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Old 03-18-2017, 06:50 PM
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Bill Kraus Bill Kraus is offline
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Default Unusual bridge repair

Here's one from the Kraus Guitars repair department!. An Alvarez 6/12 string guitar. The new bridge on the left was made to replace the cracked and bridge pin worn original shown on the right. The new bridge also better matches the fingerboard.
The bridge measures near 9 inches wide. Why anyone would design a solid bridge that wide is beyond me. I would think two separate bridges would have been a better idea. The thought crossed my mind to carve a decorative pattern between the two bridge sections to cut down on weight and add a bit of flexibility to the top. In the end, I did not want to alter the guitar.
Has anyone ever seen one of before?
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
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Last edited by Bill Kraus; 03-18-2017 at 08:19 PM. Reason: photos not working
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Old 03-18-2017, 09:35 PM
mirwa mirwa is offline
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Looks like a good copy, is it the photo as it looks a smidgen larger.

Why deviate from rosewood and go ebony?.

Steve
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Old 03-19-2017, 01:23 AM
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rogthefrog rogthefrog is offline
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Dyer harp guitars and many successors have pretty beefy one-piece bridges, and they still sound very good (and incredibly loud).

Not quite as big as this, especially on the 12-string side, but still:



Here's a modern Tone Devil:



I do see your point, though--there doesn't seem to be a reason for all that wood between the two sets of strings, unlike in a harp guitar where all the strings are close together.
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Old 03-19-2017, 07:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mirwa View Post
Looks like a good copy, is it the photo as it looks a smidgen larger.

Why deviate from rosewood and go ebony?.

Steve
The new bridge is pretty exact in it's size, the camera angle makes the new one look a bit bigger i think.
The old bridge was ebony also, a striped Macassar I believe. It was not easy finding a blank nine inches long and this thick!. I ended up using an old salvaged upright bass fingerboard. I was lucky that the new bridge matches the fingerboard nicely, although the old bridge was beautiful.
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Old 03-19-2017, 07:34 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rogthefrog View Post
Dyer harp guitars and many successors have pretty beefy one-piece bridges, and they still sound very good (and incredibly loud).

Not quite as big as this, especially on the 12-string side, but still:



Here's a modern Tone Devil:



I do see your point, though--there doesn't seem to be a reason for all that wood between the two sets of strings, unlike in a harp guitar where all the strings are close together.
You are right Rog, that's a good size bridge there. I wish I had an opportunity to hear a harp guitar like that once in a while.
Interesting that they use wood saddles on that tonedevil.
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Old 03-20-2017, 01:26 PM
Alan Carruth Alan Carruth is offline
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The bridge is, of course, the heaviest 'brace' on the top, and often one of the stiffest. As with any brace it can help to be able to remove some material to get the stiffness to work with the top better.

Jeff Elliot, in his article on the Sullivan-Elliot harp guitar in 'American Lutherie'#99, mentions that it lacked midrange as delivered with the solid bridge. They made kerfs between the guitar and harp strings, on both the sub-bass and super treble sides, part way through the thickness and the sound improved. I copied that on my most recent harp guitar which unavoidably had a very large bridge, and am certain it helped.

Divided bridges have been used even on six-string guitars from time to time. There was a design that was popular for a while that used a bridge that necked down in the center, so that it was very nearly two separate pieces, and some folks advocated, and used, six little bridges.
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Old 03-20-2017, 03:46 PM
murrmac123 murrmac123 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Carruth View Post
some folks advocated, and used, six little bridges.
Did these six little bridges have six little bridgepins as well, or did the strings go to a tailpiece?
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Old 03-26-2017, 04:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Carruth View Post
The bridge is, of course, the heaviest 'brace' on the top, and often one of the stiffest. As with any brace it can help to be able to remove some material to get the stiffness to work with the top better.

Jeff Elliot, in his article on the Sullivan-Elliot harp guitar in 'American Lutherie'#99, mentions that it lacked midrange as delivered with the solid bridge. They made kerfs between the guitar and harp strings, on both the sub-bass and super treble sides, part way through the thickness and the sound improved. I copied that on my most recent harp guitar which unavoidably had a very large bridge, and am certain it helped.

Divided bridges have been used even on six-string guitars from time to time. There was a design that was popular for a while that used a bridge that necked down in the center, so that it was very nearly two separate pieces, and some folks advocated, and used, six little bridges.
Thanks for your information Al, it's nice to have my thoughts confirmed and perhaps validated by someone like yourself.
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Old 07-25-2017, 06:22 PM
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That Tonedevil saddle is actually carbon fiber, we started out using that, and have since switched to bone, and now we are using Tusq for saddle and nut.
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