Gotoh 404BO B Bass Bridge

Ich wollte auf meinem schwarzen Squier CLASSIC VIBE '70S PRECISION BASS schwarze Hardware verbauen und die Fender Hi Massiv Bridge, die für den Blechwinkel zum Einsatz kam, sollte in diesem Zuge ersetzt werden weil sie aufgrund der Grade auf ihrer Rückseite nicht gut anlag und man dadurch einen kleinen Spalt zum Body hatte.
Also nach einigen belesen hab ich mich für die Gotoh 404 BOB in schwarz entschieden. (Und schwarze Schaller Mechaniken, siehe dort die Bewertung).
Als die Brücke kam war ich etwas enttäuscht. Keine Beschreibung in der Verpackung, die Brücke fühlte sich klebrig an, was wohl nicht für eine sonderlich gute Schwarz Verchromung spricht. Das bestätigte sich, da der Lappen nach dem abwischen der Brücke leicht schwarz war.
Was soll‘s dachte ich mir, gib der Brücke eine Chance.
Also zunächst mal hinten auf der Brücke ein kleines Viereck vom schwarzen Chrom (ging sehr leicht runter??) befreit um die Brücke ordentlich erden zu können.
Von den 5 Original Löchern hat sie sehr gut gepasst. Allerdings muss man die Brücke auseinander nehmen um sie verschrauben zu können. Hier sollte man sich merken welcher Saitenreiter wohin kommt.
Brücke verschraubt erstmal nur an den 5 Löchern. Brücke wieder zusammengebaut. Saiten aufgezogen. Dann kam schnell die Ernüchterung, beim einstellen der Intonation. Diese ist so nicht möglich da die Schrauben der Reiter in der Einstellung begrenzt sind, da sie nicht durch den Reiter gehen.
Was nun? Kürzere Schrauben müssen her um den Reiter weiter nach hinten zu bekommen. Internet nach M3 Linsenkopfschrauben durchforstet. Das war schon ziemlich ernüchternd. Da man nicht das findet was man sucht. Dann kam mir die Idee die Schrauben zu kürzen. Also, Brücke wieder auseinander gebaut, ran an den Schleifbock und die Schrauben 5mm eingekürzt. Brücke wieder zusammengebaut und in dem Zuge gleich noch die anderen zwei Schrauben der Brücke in den Body gedreht (Vorbohren nicht vergessen) jetzt sitzt die Brücke Bombenfest.
Jetzt funktioniert die Intonation. Es kann natürlich, je nach Saitenart, sein das man die Feder nun noch etwas kürzen muss, sonst kommt die Schraube durch die Feder an Ihre Grenze.
Die Brücke an sich ist definitiv eine Aufwertung des Basses. Sie hat einen guten Kontakt zum Body und lässt sich, bis auf die oben beschriebene Intonation, gut einstellen. Klingen tut der Bass definitiv besser. Das Sustain ist sehr gut und der Squier P Bass bekommt ein gutes Knurren.
Das tauschen dieser Brücke ist aber definitiv nichts für handwerklich unbegabte Menschen!!
Für mich ist es unverständlich warum die Weltfirma Gotoh dieser Brücke nicht die kürzeren Schrauben, für ein paar Cent dazulegt, die es braucht um eine anständige Intonation hin zu bekommen. Hier wurde eindeutig an der falschen Stelle gespart. So verärgert man seine Kunden.

Ja, man muss definitiv die Bridge an einer Stelle setzten, an der die Oktavenreiheit gut einstellbar ist. Ich habe sie schon mal verbaut, man muss genau vermessen die Position, damit der Justierungsspielraum optimal ist. Die Verabeitung ist sehr gut und sie muss sich nicht von deutlich teureren Produkten verstecken. An der Stelle herzlichen Dank an das Thomann Team für die Ultra schnelle Lieferung. Ihr seid Spitzenklasse.! Als von Meier Seite eine klare Kaufempfehlung, wenn man es ich zutraut neu zu positionieren.

I really like the look of this bridge, I prefer the flatter chunkier style to the traditional Fender bridges that poke your hand with grub screws sticking up and saddles that can move side to side. It's got weight to it and it's well-built, feels high quality.

The five screw holes matched up with the ones from the traditional Fender stock bridge perfectly, mine are metric 17.5mm spacing, if you have a non-metric bass then this will likely not be suitable so check the technical drawings in the data sheet and measure before ordering.

The bridge has quick release slots for loading in the strings but I found that they had a tendency to flop out unless you keep tension on it when winding the string. This puts you in a slightly awkward position when putting on a string where you have to pull from the top and the bottom at the same time.

