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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on September 30, 2015 at 6:58am

Mark,

There's average dimensions for a 4/4 cello here; would this help?:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cello

And this looks to have everything you might need, from a luthier, Alan Goldblatt:

http://www.alangoldblatt.com/specs/Cello.pdf

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Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on September 30, 2015 at 12:11pm

Thanks for the reply old friend!

Short story is that a rather large foreign beast has made an appearance in my shop for a new bridge and strings. Problem is a missing bridge means nothing to use as a template to rough in a new one, and the one bit of info I lack is string spacing at the bridge.

I could figure out how to "fudge" it,  and get pretty close, but pretty close isnt close enough with these types of jobs, and getting things right has proven to lead to plenty of good jobs over the last few years. Wandering into string band instrument work from guitars has had its surprise benefits!

Anyway, I know its just a tad off topic for this site..... but I hoped perhaps somewhere among this eclectic group, there might be someone who could go down to the parlor and interrupt the wife's sonata practice or something..... LOL!

The Alan Goldblatt specs help some, but I sure wish I had one to measure exactly!

Thanks again!

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on October 1, 2015 at 4:30pm

Oh, well if THAT'S all you needed, why dintcha say so? ;-)

Here ya go:

https://trianglestrings.com/newcellobridge/

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Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on October 2, 2015 at 11:11pm

Ah! Yes, now thats outstanding! Theres many a hack luthier post online, and I find the few good folks rarely go into detail in an instructive manner, usually its just "showy" or vague highlights.

She is good, and that post is detailed! Theres still some little stuff missing and a few dead links, but it is the best display I have seen yet on the job at hand. Thanks for leading me to it Ron, bookmarked site.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on October 3, 2015 at 3:37am

My pleasure, boss. ;-)

Also, couldn't hurt to contact her directly for the little missing bits, eh?

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Permalink Reply by gary herget on September 30, 2015 at 1:23pm

I have built a cello and made a bridge, have a drawing somewhere will try to find it for you. Might take a day or so. You might also contact Dave Lynas he is really into these things.

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Permalink Reply by gary herget on September 30, 2015 at 2:08pm

Pattern wasn't nearly as lost as I thought. My pattern is a tracing of one at a music store that I frequent. Starting with the treble side I show 16mm between string 1 and 2, 15mm between string 2 and 3. and 17mm between string 3 and 4. This is as accurate as I can get without a laser or something really complicated like that.

Good luck. 

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Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on September 30, 2015 at 2:20pm

Thanks Gary.

perfection was never an option.... LOL!

The "distance between" is affected by string gauge, and center to center isn't always symmetrical. So its fairly important to specify which......

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Permalink Reply by gary herget on October 1, 2015 at 10:23am

These measurements are from center to center of the notch in the bridge that the strings rest in.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on October 1, 2015 at 10:25am

Thanks for the clarification Gary, I'll sit and have a talk with it shortly......

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