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I'm hoping someone might have some thoughts on a laminated Zircote bridge. I'm just doing a guitar right now that will have Zircote headplate , FB and I would like to do the bridge mostly for aesthetics. When I made a tile rosette out of the same Zircote board I found it to be a little prone to cracking along some of the black grain lines. I'm thinking maybe an 1/8" of Ebony or Brazilian Rosewood on the bottom? Anyone ever done something along those lines?

I know Trevor Gore uses CF layer in some of his. I know there's not much available locally but what form of CF would one use? Mat I guess?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Danny

I've done the CF as outlined in the Gore/Gillet book. I just got some CF cloth off of Ebay. It's easy to do and you won't have to worry about splitting.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

HI Danny,

I regularly use Ziricote for fretboards, bridges, and trim. In general I've found them to hold up well. Over the years I've only seen one or two bridges crack and those were after the guitar was exposed to extremely dry conditions (in those cases the cracked bridge was the least of the problems). I'm sure if they were ebony bridges they would have cracked as well.

For bridges I usually go with stuff that has been sitting in the shop for a good long while and appears to be stable. I'm sure you could laminate something to the bottom of a Ziricote bridge and structurally you will be fine, but I'm not sure that would prevent the Ziricote from cracking. Often when I see bridge cracks it is between the pin holes or around the saddle slot. My thinking is the Ziricote on the top of your lamination could still crack in those areas. You could soak the blank in CA, something I usually do when I get a plank of Ziricote into the shop. I often try and match fretboards and bridges from the same board, but if I find the pieces to be developing cracks I look for something with similar grain from a board I know is more stable.

_________________
Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
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House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
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I've done one due to a stuff up in, well, let's not go into that......

Sadly, I can't seem to post a photo. I keep getting told the file is too large, but it's less than 100k, so I don't know.

You can see it on my Facebook page, in the album "Jack's Guitar" at DMI handmade musical instruments on FB.

Cheers,
Nick

Could you inlay or onlay or veneer on the larger "wing" areas of the bridge for decoration, thus leaving the structural part of the bridge solid ebony or whatever your favorite bridge material is?

If you laminate the bridge with CF using the Gore method you put it in the middle of the bridge not on the bottom. The bridge becomes pretty much bullet proof as far as splitting is concerned.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

How noticeable is the lamination Steve? This is the bridge shape I intend to use.


When you go through the lamination at an angle how does it look? Do you see it or does it blend in? I see on Ebay there are various thicknesses. Have you used that method in non Ebony bridges?

Thanks Everyone!

There is a line but it is not very noticeable Here's one on Trevor's site:

http://www.goreguitars.com.au/main/page_10929_67.html

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks Steve. That actually looks somewhat decorative. I also see how I can make my bridges loose a lot of weight and look good doing it.

The one I did was a walnut belly bridge and it ended up at 24g without me doing anything special to make it smaller. I put my bridges on with hide glue and usually throw them in the microwave for a few seconds to warm them up - don't do it with CF in it

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"