Bridge Weight

[Charlie Dunford]

I am rebuilding a cheap dreadnaught guitar with a composite body and top.  I think the top needs to be lighter to improve tone.  I have to bridge off and am preparing to build and install a new one.  I have two rosewood bridge blanks  to choose from. One is obviously heavier than the other.  My initial thot is to use the lighter one to minimize the weight added to the top.  On second thot I wonder if a heavier bridge will be better to drive an already heavy top.  Anybody have thots on which blank to use?

 

Charlie

Hansville, Wa.

 

 

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

I'd go for the lighter.

[Ned Knepp]

Lighter. I think its the strings and the player's attack that drives the top. A heaver bridge just means that more energy is needed to get things moving.

Ned

[Antonio Cotichini]

...but at Yamaha (LL series) they now use heavier bridges, and they say it improves the overall tone. ???

[Ned Knepp]

Well, Antonio, I could easily be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.

Ned

[FRANK]

HEAVY BRIDGE DRIVING A THIN TOP?

[Ned Knepp]

Paul, Please stop with the caps.

Ned

[Antonio Cotichini]

Too bad I can't find the catalogue where they express the concept. I'll search for it and I'll post what they say.

[Antonio Cotichini]

As promised. I found the Yamaha catalog 2005.
About the L-Series: "The bridges on all new L-Series guitars offer more overall mass than their predecessors,to deliver greater tone from these instruments...".
What can I say? They sound really good.
Antonio

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

Too heavy won't sound good. Too light won't either. As usual, each luthier has to find its way, and maybe Yamaha found that for their guitars, a heavier bridge is interesting. If my memory is OK, there's an article on Franck's website where he switches a heavy Gibson bridge (the ones with adjusting height screws) for a lighter one of his own making, and it turned out great.

[Ned Knepp]

I have experience with the Gibson bridge switch too and it did improve the sound of the guitar a lot. One thing I should point out is that the replacement lowers the weight of the bridge but it also creates a saddle that has much better contact with the top of the guitar.

I've always thought that lighter was better but then I don't have mountains of experience either. I've heard a couple of guitars that had Bridge Doctors which sounded as good or possibly better and that definitely adds mass and weight to the bridge area although I've wondered if this was because the mass was suspended under the bridge, lending a pendulum effect to the bridge assembly. Just speculation.

Ned

[Antonio Cotichini]

I also did those changings, from adjustable to plain bone saddle, on Gibson and Eko guitars.
Old Eko usually had bridges as heavy as clogs! And I usually reduce their mass by lowering them and smoothing their sharp edges.
But in the case of Yamaha's L series, I think the trick is on the better balanced shape of the ebony bridges.