Mandolin Bridge Question

[BillRomansky]

Has anyone built a bridge using cedar or spruce for the bridge, capped off with a hard wood on the saddle, to reduce mass?

[JCook1]

This is how the saddles on biscuit-bridge single-cone resonator guitars are made - softer wood with a hard wood cap. It works for resonators, I don't know how it would be for a mandolin. I think they are generally made of hard wood.

Jack

[darylcrisp]

Bill
I have not considered that or seen anyone do that, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been tried. My immediate thought would be that due to string pressure a soft wood acting as a bridge on a mandolin type instrument might deform-I know some bridge makers do special things to the bridge base with the hardwoods that attempt to keep them from deforming over the years.

I would also think a softer wood might defuse the tone somewhat and have a negative impact on projective tone also.

these are just thoughts, having never tried what you are asking.

you can reduce some mass with drillouts or center notches, but again, I see a couple of bridge makers using full length bases now(Collings/ Cumberland acoustics come to mind). You might send Cumberland acoustics an email and pose this question, they make excellent bridges and I'm sure they've tried everything. report back your findings

d

[vibrolucky]

I've built a few instruments, including mandolins. You'll want to use a hardwood for your bridge, not just an insert. Quite a bit of tension on those bridges - spruce or fir would snap quickly.

I've been experimenting with a bone insert similar to a guitar saddle, but have found that solid ebony and/or maple sound best. The harder the better for a mando bridge!