Flamenco bridge design

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JasonM

Posts: 2055
Joined: Dec. 8 2005
From: Baltimore

Flamenco bridge design

Maestros, what height do you like to use for your saddle slots?

The bridge on the Reyes plan is 7mm tall (base to the top of the saddle slot). I personally thought this was too high so I though I would make the saddle slot 6mm. Then I realized if I’m going to keep the same slot depth then i need to scale the whole bridge down by a millimeter. So I lowered the wings and the tie block as well. I modeled the whole bridge in CAD. Maybe a little overboard but I needed the practice. I guess the consequence of this is loosing mass on the bridge as a whole unit. In the end my bridge is very similar to that on my Sanchis 😆.

Unfortunately a giant 2mm pore surfaced right on the edge of the wing as I was shaping it. I’m going to see if I can fill it with some super glue and dust.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 20 2019 0:15:21

RobF

Posts: 1611
Joined: Aug. 24 2017

RE: Flamenco bridge design (in reply to JasonM)

I think scaling down the tie block and saddle mound by 1mm makes sense for what you want, but I’d be less inclined to do the same for the wings. Maybe reduce a bit, but a 1mm trim there likely amounts to a 25% reduction, so perhaps instead consider having the reduction follow the same proportions as that of the other elements (e.g. a 7 to 6 reduction at the saddle slot would translate to more like a 4 to 3.5 reduction at the wings). You can always undercut between the tie block and saddle mound. Not sure if ‘saddle mound’ is what it’s called, by the way, lol.

Keeping the wings around 4mm isn’t going to hurt either, that would be my inclination, but nothing’s hard and fast. If you’ve already done the adjustments, no worries, everything will still work fine.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 20 2019 0:48:06

constructordeguitarras

Posts: 1675
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA

RE: Flamenco bridge design (in reply to JasonM)

"Base to top of saddle slot"

I make the wood around the slot one quarter inch (6.35 mm) tall. The slot itself is only half that depth, its bottom level with the tops of the wings.

If you want more mass, you can make the central part of the bridge--tie block and slot area--longer and the wings a little shorter to keep the whole bridge the same length.

Super Glue and dust is a good idea for that pore.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 20 2019 1:31:43

JasonM

Posts: 2055
Joined: Dec. 8 2005
From: Baltimore

RE: Flamenco bridge design (in reply to constructordeguitarras)

Thanks for the info guys! Rob, that is a good point about reducing the wing size. The issue was the saddle slot. The wings had to come down a little for clearance of the bottom of the saddle slot.

Ethan, I think 1/4 inch sounds like a good compromise for me too.

Made my 3rd bridge iteration today. I was radiusing the bottom for the dome and it got a bit too low, 5.8mm. I was chasing a corner that I must have scraped a little much material off. Im out of bridge blanks! Time to re order and check my measurements.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 21 2019 1:03:42

David LaPlante

Posts: 34
Joined: Mar. 7 2016

RE: Flamenco bridge design (in reply to JasonM)

These look kind of wide to me. I like about 29-30mm wide and 190mm long. I always make the bridge after the guitar is together so I can adjust the height and relationships to accommodate the string height required. www.guitarsbydavidlaplante.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 28 2019 15:25:42