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Your choice for bridge plates
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=20353		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Mike OMelia [ Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:09 am ]
Post subject:  Your choice for bridge plates
What do you use? Side material? Mahogony? Birch? And, generally, how thick?

Mike
Author:  Laurent Brondel [ Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Your choice for bridge plates
Laminated sugar maple with cross-grain Brazilian RW, Honduran RW, cocobolo or bloodwood. Stack is .090"/.095" thick.
Author:  Hesh [ Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Your choice for bridge plates
Mike my friend I use Honduran Rosewood or BRW.
Author:  TonyKarol [ Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Your choice for bridge plates
EIrw back cutoffs from the Larrivee factory !!! Local wood shop had a huge box of them - cheap too - already thicknessed to 90 thou ... quick scrape and they are ready to go.
Author:  Burton LeGeyt [ Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Your choice for bridge plates
I have used maple, osage, brazilian and also african blackwood a few times but now I prefer a thin strip of pernambuco(.08-.09 thick and 3/4 wide) to anchor the pins over a larger spruce patch (.04 app.) glued with the grain going the same direction as the top.
Author:  Glenn LaSalle [ Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Your choice for bridge plates
Any thoughts about Mad RW for the bridge plate?

Thx!

Glenn
Author:  Burton LeGeyt [ Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Your choice for bridge plates
I think anything fairly hard that doesn't crack when flexed across its length should make a fine bridge plate. Mad RW should be an excellent choice!
Author:  LuthierSupplier [ Tue Jan 06, 2009 12:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Your choice for bridge plates
I've recently switched to Padauk because of a few guitars I've played that are basically Martin braced seemed to have a more open woody tone to my ear. Not sure it is true, but the wood is hard and dense enough for string wear. Also, I learned that Goodall uses this too, and I like the tone of his guitars. Mine are slightly over 2mm thick and quarter sawn.
Author:  Michael Dale Payne [ Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Your choice for bridge plates
.09 thick riff cut suger maple :D
Author:  Howard Klepper [ Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Your choice for bridge plates
Am currently partial to pau rosa. Usually a two piece laminate with grain running in a shallow X pattern--each side about 20ยบ off from perpendicular to the top grain, and the outside layer running opposite to the bridge pin line (which I angle with the saddle), so the pin line is well off from parallel to the outer grain line.

I also use other woods: osage orange, EIR, BR.

No reason not to use Mad rose.

Rift sawn is best. Since I use back cutoffs and orphan sides, usually it's more like quarter-to-rift.
Author:  Alain Moisan [ Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Your choice for bridge plates
Michael Dale Payne wrote:
.09 thick riff cut suger maple :D


Same here.
Author:  Frei [ Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Your choice for bridge plates
Why riff instead of slightly off-quarter? idunno
Author:  Alan Carruth [ Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Your choice for bridge plates
Rift cut, with the annual ring lines at 45 degrees to the surface, has the lowest cross grain stiiffness, so that it can flex with the top, and the greatest resistance to splitting.

I used osage for several years as it is hard and resists splitting, but then I found something even better: persimmon. The biggest problem with osage is that it's ring-porous, so that a string ball could end up on a soft part of the grain and chew righht through. Persimmon is diffuse porous, very tight grained, and hard, so that's not an issue. It's also the hardest wood to split I've run into.
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