Bridge Cut, more wood or less?

[DallasStrings]

In your opinion, would it make a positive difference to cut the top of the bridge down and put some space in with bridge wheels? My thinking is setting it up almost like a Belgian cello bridge, with a high arch in the feet and less wood on top by taking advantage of the bridge wheels for height. My thinking is that less wood on the bridge will better transfer vibration.

What do you think?

[Jake deVilliers]

I think it ain't nearly that simple but I don't have time to write an essay right now!

Try it and report back. Don't forget to include the bridge weight before and after.

[uprightben]

My concept of how bridge mass effects tone is that the bridge acts like a filter for the middle to the upper end of the freqency spectrum. The more massive, the more filtering. Each bass will require more or less for optimum sound.

That'll at least get things started, maybe some people who know what they're talking about will chime in.

[bonaventura]

My own humble experiences with the affect of bridge mass on tone were in thinning out the upper part of a standard size bridge. The thinner it gets, the brighter the tone.

Your suggestion of long legs sounds interesting. It might transfer vibrations well. But if your top half of the bridge is too small or thin, the tone would be affected.

It will be interesting to see what you write after you've done that.

[robobass]

My luthier doesn't like to see a lot of height above the heart, and prefers to have the height in the legs. So he would agree with you there. Overell thickness and weight is a different matter. I can't speak for him on this, but I know he recommends thinness at the very top to allow freedom of string vibration. This made a big (positive) difference on a Poellmann I was playing which had Flexocors, but I'm not sure I'm happy with the result on my Geiger bass with Oblis. It might depend on the string. My own opinion is that high legs are good for clarity and focus. Thin bridges give you brightness, but cost you necessary thump! I'm no expert.

[DallasStrings]

Well, I was seeking generalizations from you guys but I got curiosity instead. I'll have to find a couple of candidates among my repairs to experiment with. I'll be back..

[uprightben]

On the idea of setting up te bridge so that the adjusters gennerally stay out to reduce the amount of wood: My bridge is currently set up like that, but not to reduce wood, rather I wanted to have to ability to drop the strings as low as I like no matter what the seasonal fluctuations of my bass do. This bridge is actually more massive than the previous, which was a model that was more like a 'cello bridge (like some aubert models). My point is that if you want to reduce the amount of wood on your bridges, you'll probably get more out of choosing a certain model and carving it out rather than doing something wierd with the adjusters.