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Floating bridges have less sustain especially when doubled with an unbraced soundboard of a box. The reason being that the energy from the strings is used to create sound. So the energy disapates faster than with a solid body (it's a lot more complicated than this but that's a simple way of thinking about it).
A solid body (this would include attaching a hard tail directly to the neck underneath the soundboard) will increase sustain and greatly help with keeping tuning consistent. The trade off is in acoustic volume.
Something else to think about is that a floating ridge will allow for more changes to the instrument after it is built. You can even throw it away and build another bridge altogether. You might prefer a heavier bridge to increase sustain or switch to a lightweight one to increase acoustic volume. A floating bridge offers a lot more options.
Personally I prefer a floating lightweight bridge to create a semi-accoustic because sustain is less important to me than flexibility. I also design my bridge last as it makes setup easier and i can finalise design.
This is interesting stuff. So mass creates sustain at the expense of volume?
Why does a fixed bridge help with tuning?
Not sure about mass and volume but a lightweight and dense material like bone or hard plastics transmit the vibrations better and don't inhibit the soundboard (well that's the way I think about it)
Sustain is best achieved by limiting the vibrations of the string moving into something else (like a soundboard) it simply stays in the string with the energy having nowhere to go it vibrates for longer. Sustain would probably be fantastic if the string was encased in a solid iron block. Sustain/volume has been going around and around for decades. The traditional guitar shape probably came into existence because the audiences listening to a lute being played became larger and players needed a louder instrument.
We deal with sticks and boxes, acoustic volume is a bit hit and miss but if we bypass wanting acoustic properties we can just about stretch a string over anything with a pickup and it will sound OK. The great thing about building these things is the experimentation. I've had good results and crazy unexpected results. I used a key as a bridge once and the teeth of the key vibrated on the fretboard giving it a whole new type of unexpected sound. I kept it like that because it was strange and different.
Floating bridges can move out of place and upset the intonation of the guitar. If the bridge is fixed and the intonation set correctly, then the tuning is less likely to go wrong.
Here's an easy "mythbusters mini experiment" to try at home. Zip-tie one end of a slinky to your deck rail, or similar fixed object, stretch it out and give it a pluck. Watch the wave race back and forth from end to end.
Now connect the other end of the slinky to the middle of your shower curtain, drapes, tip of a fishing pole in a holder, rope climb on the swingset, or other thing that will move easily. Stretch out the slinkey and pluck it again, watch the wave lose a lot of energy when it bounces off the other end.
A hardtail does require a secure fit to the box. Because it's also holding the tension of the strings.
True.
That switch would do my nut in though.
Thinking about this.. It seems like a very pretty and well built thing but .. The switch is kinda in the way of a good strum and having the bridge so close to the edge of the box is a bit dodgy. Humbucker are very heavy too and might dampen the soundboard.
If I was to guess then I would say it is more of an electric than acoustic guitar.
On saying that, it looks great and I wish I had made it.
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