A lot of creativity is shown regarding bridges on the CB instruments I've seen. The quintessential eye bolt seems to show up a lot, dog bones, ball point pens, bottle caps... all kinds of cool stuff. These obviously works great for plugged in CBs, [& for aesthetic "funk factor"] but what about acoustically?

In most non amplified instruments some general rules of thumb I've observed:
1. Most are made of pretty dense material like bone, ebony, rosewood, maple, corian etc.
2. sometimes the body of the bridge is made with dense material like, ebony, rosewood or maple and capped with even harder materials like for banjos ebony atop maple and guitars bone on ebony.
3. Softer materials tend to absorb highs and denser materials accentuate them. I've used this to advantage on instruments like hammered dulcimers by capping the bridges with Delrin [a sort of self lubricating synthetic - I think it's generic name is acytal] this not only helped reduce friction to make tuning easier - it filtered out some of the high frequencies that HDs often have too much of anyway.

One of the ways you lower the volume of traditional stringed instruments is by using a "mute." [And in spite of what one of my T-shirts says a banjo mute is NOT a 9 lb sledge hammer...;~) ]
These are weighted clips that fasten to the bridge of say a fiddle or a banjo. This is helpful if we're trying to balance their volume with other acoustic instruments. But this also tells us that all else being equal, if you merely add weight to a bridge is reduces it's ability to vibrate freely and pass that vibration on to the sound board, and so the instrument gets quieter.

With all that said, I'm guessing large eye bolts work against us if we're trying for optimum sound unplugged. An easy experiment someone might want to try is make a few bridges of different materials, but all the same height, and test them on the same instrument. If you have a cohort who's got the patience a blind listening test might be even a little bit scientific. Any takers? Recording the results and comparing that way might be cool too, but keeping all variables the same can be tricky.

How about other bridge observations?

Views: 697

Replies to This Discussion

I was using an oak bridge/saddle and it worked fine, now i have switched to a wood bridge(mahogany I think) and a small brass rod saddle. The sound is still good, to my ears not much different. Reason for change is the new bridge houses a piezo. I was worried the new bridge would dampen some beacause it is larger and covers more of the soundboard , but it did not effect it.
A domino works great. They're extremely cheap too...I bought 20 for like $2 at Wally World. Cut them into 1/4" strips and slot them for strings, not too deep though, they seem to play better with smaller slots. They won't scratch your box and are pretty easily adjustable. One word of caution, they smell God-awful if you burn them with a dremel tool cutting bit so my best advice is to wear a gas mask. They also shed like corian when cut and a regular dust mask won't rid the smell.

RSS

The Essential Pages

New to Cigar Box Nation? How to Play Cigar Box GuitarsFree Plans & How to Build Cigar Box GuitarsCigar Box Guitar Building Basics

Site Sponsor

Recommended Links & Resources


Discussion Forum

Resonator Ukulele

Started by John Hopper. Last reply by Order99 Jul 9, 2020. 1 Reply

Innards - reinforcements, struts and bass bars?

Started by Diane in Chicago. Last reply by Dustin Smith Oct 25, 2010. 19 Replies

bridges - materials - setup etc.

Started by David Beede. Last reply by Dustin Smith Oct 25, 2010. 15 Replies

Box construction materials

Started by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars Mar 10, 2010. 0 Replies

sound absortion inside box

Started by bucky. Last reply by David Beede Sep 8, 2009. 1 Reply

Latest Activity

Gary O'slide posted a video
37 minutes ago
T-Gripped liked Darryl Tuttle's photo
1 hour ago
Uncle John commented on J. D. Woods's photo
Thumbnail

Current Instrument Line-Up

"That is a mighty fine answer and not too lengthy considering all the information you…"
2 hours ago
Doug Thorsvik commented on Doug Thorsvik's video
6 hours ago
Doug Thorsvik commented on Doug Thorsvik's video
Thumbnail

I Can Only Imagine: 2-String Chugger License Plate Cigar Box Guitar

"Thanks Uncle John! I’m always delighted when other Slingers choose it to play."
6 hours ago
J. D. Woods commented on J. D. Woods's photo
Thumbnail

Current Instrument Line-Up

"Hi Uncle John, Ha, ha!! So glad you asked, I wondered when somebody was gonna notice! I'll try…"
6 hours ago
A.D.EKER commented on AGP #'s photo
Thumbnail

AGP #530 - ''Pink Floyd''

"Colorfull Build  AGP # the last colorfull song they will  ever build ,the feud is going…"
12 hours ago
A.D.EKER commented on Poorness Studios's video
Thumbnail

Jose Cuervo | Shelly West cover on 4-string CBG

"its good to hear you are part of the "Old Content" did not get any of this ,but you…"
12 hours ago
A.D.EKER commented on A.D.EKER's video
Thumbnail

There i was Standing at the ..... BCB - A. D. Eker 2024

"Good morning UJ ,How are you ? hope you are fine! i did say "CrossRoads",Blues Rock its a…"
12 hours ago
Uncle John commented on J. D. Woods's photo
18 hours ago
Uncle John commented on J. D. Woods's photo
Thumbnail

Current Instrument Line-Up

"Nice line up.  Unusual pick guard on the big git that looks like a Martin.  What is that…"
18 hours ago
Uncle John commented on Ghostbuttons's photo
Thumbnail

Four projects

"Nice, nice trio."
18 hours ago

Music

© 2024   Created by Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

\uastyle>\ud/** Scrollup **/\ud.scrollup {\ud background: url("https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/963882636?profile=original") no-repeat scroll 0 0 transparent;\ud bottom: 25px;\ud display: inline !important;\ud height: 40px;\ud opacity: 0.3 !important;\ud position: fixed;\ud right: 30px;\ud text-indent: -9999px;\ud width: 40px;\ud z-index: 999;\ud}\ud.scrollup:hover {\ud opacity:0.99!important;\ud}\ud \uascript type="text/javascript">\ud x$(document).ready(function(){\ud x$(window).scroll(function(){\ud if (x$(this).scrollTop() > 100) {\ud x$('.scrollup').fadeIn();\ud } else {\ud x$('.scrollup').fadeOut();\ud }\ud });\ud x$('.scrollup').click(function(){\ud x$("html, body").animate({ scrollTop: 0 }, 600);\ud return false;\ud });\ud });\ud \ua!-- End Scroll Up -->