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Old 12-21-2017, 11:59 AM
dekutree64 dekutree64 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Otterhound View Post
Ebony is more dense than rosewood .
The static load on a bridge is something that needs to be considered as well .
Would a more loaded and lighter bridge be equal compensation for a less loaded and heavier bridge .
An example can be found in auto racing where lighter vehicles are loaded through aerodynamics that effectively make parts of the vehicle heavier/more loaded .
Convert this to a guitar where a lighter bridge can , through loading , do what the heavier bridge does with less loading . Heavier loading can be obtained through greater break angle , thicker strings , longer scale , combinations of these ...........
Think in terms of frequency and resonance.

There are 3 main variables to resonance: mass, stiffness, and size.
High mass=low frequency
High stiffness=high frequency
Large size=low frequency

So if you lighten up on the bridge, frequency will go up. But if you reduce the torque on the soundboard (lower string tension, or setting the neck angle for a lower target string height), then you can loosen up the bracing without the soundboard going S-shaped over time, and get the frequency back down that way. It's a good trick for small guitars, which naturally tend toward high frequency.

In general, light-and-loose guitars are louder than stiff-and-heavy. But louder means that any unevenness in the frequency response will be more obvious, so it's harder to make them sound "good".

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ned Milburn View Post
In general, the lighter the bridge, the less sustain you'll have. The heavier the bridge, the more sustain. (Try brass bridge pins and brass saddle for an experiment.) The tone that has become acceptable and desired is one that calls for a standard range of bridge mass. This is part of the issue.
Right... Ervin Somogyi calls this "type 1 sustain". But there's also "type 2 sustain" provided by a low damping live back, which acts as a flywheel. So you can have your cake and eat it too.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Otterhound View Post
Must that weight be contained totally within the physical bridge itself ?
No, but I think the location is important. For example, dead weight added by a thick layer of finish over the whole soundboard will probably have a different effect than dead weight added by brass bridge pins. But the saddle, pins, and bridge plate can be considered part of the bridge, since they're all in about the same place and more or less rigidly connected to eachother.
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