This one (ebony) weighs 25.4 grams with the bottom side radiused out. Sounds a little light compared to the figures you offer, Al?
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| Author: | RCoates [ Fri May 19, 2006 3:25 pm ] |
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On Steel string guitars, what do the bridges typically weigh? Of course this question to those that weigh them in the first place. Also what weight for what type of wood (Bridge wood) Last one... Does this vary with the size of the guitar? Dread vs. om vs. 00 Thnx |
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| Author: | Alan Carruth [ Sat May 20, 2006 11:06 am ] |
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Those weights sound about right to me; say 32 grams for rosewood and 36 for ebony, more or less. Classical bridges are often around 24 grams or less, and I've seen them down to 18 on Flamencos. Bridge weight is one of the variables you can use to get the sound you want. All else equal, a lighter bridge will tend to 'favor' the treble. High frequencies are partly about acceleration: and given the limited power in the strings you need to keep things light if you're going to get 'off the line' in a hurry. There's no reason not to use the Mad rose bridge if it's strong enough. Is there enough 'meat' in front of the saddle? How deep is the slot? Also, make sure there's enough length along the line of the string pull (the bridge is wide enough): that's more important for keeping it down than the actual footprint area. |
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| Author: | RCoates [ Sat May 20, 2006 12:59 pm ] |
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Thnx I just weighed a classical bridge I made and sure enough about 24 grams. I don't have a SS bridge built to weigh but I'll keep these figures and check against them when I do. Actually I have a prototype built of meranti at 35 grams, but that doesn't count does it. Thnx again |
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| Author: | charliewood [ Sun May 21, 2006 5:21 am ] |
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"I have a Mad Rose bridge that I made that weighs 19 grams and it is so light that I am not sure that I should use it........... " I guess you could laminate another strip of material onto that there Mad Rose?? Cheers Charliewood |
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| Author: | Pete Licis [ Mon May 22, 2006 3:43 am ] |
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This one (ebony) weighs 25.4 grams with the bottom side radiused out. Sounds a little light compared to the figures you offer, Al? |
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| Author: | Alan Carruth [ Mon May 22, 2006 6:51 am ] |
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It does indeed look good, Pete! There are a lot of ways you can reduce the weight of a standard bridge without loosing strength, and it looks like you've hit most of them. How 'bright' is the guitar? |
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| Author: | Robbie O'Brien [ Mon May 22, 2006 9:47 am ] |
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Pete, that is one cool looking rosette and I love the green herringbone purflings. The bridge ain't bad either! 
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| Author: | Jim Watts [ Mon May 22, 2006 11:44 am ] |
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My ebony bridges are also about 34-36 grams. It cam be pretty hard to remove a gram or two it seems to me. I try for 34 but sometimes just can't get there. Pete, what do mean by "the bottom side radiused out"? Is this bottom of the bridge I'm seeing in the photo, or the bottom thats agaist the top? Thanks. |
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| Author: | Pete Licis [ Tue May 23, 2006 3:11 am ] |
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[QUOTE=Alan Carruth] How 'bright' is the guitar?[/QUOTE] Ask me in a few weeks! 
Unless of course the fishing stays hot ... |
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| Author: | Pete Licis [ Tue May 23, 2006 3:21 am ] |
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[QUOTE=Jim_W] My ebony bridges are also about 34-36 grams. It cam be pretty hard to remove a gram or two it seems to me. I try for 34 but sometimes just can't get there. Pete, what do mean by "the bottom side radiused out"? Is this bottom of the bridge I'm seeing in the photo, or the bottom thats agaist the top? Thanks.[/QUOTE] I was referring to the gluing surface against the top which was hollowed out to match the radius of the top. After reading about some other ebony bridge weights in this thread, I'm wondering why mine is so light. It's 11/32" thick at the center and you can see the contour in the photo above. It's footprint is a hair bigger than a "standard" belly bridge. I split the difference down the middle of the slant on the wings, so the wings are narrower on the north side than standard, and the tail end is wider. The belly extends about 1/16" (?) further than a "standard" belly for added "insurance". I think I may have another blank from that ebony purchase - maybe I'll measure the density. Hmmmmm ... shouldn't I have done that with the actual bridge ?
