the lowest string was almost not over the fretboard ! the alignment problem was really obvious and the bass was not really playeable
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one of those “barely playable at best” instruments from the 80’s/90’s grungy era. still have some work, but it will be OK 
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according to Nemo (the orange cat), the alignment is pretty fine now, he says it’s time to rest.
the wood sticks you see in the pickup cavity are for filling the pickup screw holes : as I moved the bridge, the pickup won’t be aligned either with the strings, so I’ll have to move it a few millimeters near the higher-pitched string. same thing for the pickguard (the holes for the pickguard screws have already been filled).
as I were moving the bridge laterally, I also moved it a bit backwards to allow a nice and comfortable setting range for the big strings and the BEAD/AEAD tunning. still fully compatible with standard strings and tunning if needed.
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flammable too
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How far back?? Did it make a difference in the location of the strings in reference to the end of the fretboard? (Strings closer/farther to/from the edge of fretboard). Are you using the standard bridge with standard string spacing?
Just asking because I’m considering building from scratch (no kit) a new Fender style bass sometime in the near future.
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@terb Looks like it’s coming along great. I like seeing the progress pictures.
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5 millimeters. I still have enough travel for the standard setting with the saddle screws, but it extends the setting range for bigger strings. not sure it’s very important as the travel of the saddles are usually large enough !
good question ! I did not measure that. if there is a difference (and it must be), it is almost nothing ! at least not really noticeable
this is the stock bridge but it’s not exactly like a Fender bridge. for some reason the string spacing is a little bit larger on this Jim Harley bridge than on a Fender bridge. it’s not a problem for me, especially as this bass will end with big strings. but, still not a standard bridge compared to the Fender ones.
if you need some measurements on Fender bridges, don’t hesitate to ask, you know I have the Fender vintage bridge (stock on Greenie which is a '04 MIA Fender Precision) and the Fender Hi-Mass Brass bridge.
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I have this weird thing going on my Yamaha right now where the E string saddle (only) needs to be all the way forward to intonate correctly. No idea why, maybe the string is stretched or something?
The other strings are all in the normal range.
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yeah that’s strange, I’ve never had this issue
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I had something like this going on, but with the D string, for some oddball reason. D saddle all the way forward, and it wouldn’t intonate, and I couldn’t troubleshoot it. And then it cleared itself up on it’s own somehow, when I tried a month later… Weird. Maybe the tuner was just whack at that frequency? Or the string was stretched “wrong” in some way?
I remember doing my project bass, and yeah, that bridge does have to be at a point where the saddles can travel, and where all the strings need to be around some midpoint in the travel range, so that the saddle doesn’t go to some extreme, and still not be enough.
I think though, I was obsessed with perfect intonation for awhile, now, maybe not so obsessive, as so much time can be spent on this!!
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trying to align everything, with the precious help of my other cat :
I kinda like this raw paint look. I almost could leave it like this.
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Fender charge a fortune for the relic/roadworn look.
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That’s a cool looking bass. 
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yeah but I already bought the candy apple red paint can, so it will end up as a candy apple red Precision 
still a lot of wood work to do. this thing is really wrecked.
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also I don’t do a picture for everything because there’s soooo much work to do on this bass. for example today I modified the pickguard shape near the neck. of course the pickguard was absolutly not shaped like the neck pocket. as the bass body is currently black with a black pickguard, it was relatively hard to see. with the new body color it would have been really ugly. so I corrected the pickguard shape, it should be OK. this bass might even be relatively pretty at the end
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I have often thought about this, and wondered what role the string manufacturer has in it. Have the strings been changed?
Strings do stretch over time, I am just surprised that would affect intonation, which is basically geometry.
I was wondering if maybe the string wasn’t uniform in thickness, maybe a weaker portion or imperfection. Just wondering maybe…