The main issue I had with this bridge was not being able to set the intonation correctly. Three out of four strings were too sharp at the 12th fret. This of course means that you must rotate the intonation machine screw clockwise, pulling the saddle back and making the string slightly longer. However the screws could not be turned any further even though the saddle still had 6 or 7mm left to go before hitting the end of the screw slot that keeps it from moving side to side.

To understand why, take a look at the saddle itself in the product photos. The screw doesn't go through the saddle like in many other bridges. This isn't necessarily an issue on its own, as long as the screw can still move the saddle backwards and forwards enough to be practical, but in this case each saddle can only move a total of 9mm! On other bridges the only limit is how long the screw is.

I think it might have been designed to sit a bit further back than a standard five hole Fender bridge on a 34" scale bass. That could also be the reason it has the two extra holes at the front. If you were thinking about picking up this bridge for a DIY bass project then I think it would be OK because you are in control of its placement but if you want to replace an existing bridge I would take a lot of measurements first.

A workaround would be to buy some shorter machine screws but it's a pain to source them. It would have been nicer if Gotoh included some spare screws of different lengths in the box. The bridge uses M3, 0.5mm thread pitch, pan head, Philips drive machine screws. The head diameter is 5.2mm and its height is 2mm. The thread length is 24mm on the E and A string saddles and 30mm on the D and G saddles.

This is a good and relatively easy conversion but you need to be prepared to put some work into it before it will intonate on the Yamaha BB434 with through hole strings - if you have a different bass then these steps may pr may not be relevant - you will need to investigate it with other users.
Good points on this is that it is straightforward to install - all 5 rear screw holes line up with the original but you will have to drill a couple of small, shallow holes to screw in the leading edge screws (and you DEFINITELY should use these screws!).
Once installed and reworked then it definitely gives more mass and as a result it definitely improves sustain.
The saddles are solid.
As a by-product it also looks good - especially as it blends in with the pup covers and gives a more expensive and professional look than the cheaper original but this is purely cosmetic.
So what are the problems and how do you fix them?

The big problem is that Intonation is impossible with the current set of adjustments available on the bridge.
This is what you need to do on a BB434....

1. You will need to see where your ground wire is underneath the bridge and remove the black paint from that area. Using the painted end of a nail I gently put some talcum powder in a circle about 1-2mm away from the ground wire, carefully placed the new bridge so that the rearmost screw holes line up and pressed the bridge. When you remove the bridge you will see dots of talc on the black paint. Remove the paint from within this area around the paint. When the bridge is fully installed and screwed down you should get a good enough ground.
2. The E string will not intonate at the 12th fret- it is too sharp. The screw is too long, the spring compresses too soon and the whole structure prevents intonation.
Remove the screw and set it aside as you will need it later.
Take the spring and cut off 3 turns!
Use a new M3x18 screw (this is much shorter than the original).
Put the saddle back together with the new screw and the modified spring.
Beware that you have to pull the saddle so far back that the through body E string fits over the saddle at an incredibly acute angle. Only time will tell if the string fails as a result.
3. The A string will not intonate - again it is too sharp. The screw is too long and my spring was a little too long to allow enough compression.
Remove the screw and set it aside as you will need it later.
Take the spring and cut off 1 turn.
Use a new M3x18 screw (this is much shorter than the original) - however you might need to use a M3x20mm screw on your guitar - I'm afraid that you will need to just try it and see.
Put the saddle back together with the new screw and the modified spring.
4. The D string might just intonate on yours but mine didn't - again it is too sharp at the tightest rearmost setting. The screw is too long however the spring compression adjustment was fine so you do not need to modify the spring
Remove the screw and replace it with the one you took off the E string saddle.
Put the saddle back together with the 'new' screw.
4. The G string might just intonate on yours but mine didn't - it is too sharp at the tightest rearmost setting. The screw is too long however the spring compression adjustment was fine so you do not need to modify the spring
Remove the screw and replace it with the one you took off the A string saddle.
Put the saddle back together with the 'new' screw.

You should now be able to get your bass in tune - certainly these are the steps I had to do with my guitar but it does work well and look good now - its just a lot of unnecessary extra work and cost as I had to buy a box of mixed length M3 black panhead drive bolts/screws as I had no idea what size I would need - it cost me an additional £9 (as of Feb 2026)
I just wish Gotoh had included a small selection of different screws and springs. - it would have saved me a lot of extra effort and cost.

Hopefully yours will all be ok now as well - good luck.