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Wes McMillian
PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:01 pm 
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This was born out of another thread I've got going on, but I wondering who radiuses their bridge plates and why. I guess it never struck me as something I should do, figuring the thin bridge plate would conform just fine to the dome of the top. I'm curious to hear from others about this, though.

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Michael Dale Payne
PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:16 pm 
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Well if you don't the in the area around the bridge plate the dome is deformed to near flat. I am not saying at all that is a structurally bad thing. However It does make fitting your bridge to your top more forced fit, because you do not have the continuous dome shape. But in stead you have a flat between the X braces and dome outside them. This means that you bridge bottom can't be radiused to a continuous radius but rather needs to be left flat and the wings are stress down into contact with the top.

This fact is the sole reason I radius my bridge plates prior to installing them.
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Barry Daniels
PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:29 pm 
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The bridge plate will conform to a curve, but obviously the final curve of the top in that area will be a compromise. We radius everything else so why not radius your bridge plate? It only takes a couple of dozen swipes in the radius dish.
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Mike Collins
PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 4:10 pm 
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I bend mine like sides on a hot iron.
it's easy to fit & I can alter the bend if I'm doing some experiments.

Plus I know I have a real good glue joint this way !
Sanding can make that small a piece have a less than perfect glue joint !

Mike

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Michael Dale Payne
PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:31 pm 
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Mike Collins wrote:
I bend mine like sides on a hot iron.
it's easy to fit & I can alter the bend if I'm doing some experiments.

Plus I know I have a real good glue joint this way !
Sanding can make that small a piece have a less than perfect glue joint !

Mike


Bridge plate not the bridge right :D
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Wes McMillian
PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:55 pm 
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Hmmm...I'll file this in my memory bank. Guess I've been doing it wrong the whole time! Thanks!

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Todd Rose
PostPosted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 11:32 am 
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Thanks for calling attention to that issue, Todd. I'll make it a point to chamfer the free edges of my bridge plates more aggressively (my laminated bridge plates are also thinner than the average solid ones, and make a wider footprint north and south of the bridge).

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