Official Luthiers Forum!

I rarely have so many bridges on the bench, I thought it was a good opportunity to compare them since the subject of bridge material and weight comes up regularly. They all have the same dimensions, and all except the Honduran RW one are finish sanded and buffed. I expect a bigger footprint would would proportionally enhance the weight differences.

_________________
Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Laurent: Quite a few bridges and also quite low weights. Very interesting that the BRW is tied with EIR for the lowest. I,ve got three on the go now and my BRW is the lowest compared to HR and MadR. Mine not as light as yours. You must be busy ,take care.
Tom

_________________
A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Very cool .. I would have guessed the ebony to be higher .. and the BRW lower .... but then again, I have quite a few Brw blanks, and the densities can be very different .. as well as the colours !!!

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I have always wondered how much the weight of the bridge affects the sound of the guitar. I have a very large bridge design for my pinless bridge. Last time I weight it, I think it was closer to 70 or 80g. I was afraid on the first guitar that the weight of the bridge would hender the sound production, but I have found just the opposite to be true. I have built one guitar- closer to the batson model- with a tailpiece and a high bridge. The weight of that bridge was nearly double my normal one, and the sound production was huge. I am sure there is a limit to the amount of drive you get from the bridge- based on its weight, but I haven't found it yet.

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

A good reminder of how density varies within a species. I would say the ebony you have used is less dense than is typical. I think bridge weight is important and always measure the blank before construction to make sure the finished bridge will come out to the desired weight, which for me is in the 20-30 range depending on the type of guitar.

_________________
David White, Toronto

"All my favourite singers can't sing."

Chris : As you no doubt know the bridge area of the guitar is very sensitive to weight change or stiffness change. Small changes in this area can sometimes have quite a dramatic change in tone.If the guitar is built lightly I prefer a lighter bridge to take advantage of the responsiveness of the guitar. Others my no doubt differ. Take care.

Tom

_________________
A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Interesting numbers, Laurent.
But what I really want to say is that I very much like your bridge design!

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I did the same thing and posted it with a pic:

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=23040

LMI Ebony - 40g
Ziricote - 26g
Mad Rose - 30g
Coco - 32g
Af Blackwood - 36g
? Ebony (I'm assuming African)- 36g

No BRW.

Zach, those numbers look similar to what I have measured. I just switched out a 21 g ziricote pyramid bridge on a guitar I made, with an African blackwood one (of the same size) that weighed 30 g.

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I like data! Thanks for sharing this.

_________________
"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Thanks for the summary of what you were finding.

Here was my dilemma/curiousity...

Now that I got strings on #3 (The Oak Ditson 11).. One thing I did purposefully was starting with a bridge that was too heavy and thick -- and then "Voice" the guitar by strategically thinning down the bridge in various places... rather than trying to hit a bridge weight/stiffness exactly right on the 1st try -- I am just not good enough of a builder to get it right without any adjustment...

My Honduras RW bridge is now significantly smaller than I started it out.... and I am still not all the way done yet.

Thanks

John

Arnt ? did you like your results? can you explain any differences you might5 have experienced with the heavier bridge ? thank You Jody