Adjustable bridge that works-finaly

Buco · June 2017

Adjustable bridge that can be used on a GJ guitar without the loss of volume.
Sounds like a misnomer. But it can be done.
As Jeremy and Paul did.
Paul is the maker of Gruen guitars, funky looking but extremely well conceived instruments.

Jeremy is a woodworker extraordinaire and a friend of Paul.
Paul had since stopped building but Jeremy sort of took over the torch to build them in his spare time.

They designed and made an adjustable bridge that can be used on a Selmer type instrument that is not detrimental to the volume output of the guitar.
Jeremy made me one recently and I had it fitted to my guitar with a help from Craig Bumgarner.
Thank you Craig.

This always bothered me, not to be able to easily adjust the action on my guitar. Even though it was fairly stable. I didn't have to use shims with the seasons change but occasionally the action would drop a little and the guitar would become zingy sounding. Probably just a fraction of mm change. But the sound would just bug me.

The bridge I had on the guitar was made by Dan Hunt. I was well made, hollowed from underneath better than any other bridge I've seen. The wood by itself rings beautifully, when you hold it lightly and tap it it rings like a marimba key.

What came as a surprise was how much the sound of the guitar changed with the new adjustable bridge.
I tried different bridges in the past and it always brought a change and it was fun. But not as much as this time. This time it completely changed the character of sound.
With the old bridge the guitar was pretty mellow sounding, sort of Selmerish.
With the new adjustable bridge it got big increase in mids, Favinoish in sound and a big time.
This change in sound only happens when you turn the thumbwheels a little so the two pieces of wood separate. When the action is at it's lowest and the bottom and top piece sit together then it sounds like all wooden bridge.
I took it to the local jam the other night. It sounded like the single notes would cut through. But I asked the guy sitting next to me if he heard anything different about my guitar. And he said "yeah it's much louder. What did you do to it?"

I will still occasionally use the old bridge because I like the sound with it. But for majority of time I will leave the new on on the guitar.

As you see, by the looks of it it looks more or less like any other archtop bridge.

So what's the secret sauce?
Well besides just being extremely well crafted and using good quality woods, the thumbwheels and post are light and strong metal. Weighs next to nothing so it's not adding to the overall weight of the bridge.
The old bridge measures 12 grams, and sometimes the scale tips to 13.
The adjustable bridge is 14 grams. And it has space to go less.
So there you have it. I'm happy. Thank you Paul and Jeremy!

Scoredog · June 2017

that's pretty cool

McQ · June 2017

That's so cool. Smartly done, especially that the two pieces contact at the lowest height. So there's no rattling or vibration of the thumb wheels at that position? I take it there's no tension on the wheels when it's set to wood-to-wood? That's impressive.

Buco · June 2017

No rattle or any unwanted noise so far.

Bones · June 2017

Yup that's a pretty standard design on archtops.

pickitjohn · June 2017

Very Cool I Like how the Underside is Hollowed out like the GJ Bridges

pdg · June 2017

Glad the bridge is working out! Jeremy and I think it's a real alternative to the standard bridges -- specifically for GJ guitars. We continue to build guitars....
Paul Gruen

Buco · June 2017

I'm not going back, I know that. Occasionally I might switch back to the old bridge because the sound was very pleasing. But this bridge put the guitar on steroids. And most importantly no more zingy notes.

I was worried about stripping the threads if I adjust the height with strings tuned up but Jeremy said no worries, the material is that hard. Yet light as a feather.

Buco · June 2017

McQ wrote: »

That's so cool. Smartly done, especially that the two pieces contact at the lowest height. So there's no rattling or vibration of the thumb wheels at that position? I take it there's no tension on the wheels when it's set to wood-to-wood? That's impressive.

Oh but I never keep it at the lowest height. The benefits of better projection only kick in when raised at least a mm or even a fraction. I'm guessing that then most of the energy transfer goes through the metal and it creates the change in sound. Otherwise, at the lowest height it's pretty much like any other wood bridge.