Comments

• scot Virtuoso

  December 2013 Posts: 698

  My thinking was that when you disturb the bridge, the disturbance is immediately felt across the entire mass of the bridge and is transferred to the top of the guitar. I felt like less mass would transfer more of this disturbance to the top, and maybe more instantly. I tried changing back to the original Favino bridge this morning and I still think the new bridge aired out the sound quite a bit. But just for the heck of it, I'm going to the wood supplier tomorrow and get some lightweight wood. I am going to try some other ideas and remove a lot more wood on this one.
  
  My useless postal scale only weighs in 5g increments so I'll have to take the bridges to work to accurately weigh them.
  
  I made a bridge earlier where I removed nearly all the wood below the saddle area, leaving only a center foot. That bridge had a bone saddle and was installed on a Saga, so I can't say if it was a success or not. The Saga did not sound that great to begin with. I have a photograph or two of this bridge around here somewhere and if I am making bridges this weekend I might make another one like it.
  
  Al - what's the thinking/theory concerning the length of the string past the bridge? Did things like the Epiphone Frequensator tailpiece actually do anything? I have thought about making a variable length tailpiece just to find out...
  
  And can anyone tell me why my photographs won't upload? I've never had this problem before.
• Al Watsky New JerseyVirtuoso

  December 2013 Posts: 440

  Folks were lightening classical guitar saddles in this way , some still do I suppose. If it sounds good its good.
• bluetrain Finland✭✭✭ Cach, Epiphone Triumph, Gibson ES-300

  December 2013 Posts: 156

  That would work. How's it sound on that guitar ?

  
  It surprised me how bright the sound was on the high e-string but I don't know was it because of this bridge.
  
  I have done some bridge tweaking myself and I noticed that when I sanded the edge where the strings lay very thin I could get a little bit more treble and air. Do you guys have similar experiences? I'm talking about comparing the sound when the edge is 2-3mm wide compared to 0.5mm wide.

  www.tomikettunen.com
  
• Al Watsky New JerseyVirtuoso

  December 2013 edited December 2013 Posts: 440

  something went wrong here !
  sorry
• Al Watsky New JerseyVirtuoso

  December 2013 edited December 2013 Posts: 440

  Yikes !
• Al Watsky New JerseyVirtuoso

  December 2013 edited December 2013 Posts: 440

  :whistle: woah ! Ooopss
• Jazzaferri Victoria B.C.Moderator Dunn Ultrafox, DuPont MDC20 Gretsch Chet Atkins CG

  December 2013 Posts: 3,707

  Siminoff in his Luthiers Handbook writes that from all his trsting bridges should be as light as possible without losing structural integrity.
  
  Benedetto I think comments on the string not being set too deeply into the bridge ...less than half in if i recall correctly

  The Magic really starts to happen when you can play it with your eyes closed
• Al Watsky New JerseyVirtuoso

  December 2013 Posts: 440

  Sometimes when theres a wide take off point on a bridge if you thin it like that you eliminate the possibility of the lip of the bridge damping highs , especially on the E and B. So yeah.
  
• Al Watsky New JerseyVirtuoso

  December 2013 Posts: 440

  The weight of the bridge is a design element. Its what ever the builder wants it to be. On a classical guitar its a fixed bridge. All of these different variations have a different (slightly) sound. Pick the one you like and stick with it. Or not. I know builders whose guitars I've worked on through the years that have had several different bridge designs. Some folks like to experiment. None of them sounded that different than the others, with the exception of the Gilbert pin bridge, which was just bad. IMO
  If a builder gets too innovative ? Usually not my cup of tea.
  I'm an Esteso kinda guy. Old school.
• noodlenot ✭✭✭

  December 2013 Posts: 388

  scot wrote: »

  The hollows in the feet were cut with a Dremel tool.

  
  well, i tried it yesterday but in my case the dremel thing was more of a disaster - which is often the case when i pick the little bastard up. seemed underpowered to me, but i don´t have much experience with these sort of tools.
  which wood did you use, if i may ask? i´m using a particularly waxy and dense (920 g/dm3) brazilian rosewood - the dremel just didn´t cut into it. got any tips you might share?
  
  thanks,
  Miguel.