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Just curious, what's your favorite bridge plate wood?

Richard

EIR or maple. I almost use some bloodwood once, but it seems a bit splitty. I would use any good hard wood though. I have some osage orange that might be good for them as well. But I have enough EIR and maple for now.

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PMoMC

I use Patagonian Rosewood (not a real RW) also known as Curapay or Curapau. The Scientific name is Anadenanthera columbrina. On the Janka hardness scale Indian is about 1800, Ebony is 3200, and Curapay is 3840. It is incredibly stable and split resistant and it is also very resonant and glues easily. It is used commonly for flooring applications. In my opinion, it is the most ideal wood species for bridge plates.

I use sugar maple for traditional applications, and black locust for the others. Black locust is harder and stiffer than maple, but not as dense as most rosewoods or ebonies.
I have tried several of the dense tropical woods in the past, including pernambuco, snakewood, and ebony. Though they are certainly hard, I found the density to be a disadvantage.
IRW is probably my least favorite of the commonly-used bridgeplate woods. I have seen way too many 1970's Martins with chunks of wood missing between the pin holes.

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John

Concur with John on the EIR. One time I used it almost exclusively but the last 20 guitars or so I have not use it. I tend to think there are better woods tonally. I think part of the reason for woods splintering between holes is that cauls are not used when drilling holes. This is true especially for factory guitars where time is the master and the customer won't know because bridge plates are out of sight...................to some folks.
Tom

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

I like Maple same as J Arnold and I 2nd the locust. I also used Osage Orange. EIR used once and not again.
Also I don't use quartered prefer more a rift cut , and like to set the grain so there is an angle to it. I don't like to see the same grain line getting all the stress of the pins and ball ends.
Just my 2 cents

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I love Brazilian for a bridge patch, but that seems to be quickly falling out of favor with the law.

I haven't tried locust but if John A. says that it is good, then no doubt it is. I think I would prefer a hard variety of maple to a soft maple though, and John Hall has it right for grain orientation regardless of species.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I've never used it, but persimmon has good properties for a bridgeplate.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

How about thickness of the plate?

I laminate Maple/EIR/& maple with the grains running
90 degrees to each other.
Never had one crack.
The overall thickness can be from 2.25mm-3mm depending
on the string tension,top width & thickness;brace carving etc..

Just me 2 cents.
MIke

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Mike Collins

Have cut up pecan for future use.But have not tried it yet

Great thread!
SimonF recommended Curapay for some compelling reasons - also looking at Ipe.

Rob

One reason maple is favored is because it is not likely to chip when drilling the pin holes....even without a backer block. Persimmon and dogwood also share that property.
Black locust is a bit more likely to chip than maple, but using a backer block when drilling solves that issue.
My distaste for laminated bridgeplates is based on my experience with Asian guitars. The outer lamination tends to flake off, and they can be a bear to remove.

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John

I laminate hard maple (cross grain to the soundboard)/rosewood (grain parallel to top)/hard maple (cross). Laminate in a radius dish using epoxy. They are never going to delaminate or crack. Palo escrito is a good rosewood for the center laminate, because it is light weight. Total thickness under .100". Coated with CA for added toughness. Unslotted bridge pins (so that the ball end doesn't tend to creep into the hole and chew the edge, as it can with slotted pins). With reasonable care, this construction makes a plate that should never need repair. And, being lightweight, it's a good plate for sound, too.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Todd, that sounds really strong, but do you feel it might possibly be adding too much stiffness to that area? I'd be tempted to try it, having thought about alternatives before but never branching out. I do really like that you're doing this in the radius dish, and that would seem to be a good thing to help maintain the dome of the top as an added benefit.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

No, because it's thin. But it does add a little more stiffness in the lengthwise direction, compared to a conventional plate, due to the center laminate of rosewood with the grain parallel to the soundboard, and that is intentional, to help resist the torque from string tension. My goal with the bridge plate and the bracing is an appropriate amount of stiffness to handle string tension with minimal distortion of the top, while also being very lightweight. I am very happy with the sound I get with this approach.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Yeah...I figured you had it all worked out. It sounds like a great approach to me.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Well that beats the heck out of trying to sand a radius into one. Thanks for that.

Hickory anyone ?

BTW, if a voice in your head says, "What? Laminate the bridge plate? You mean, like, PLYWOOD? In a fine, handmade guitar? Won't that spell doom for the sound?" ... don't believe it. Remember, in guitar making, there is a very big difference between popularly held beliefs (what we might call lore) and reality.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Is flat sawn maple any good for bridge plates or would you only use quarter sawn?

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

I prefer flat sawn or at least off quarter.

I had a along the grain crack in one of my quartersawn bridge plates. No quartersawn bridge plates for me anymore.
I'm thinking about trying out flatsawn maple laminated with thin ebony on top. It should make it resist the wear of the ball ends better.

The weakest plane in maple is perpendicular to the growth rings. In other words, flat sawn maple is a bit more likely to split between the pin holes than QS. For maximum resistance to splitting, the grain should be about 45 degrees.

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John

Osage Orange, Maple, Honduran Rosewood and Braz a couple times. Rift sawn, with the grain parallel to the bass X brace. I've never seen a reason to use a laminated bridge plate. That area is already a 3 play lamination. Bridge/Top/Bridge Plate. I'm sure builders using super thin Somogyi style tops have different requirments for bridge plates. The biggest bridge plate I've ever used was 1 3/4" wide, and they're usually somewhat smaller than that. Perhaps laminates are better for big bridge plates.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

excellant answer, John. That's exactly what I'm going to use.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.