Non traditional bridge designs

[james condino]

After mentioning the topic up in a recent thread, I'll open it up here. Can we see some images of non-traditional bridge designs and possibly a bit of explanation behind it? You can see my interpretations over in the thread "james' bass build".

j.

[Paul Warburton]

I have the three hearts bridge on my 1888 Joseph Bohmann fiver. (low B ). Not really "non-traditional" but some players aren't aware of this design. It's been on the bass for 34 years that I know of and ain't nice and clean like this one because it's all covered in funk, sweat and nasty Mo-Jo. It has metal adjusters, that haven't been touched for about 20 years.
If it were ever to get bumped I'd have call the funny farm wagon.

[ctregan]

I made a few, but I am waiting to hear from the U.S. Patent Office before I post some pictures.

This is a good thread, I will try to contribute soon.

[james condino]

The current model on my bass (sometimes refered to as the "Flaming Lips / area 52 model):



j.

[gbaker]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

I have the three hearts bridge on my 1888 Joseph Bohmann fiver. (low B ). Not really "non-traditional" but some players aren't aware of this design. It's been on the bass for 34 years that I know of and ain't nice and clean like this one because it's all covered in funk, sweat and nasty Mo-Jo. It has metal adjusters, that haven't been touched for about 20 years.
If it were ever to get bumped I'd have call the funny farm wagon.

I used to have a string instrument design manual that had useful info on bridge design I can't seem to find right now.
*Side bar - see Durb, I can read book .*

There was a bridge design rule that stated for uniform sound that each string should have (or all should not have) an interruption in the path to the sound board.

Example of a bad design is a typical three-leg banjo bridge where some strings are above a leg and some are over a space. Non-uniform sound. Explains a lot, there may have to be a banjo recall bigger than Toyota's.

Paul, your three heart plus two pit bridge design places each of your five strings over a hole. Congrats.

[Heifetzbass]

James,

Have you run across any of Tom Kelishek's bridges? I have seen some with round legs. His thought process was "round is strength", like a tree.

Also, check out the one on the TK 92 bass. It is pretty wild.

BG

[Paul Warburton]

+1. Amazing work.

[kurt ratering]

james, i dig that bridge.

[Ed Fuqua]

Yeah, me too.

James, what affect have the changes you've made to the various bridge "formats" had on the sound of the bass? One of the things mentioned in the DB Kelishek article was that leaving more wood (by sanding to a round shape rather than carving to planes) on the bridge strengthened it and helped prevent warping, but it didn't really talk about sound.

Speaking of "non traditional" bridges, I got trapped by the POP MEMORIES/TimeLife infommercial (hosted by Bobby Goldsboro) after a recent gig, there was some Aussie folk group from the 60s on and the upright had a pretty weird bridge- traditional feet but above the adjusters the rest of the bridge was a U curve piece of metal covered in what looked like a black vinyl sleeve.

[George700DL]

Originally Posted by gbaker

I used to have a string instrument design manual that had useful info on bridge design I can't seem to find right now.
*Side bar - see Durb, I can read book .*

There was a bridge design rule that stated for uniform sound that each string should have (or all should not have) an interruption in the path to the sound board.

Example of a bad design is a typical three-leg banjo bridge where some strings are above a leg and some are over a space. Non-uniform sound. Explains a lot, there may have to be a banjo recall bigger than Toyota's.

Paul, your three heart plus two pit bridge design places each of your five strings over a hole. Congrats.

Yeah, I read that also (different book). I think that's the point behind the holes in a traditional violin/viola/cello/bass bridge - a hole under each string. Given this info, it makes more sense just to put a simple hole under my D string, since it's a 3-stringer.

When I find my camera, I'll put up a picture of my viola bridge - it doesn't really look like a bridge anymore with all the wood I removed.

I've seen a number of folk instruments in Hungary - in some cases, I was surprised the bridge was still standing - warped, beat-up, more air than wood. The sound was incredible. Maybe it's one of those "an instrument sounds its best when it's on the verge of imploding" things, applied to the bridge.

George

[1st Bass]

This the kind of stuff you mean?
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...HJTcswPqmfCXAw

[gbaker]

Originally Posted by 1st Bass

This the kind of stuff you mean?
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...HJTcswPqmfCXAw

Amazing!

This one kinda shows what happens when your mind wanders low. Love the gravity-defying headstands.


http://sandiegobagpipes.com/violin/bridge2.JPG