#1
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Carbon fiber bridge plate.
A buddy of mine recieved a new luthier built guitar recently and asked me to come over and play it. It is beautifully made with beautiful woods.
Upon playing it, it sould big and open and resonant. However, the more I played it, I began hearing something just slightly odd, subtly harsh, and couldn't figure out what it was. Upon looking inside the guitar, I noticed that the builder had used carbon fiber for the bridge plate. The question: Could I be hearing the carbon fiber bridge plate? What think you? Steve
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Still crazy after all these years. |
#2
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Given the part that a bridge plate plays, yes you hear it. If you are asking if that is why the guitar sounds harsh, maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.
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Mark Hatcher www.hatcherguitars.com “"A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking". Steven Wright Last edited by Mark Hatcher; 06-21-2022 at 02:32 PM. |
#3
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I’m guilty of making rash judgment based on companies making changes for the sake of change.
I don’t know why, but the instant I learned that the Modern Deluxe Martins had a carbon fiber bridge plate I was turned off to the guitars and haven’t given them another thought. What is the benefit of a carbon fiber bridge plate? reducing weight and vibratory mass? |
#4
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Lots of positive benefits come to mind: less weight, less mass, crack resistant and extremely wear resistant to string ball damage.
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#5
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Less weight? Not always. My CF is not my lightest guitar. But it is the smallest. Wood is also lightweight - some woods are lighter than CF..
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The Bard Rocks Fay OM Sinker Redwood/Tiger Myrtle Sexauer L00 Adk/Magnolia For Sale Hatcher Jumbo Bearclaw/"Bacon" Padauk Goodall Jumbo POC/flamed Mahogany Appollonio 12 POC/Myrtle MJ Franks Resonator, all Australian Blackwood Goodman J45 Lutz/fiddleback Mahogany Blackbird "Lucky 13" - carbon fiber '31 National Duolian + many other stringed instruments. |
#6
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The outside layer of fiber veneer is there to prevent blowout when I drill through for the bridge pins, and also to mitigate any metallic feedback or buzz from the carbon fiber. The whole construction is only 5/64" thick, and is super rigid and strong. And I doubt the ball ends of the strings will ever pull through the plate. I think the low mass, light weight, and acoustic properties of the rosewood and carbon fiber make this a bridge plate that is superior in several ways to a typical 1/8" to 3/16" thick maple or rosewood plate. To my way of thinking, that solid, thick piece of wood will somewhat act as a tone-sink. But what do I know...
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Edwinson |
#7
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I am not a luthier but i find it hard to believe that the material choice for a bridge plate can have a more perceptible tonal difference than bracing, the quality of the voicing done, the irregularities of the tonewoods used as well as the acoustic idiosyncrasies of how the entire system behaved. Even the subjective tonal preferences of the listener are likely to have a bigger effect. If luthiers canot even build two guitars that sound exactly identical even if they use wood from the same batch of woods, it seems impossible to isolate the effect of using a different material as the bridgeplate... Wouldn't it be more likely that if that guitsr sounded a little strange, it is more likely down to those other factors?
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In the end it is about who you love above yourself and what you have stood for and lived for that make the difference... |
#8
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With all due respect the BP material and even its thickness can make a significant contribution in tone. As proof, purchase a "Plate Mate" and install it in your guitar and then tell me if you can perceive a tonal change? Not my cup of tea (quote borrowed from JT1) but its a simple experiment that clearly answers the question.
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#9
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No doubt you luthiers are the experts in this area and you would know best. Howevee wouldnt you think that the platemate though would change things much more than a bridgeplate made of CF would be expected to? After all it is meant to be added adhesively to the bottom of an existing bridgeplate and it is further made of brass and not of CF...
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In the end it is about who you love above yourself and what you have stood for and lived for that make the difference... |
#10
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A bridge plate and bridge together are perhaps the unsung most important brace in a guitar…
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… |
#11
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Hi Gitarro, I was merely using the PlateMate as an analogy. Yes, the PlateMate is made of brass but when one installs it you can clearly hear a significant change that the brass imparts to the tone and overall timber of the instrument. In similitude Hard Maple, Rosewood, Carbon Fiber, Padauk, Wenge or laminations of the aforementioned bridge plates all lend their unique tonal coloration to tone. Bob is spot on with his response! The bridgeplate and bridge design (which includes material, overall size of the foot print, stiffness, thickness, mass and weight) all work together as a very important brace on the top to be considered. |
#12
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I confess that bridgeplates and bridges (and pretty much every other component of guitars) mystify me. Many in the vintage guitar community attribute at least a significant portion of the decline of the tone of Martins in the late 1960s until relatively recently to the company's switch from small maple bridgeplates to larger rosewood bridgeplates in 1968 (and the return to goodness when Martin switched back to maple bridgeplates). But I've played many great sounding modern guitars that feature sizeable rosewood bridgeplates.
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John |
#13
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Thanks for bringing up the Martin reference John. I was going to mention it earlier then got sidetracked.
I recall a conversation with TJ many years ago and he had just replaced a bridge plate in a vintage Martin uke and had showed me the original Koa bridge plate. Time had hardened the Koa significantly to the point that the old bridge plate would not indent with a thumbnail no matter how much pressure you could apply. He said he searched high and low to find a suitable Koa replacement and used the densest piece of aged Koa he had. After that he started sunlight aging his bridge plates by setting them in window sills for an extended time. I found it interesting that prolonged exposure to direct sunlight would actually harden the bridge plate wood significantly. |
#14
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John Last edited by jt1; 07-03-2022 at 04:02 AM. |
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