If you could choose ANY wood to make a bridge...

[Tom Mitchell]

I'm going to replace a fractured mustache bridge on an Epiphone EJ-200CE.  I bought it in it's present condition as a "project guitar", so I can do ANYTHING I want.

 

There is no "generic" or "drop-in" replacement for this bridge.  Gibson told me I was out of luck.  I noticed that Allparts and Acoustic Cabin sell a mustache brideg, but that one is for a Gibson Montana.

 

So I'm going to make one from scratch.  And I'm HAPPY about this, because it gives me artistic license to use any wood I like, use any inlay I want, and I can even ramp the wings down a bit to accomodate my playing style (I do a lot of palm muting, and a contour would reduce hand fatigue).

 

What kind of wood should I consider for this project?

 

 

[Jim Bancroft]

Madagascar Rosewood would be a good choice.

 

Jim

[Tom Mitchell]

I'm considering Madagascar Rosewoord.  I also noticed that Woodcraft has 2" x 6" x 6" blocks of Bolivian Rosewood on sale for $9.99.  Is there a significant difference?

[Mark Pollock]

Would this be a good time to make a plywood rosewood bridge? Since these bridges are infamous for fracturing along the grain the the narrow areas, perhaps a 3-play (or even 2 ply) rosewood bridge would strengthen itself considerably, but still look good and sound good. Just a thought - I'm sure it's easily shot down if my musings are incorrect.

[Tom Mitchell]

Since I'm a newbie to lutherie, everything sounds good. :-)

 

I suppose I'd be concerened that plys might dampen the transmission of energy to the soundboard, though.

[Ned Knepp]

That's an interesting idea. By the time you cut a slot for the saddle most of the wood/glue interfaces in the material would not matter. It might be kind of fun to experiment with it and the "stripping" might look kind of neat. The only catch I can see is what material to use. Most "hardwood" ply isn't necessarily all that hard and you would want to avoid voids in the material. Baltic birch is pretty void free but it's not all that hard in comparison to rosewood or ebony.

[Tim Mace]

Ebony would be my choice hard as it is and stable.

[William F.Eden]

Why not make it 3 ply of the same wood 2 one way and the 3rd the othe??.Bill.............

[Paul Hostetter]

Since the top is laminated spruce, the wood choice isn't going to have a profound effect on the sound. Any nice rosewood would be appropriate (preferably not blood Dalbergia from Madagascar). With a bridge this big, your plans for changing the upper surface are not only possible but advisable. Dispensing with the MOTS inlays would be nice!

 

BTW, laminated bridges never work: they always delaminate. Keep it one single piece.

 

Also, the Allparts bridge should cover the footprint of the bridge that was on there, meaning you'd just have to touch in finish inside the pretzels.

[Mark Pollock]

I was wondering about how laminate holds up. I also remembered that greasy wood is a @#(*#( to glue up and keep glued.

 

Of course, you could always add a couple wood screws to prevent laminating. (I should probably duck around now.)

 

Mark

[Ned Knepp]

I suppose it's logical that plywood would delaminate since the pressure  would shear  across the laminations.

[Doug T]

I personally love paduak as a bridge.  It is a little colorful to say the least, but I've found it a great sound transmitter and very stable.

[Paul Hostetter]

Padauk makes a great bridge. The bright red fades to a very nice brown in short order, unless you treat the wood with a UV retarder.