Armando -> RE: Bridge weight (Sep. 29 2009 11:29:09)
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Hi The bridge in deed plays an important role for the sound of a guitar. Generally i think the importance of the bridge on the sound of the guitar is often underestimated. Not only the weight is important but also it's size, stiffness, shape and height. I prefere brazilian rosewood for bridges due to it's bell like tone and it's visual beauty. Indian rosewood is often used for bridges as well and it's not much lighter than my brazilian, but it's resonance is quite much lower and less bright. Generally speaking it's good to have a lighter bridge particularly on flamenco guitars. A heavy bridge means a lower top resonance, more mass to be put in motion and therefore less attack. R.E. Bruné wrote in one of his articles that mahogany and padauk would be a good choices for a flamenco guitar from an acoustic point of view. Of course we all know, that mahogany would waer out quickly due to it's softness, while padauk is hard enough but lighter than rosewood and with a very nice ringing tone. The only problem with padauk is it's red colour which might probably not look that attractive on a spruce top guitar. I manage to build my bridges of brazilian rosewood at 15 to 16 grams including the bone inlay. Lower than 15 grams was'nt possible, but it shouldn't be more than that either. I would reject any bridge for a flamanco guitar heavier than 16 grams. I think that the stiffness and the tonal properties of the brazilian rosewood do more than compensate it's weight. I would never use ebony for a bridge as it has high damping properties.
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