Stingray plus Kahler

I want to put a Kahler 7410 on this bass.
About how much should I expect to pay USD for installation?

I know the chrome one would go best with this color and look.

But I want a bold look, would the Black nickel look wild on this or just dumb?

Welcome, glad to see you made it here.
I think black would look cool but I would also get black tuners to match. By the way no idea is ever "dumb" here. Its a free thinker's zone.

The last one I had installed cost me $200 for the routing mounting & setup.

I'll stick with chrome, it's just me..

Ide battalion take my dial calipers into a store where they had this bass to be sure ... but I don't think ittl fit on this bass.

Sorry for the bad news but welcome and these are the reasons you come to BTF.

Ill let you know.

madmike wrote:

Ide battalion take my dial calipers into a store where they had this bass to be sure ... but I don't think ittl fit on this bass.

Sorry for the bad news but welcome and these are the reasons you come to BTF.

Ill let you know.

You don't think it will fit? aww man, Thanks for the info

Im not sure. You got to measure it. All measurements are from the intonation line (where the strings run over the saddles on the bridge). The kahler saddles need to be in the same spot as the current saddles. There is a drawing with exact measurements in the thread below.

Yeah that diagram helps. It should just fit. It's gonna be right on the edge of the pickguard, but that shouldn't be a problem.

actually, i was more concerned with it hanging off the back of the bass. pickguards can be cut (i have).

measure again. you'll need 2.2" from the current intonation line to the back of the body to have enuff for a proper rout and mount.




and continually discussed here ..........

having to take into consideration the string height and action. kahlers with their roller saddle manifolds sit pretty high and need to be at a more pitched angle (profile diagram #2) so the strings dont "bottom out" on them. my solution for this has always been to rout a recess in the body for the whole assembly to sit in lower so i can lower the action as close to the frets as i need. some basses playing plane is higher and it works out fine with it mounted right to the surface ... some not.

hey Mike, Mark White didn't have any problems that we know of when he did it to his....

.

Whaddayamean no problems? Look at the color of those things! That looks like a major problem to me. Yuk!

I was looking at that mm bridge. It does have a lot of space behind the saddles.

Hope it fits. Do chrome. It's a Fender creation. Gotta have as much chrome as possible.

I have found someone who can do this at a good price and was highly recommended by
nearby music stores.
But i'm still really having a hard time to pick a color.
Chrome is the obvious safe gonna look good choice.

I've gotta see if I can photoshop a black nickel bridge to get a good idea of the look.

If you like black go with black its your bass & its only a matter of taste. Its your bass you like black then do black. It will look cool, but again you need to change the tuners to black as well.

black goes good with anything

I tried gold on my white unit --yuk, and chrome would be just as yucky although yours is natural not white, ya make it black

personally, I'm fond of gold hardware on nat finish basses

Every bass I rebuild and restore I replace everything with black hardware. I just think it looks best in most situations.

Ide never use brass.

Hellogoodbye, make sure you have a conversation with this recommended tech dood about what we talked about here as far as intonation and action / string height, before he takes any router to your bass. Make sure he can explain these things to you.

Just be cautious ... I've seen many hack jobs out there.

madmike wrote:

Every bass I rebuild and restore I replace everything with black hardware. I just think it looks best in most situations.

Ide never use brass.

Hellogoodbye, make sure you have a conversation with this recommended tech dood about what we talked about here as far as intonation and action / string height, before he takes any router to your bass. Make sure he can explain these things to you.

Just be cautious ... I've seen many hack jobs out there.

I don't know though, brass has a pretty sick tone.

madmike wrote:

Every bass I rebuild and restore I replace everything with black hardware. I just think it looks best in most situations.

Ide never use brass.

Hellogoodbye, make sure you have a conversation with this recommended tech dood about what we talked about here as far as intonation and action / string height, before he takes any router to your bass. Make sure he can explain these things to you.

Just be cautious ... I've seen many hack jobs out there.

Most defintely, my action is about as low as possible at the moment and I want to still be able to get it that low again
with a kahler installed. I've seen a lot on here where you have route the hole and then likely recess it even lower around the bridge to
get a low action.

bootsox wrote:

personally, I'm fond of gold hardware on nat finish basses

yeah i've thought of gold too it does look good on nat finsh.
I just don't think that's the look i'm wanting on this particular bass.

Right now i'm leaning toward chrome bridge, and replacing the arm with a longer black one.

i had my kahler flat mounted and low action is part of the way I play so it is perfect "as-is". many basses you DO have to countersink it.

but gold on white to me was ugly:

so i traded someone a black one for it:


much more "normal looking" Naturally in my avatar thats my old black bass and ya gold was PERFECT for that unit

remember ... its not about how low you can put the roller saddles ... because you can lower them pretty far down ... its about how far you can lower them before the string buzzes on the manifold (assembly, housing, whatever you want to call it) in front of it. (why i did the diagram with a profile view and measurements)

ive seen cats mount them flat and put the saddles all the way down (to get the action they want) and dont understand why the bass sounds like poo.

ive also seen cats try to shim the neck up to the higher playing plane that the kahler will allow when flat mounted.

shimming necks = poopie kaka doo doo poopie poo ... IMHO. no sir, i dont like it. kahler wasnt installed correctly so you alter something else? now you have two alterations going on. why not put one of those big ole honda hooptie aulminum wing on your bass? (ittl go faster!)



yes mike ... some basses it works. i look at it like its just another one of those measurements (and just another install ... since i learned how to do the countersink). i can hope i dont have more work ... but usually i do.

off to the basement to paint the ironbird ................

I like to shim my neck, I make these little things that give the neck joint a smooth contour and also raise the neck, they're the ****.

I don't usually shim it for the action though, more often I shim for the neck angle.

Ok.

Remember ... im not telling anyone what to do or not do to their bass. I giving suggestions on how to have a successful kahler install.

i once put 2 washers in my pocket to get the action ridiculously low on my junk bass with the crappy neck it came with just to see what it would change, plenty of gap on the pocket and it killed any chance of the neck being firmly on the body.

oh, but once it was back together i didnt notice anything except a lovely playing crazy low string height with minimal buzzing, but all the sustain was gone.

I was shocked cause I didnt know a firm neck grip tight in the pocket meant anything.
learned not to do that anymore

i forget where i posted the list of all the stuff ive found in there from all the used basses i've bought in my lifetime.

funny.

the worst was the ironbird had jigsaw blades in there like 3/16" thick. that was a complete neck rebuild so i could get it to play.

and oh ... ironbird ... shooting color. i took a pic or two ... will post.