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What’s the story behind the KSM Foundation Bass Bridge? How was it invented? Why was it invented? I’d like to tell you everything that our founder thought about while going through this process!
Kevin Moore has always been involved with repairing and building guitars. Back when he was doing a lot more repair work, he kept having to deal with low-quality bridges on instruments. The problem was especially prevalent on basses. See, guitar bridges have gone through all sorts of innovation since they started being commercially successful in the 1950s, but basses haven’t had the same luck.
For decades now, brands have been putting the same bridge systems on their bass guitars, with little to no real changes. Kevin had some serious problems with these bridge systems. For starters, a lot of them would rattle and buzz like crazy. The pieces weren’t stable enough for the amount of motion that a bass string produces when you pluck it. He also noticed that, since many saddles are designed with two, small contact points to the body, there’s very little sound transference from the string to the wood. As a luthier, Kevin knows how important wood choice is to the tone of an instrument, it’s called ‘tonewood’ after all. With these two issues fresh in his mind, Kevin set out to invent the perfect bass bridge.
The number one priority was always the number one priority. Early on, he explored the insides of different pianos where he noticed that all the string contact points were very solid: he wanted to try and match that idea. Of course, since basses need to have adjustment points for intonation and string height, he couldn’t just make a solid block to act as the bridge, even though that would be the best option for the transfer of vibration. Instead, in order to get as close as possible, Kevin came up with the ramp system: a way to allow for the most possible contact between string and body while still allowing for those key adjustments. But now, these ramps needed to be held in place. Simple screws weren’t enough as they could potentially thread themselves in or out during play. Instead, a locking system was designed to make sure that there was no possible unwanted motion of the ramps.
Now that the design had been mostly completed, the final question was in regards to material. What material would make for the perfect balance of tone transfer, sustain, sturdiness, and weight. It was well-known that heavier materials led to better sustain and would of course be more sturdy. Fender even made a guitar out of granite, which had some amazing sustain! However, granite can be difficult to work with and has the potential of cracking or chipping. Instead, Kevin did lots of research into the sound-transfer properties of various materials, and discovered that there was one thing that consistently came out on top: Aluminum. It turns out that sound travels really fast through aluminum, and faster transfer means that the sound waves aren’t as deadened when they reach the wood. Aluminum actually turned out to be the perfect material thanks to another factor as well: its weight. If the bridge is too heavy, it will deaden the vibration of the wood and stop the wood’s unique sound from getting back to the strings. Fortunately, aluminum is quite a bit lighter than other materials that could potentially be used.
Of course, this was all theory until it could be actually put to the test. Some of the first bridge prototypes found themselves in Kevin’s custom-built instruments, and they were everything he imagined they were. The tone was amazing, the sustain was perfect, and they didn’t add a ton of weight to the bottom of the instrument. He had done it! The perfect bass bridge: tone, sustain, weight, adjustments, contact, it all came together to create the KSM Foundation!
It all stemmed from Kevin noticing some serious problems with how bridges used to be made, but now, you can get your hands on the Best Damn Bass Bridge to solve all of these issues and more!