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| Author: | Don Williams [ Tue May 23, 2006 3:30 am ] |
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Pete, that guitar is looking good! Is this still #1 ? |
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| Author: | Pete Licis [ Tue May 23, 2006 4:01 am ] |
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[QUOTE=Don Williams] Pete, that guitar is looking good! Is this still #1 ?[/QUOTE] Shutup, Don. 
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| Author: | CarltonM [ Tue May 23, 2006 7:39 am ] |
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[QUOTE=Pete Licis] This one (ebony) weighs 25.4 grams. Sounds a little light[/QUOTE] You are correct, this guitar is ruined...send it to me for disposal! 
Oh, and that feather-light bridge is one of the most elegant designs I've seen. Nice work! |
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| Author: | Jim Watts [ Tue May 23, 2006 11:56 am ] |
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Thanks for clearing that up for me Pete, That's what I thought, but at that weight I just wondered. Nice instrument by the way. |
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| Author: | Todd Rose [ Tue May 23, 2006 12:13 pm ] |
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Very nice looking bridge, Pete. And good job getting the weight down to 25.4 with ebony. That's just a hair over what my last rosewood bridge weighed. Mine's pinless, though, and the bridge plate is spruce, so the total mass in that area is probably quite a bit less. The guitar, btw, is not especially bright sounding at all, interestingly enough. It _roars_ in the lower mids. Goes to show there are so many factors that create the sound. |
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| Author: | SniderMike [ Tue May 23, 2006 1:43 pm ] |
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Just finished this li'l puppy today for SS #2. Weighs in at 33g. 
Mike |
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| Author: | Mark Swanson [ Tue May 23, 2006 1:45 pm ] |
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Pete, I wonder if you have some different type of ebony there, or even a dark rosewood or something. It looks like there are a lot of pores in that nice bridge, more than I have seen in some ebony. |
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| Author: | Todd Rose [ Tue May 23, 2006 9:38 pm ] |
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That's his secret! It's ebonized balsa! |
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| Author: | Pete Licis [ Wed May 24, 2006 1:44 am ] |
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[QUOTE=Mark Swanson] Pete, I wonder if you have some different type of ebony there, or even a dark rosewood or something. It looks like there are a lot of pores in that nice bridge, more than I have seen in some ebony. [/QUOTE] The bridge blank was purchased as an ebony blank from LMI - one would hope they got that right. I see what you mean about the pores, though. I wonder if the visual pore effect has something to do with the amount of polish (Micromesh 6000 (?)) on it. And thanks to everyone on the kind compliments on that bridge. I hate copying things, and it took a while to figure out the shape so that while it's similar to several bridges I've seen, it's not identical. What you can't see in my previous photo is that the front end is slightly curved. I suppose that may have removed a small amount of weight too. I think I may have an overhead shot. If so I'll post below. 
Ignore the excessive redness in the photo - the different temperature fluorescents in combination with incandescent lights drive my camera's color correction nuts. It's really not so brown and more ebony-like than the photo looks, though there is a slight amount of color to it. |
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| Author: | Don Williams [ Wed May 24, 2006 4:00 am ] |
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Pete, that guitar is looking good! Is this.....oh nevermind.
You're going to bring it to work when it's done so I can go see it, right? Hey...don't you live in the Portsmouth area? Hmmmm...must go see Pete's guitar after work... |
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| Author: | Colin S [ Wed May 24, 2006 9:04 pm ] |
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With all this talk about bridge weight going on (I like <25gm for my steel strings) I thought I'd weigh my latest bridge before I glued it on and it came out to 11.5gms, and I'm going to tie 15 strings to it that's less than a gram per string! You want to see it? OK 
8-course Lute of course bridge in Rosewood and Cherry. Colin |
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| Author: | Todd Rose [ Wed May 24, 2006 9:21 pm ] |
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Very interesting, Colin. What's the total string tension on one of those axes? |
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| Author: | Serge Poirier [ Wed May 24, 2006 9:34 pm ] |
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Yeah Colin, nylon strings right? |
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