alembic, Sadowsky, and many others. Shortly after
receiving my custom Kinal with brass Hipshot B-Style bridge, I was considering
switching it out to an aluminum bridge. When I consulted with the builder, Mike said
he’d recommend keeping the brass bridge for the fretted bass, and that he only uses
aluminum for fretless. He claimed that aluminum would make my bass brighter
sounding, and lose low end and sustain. He said to think why so many people switch to
Badass bridges on their Fenders or whatnot. So, I’ll probably stick to his advice, as a
swamp ash body and ebony ngerboard are bright enough already. On the other hand,
I have a custom made Linc Luthier bass. On it I went with RMC piezo saddles (which are
aluminum) in the custom Hipshot A-Style plate, made of brass. I’ve often thought that
my semi-hollow bass could bene t from more resonance which would be added by
lightening the bridge plate. Unfortunately the way the bass is made, it would require
major electronic surgery to change the bridge plate via unsoldering the piezos. There
just isn’t a quick x, but it’s obvious that the brass plate is sucking up some of the
vibrations on that particular bass.

Reply

Marcio Costa
January 7, 2013 at 10:43 am

One big thing that is always overlooked: Construction. Let’s suppose you could grade
your tone from 1 to 10, in sustain, punch, clarity, richness, etc and then average the
grades to an overall value. I’d say that the strings play the major role: A fresh set
sounds bright and live in almost ANY instrument, and an old, dull set of poor strings
can literally ruin the tone. For the sake of comparison, “string variations” can swing the
“grade” of your tone from -let’s say- 2 to 10. Big variation. Pickups also account for big
tonal di erences. Neck joint quality, pickup attachment and overall structure also a ect
tone, maybe up to 2 point variation. Regardless of the metal, a well designed bridge
may give you a +0,5 point or so. We are talking details already. Changing the base metal
of the bridge, from steel to aluminum for instance, may change your tone in 0.001 point
steps… too small variation to consider. Do you seek better tone? Go for a good setup,
rm neck joint, thin nish, good pickup adjustment, and a superbly well designed and
built bridge, with no rattles nor gaps, with a good seating in the body, and good
anchoring for the strings. A bridge that won’t waste your hard-earned tone in muddy
saddles, or wobbly screws. It doesn’t make sense to worry about the brass alloy type
without considering rst things rst.

Reply

Anonymous
June 10, 2014 at 1:09 pm

Fretless Fender P Bass — aluminum bridge, brass nut. Flatwound strings, maple neck.
Just bright enough, yet mellow enough.

I LUUUURVE MY BABY

But seriously, I love everyone’s feedback.

Reply

Anonymous
June 10, 2014 at 7:24 pm

Aluminum sounds most like bent tin, which is a good sound. Hipshot B allows rapid
string changes (slotted).

Reply

Anonymous
June 11, 2014 at 2:39 pm

I’ve got a brass bridge on a solid walnut body. I play Motown nger style so I don’t
particularly worry about “punch.” What I do have is sustain for days . . .

Reply

Anonymous
June 12, 2014 at 3:41 am

You say that with a brass (versus less dense aluminum) bridge “most of the string
vibration stays within the bridge and is not transferred out to the body because of its
high mass content” but that’s not really the case. The pickups sense the movement of
the string. Energy, i.e. string vibration, transferred to the bridge, body or neck decr
eases sustain and can a ect the tone as some frequencies are attenuated more than
oth
ers.

A brass bridge sustains longer than aluminum because it has more mass, therefore
more inertia, so it tends to remain at rest and less string vibration energy is transferred
(lost) to it. The string keeps more energy and vibrates for a longer time, as it slowly
loses energy to friction with the air, etc.

This is also why headstock weights cure dead spots in the neck. If the neck resonates
at the frequency of a certain note, that note’s volume will be diminished as the stri
ng loses energy to make the neck vibrate. The headstock weight adds inertia (very
e ectively I might add, since it’s at the far end of a lever) that reduces the neck’s te
ndency to vibrate with (i.e. suck energy from) the note.

It’s true that wood can’t a ect the magnetic eld of a pickup. It may be that tonewoods
lend their character to the sound by selectively absorbing (subtracting) a speci c
“pro le of frequencies” from the string vibration and what they leave behind sounds
nice. Most likely there are woods that sound bad, maybe we just don’t use them.

or so I’ve heard, ymmv, …

Reply

Anonymous
June 16, 2014 at 11:33 am

It’s not just about the material. It’s really more about the engineering. Since 1951 most
of the bass bridges have transferred vibration from the saddle to the bridge plate the
same way: through a couple of small allen screws. Bass bridge “innovators” surmised
that weight would compensate for this. Those ideas were OK for their time but the
boat-anchor bridge is a cave drawing.

Reply

ET
April 13, 2017 at 11:12 am

As to the screws, It might be interesting to note that in double bass bridges, lighter
aluminum height adjusters are more e cient at transferring the string energy to the
top plate than the more massive wood that it replaces. Would that imply that the
smaller, lighter allen screws would act similarly going from saddle to plate?

Reply

Albo
May 3, 2017 at 4:41 pm

I use an aluminum bridge for my ricky which is my go all over the place full punch prog
rock bass and keep the brass for my fender j-bass which is strung with la bellas and ts
more of the soul and jazz stu … both bridges do amazingly well when you use them
right.

Reply

Keith
June 28, 2018 at 12:49 am

I had aluminum bridges for a while but the sound seemed “open” instead of focused. I
felt I lost the full body of the notes. I went to brass which seems tighter and fuller
sounding. I replaced the brass with Fender-style solid bent steel Kluson bridges and
gained a lot of crunch and a ballsy tone.

Reply

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