| Hi Daniel--
Thanks for the question, and welcome--you can no longer count yourself among the lurkers.
The Hofner bridge is an elegant thing, no question about it, and I have a soft spot in my heart for the art deconess of it.
The only downside I can see is the lack of adjustment for individual string intonation.
String attachment would have to be addressed--possibly string through the body? There are those who prefer that bit of elegance.
It's doable in a custom instrument setting, certainly.
As for a double bass bridge, I really don't see that application working, in that we're utilizing a bass guitar profile neck for all the reasons that make the Barker absolutely and technically unique in the world of vertical basses.
I periodically get questions around making the Barker bowable, and my snappy answer is, "It isn't because all the others are!"
A better, more thoughtful and gracious answer is, the upright bass is made to be played arco, which it is, 99% of the time, in orchestral settings. In nearly all other settings, it is played pizzicato 99% of the time. So there's no real need to have those strings that high and that far apart; in fact, the electric bass string layout is much more efficient for both hands, provided we're playing anything but orchestral music.
Soo there's a wordy answer, Daniel, and I welcome more dialog on the subject and any other observations you have about the instrument.
Kindly,
Lee
ps Burt Munro is one of my heroes, and the oft-noted quality of our web site is attributable to Ian Blackie, formerly of Christchurch, now on loan to the U.S.
__________________
"The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne."
--Geoffrey Chaucer, via Gustav Stickley
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