Cumberland acoustic ebony archtop bridge
 

Hi all,

I recently replaced the bridge on my wartime l 50 with one of these bridges (the one on it wasn't original) and it sounds great, as advertised. Sustain for days and very even volume across the neck. I am pleased with the end result. The original bridge was an Indian Rosewood replica that was getting a bit pulpy in the string grooves.

I had a very good Luthier work with it and he got an excellent snug fit on the feet and a very hard edge for the saddle which probably did the most for the improvement. One thing though, he had to alter the intonation on the saddle quite significantly from how it came, has anyone else encountered this with these bridges? Is it pretty standard to have to chisel away bits of the saddle on a given bridge?

Traditionally, compensated archtop bridges are designed to intonate (fairly) accurately with a 13-56 (or heavier) set, with the only change necessary being to move the entire bridge a couple millimeters in either direction - what strings are you using...?

13-56

The E/B both started out flat and in line with each other on this bridge and he made the B more in line with the D which is I guess what I'm used to on other bridges. It wasn't a cheap bridge so was slightly surprised that it needed so much alteration.