Hawgfiddle65 - Posted - 07/23/2013:  02:08:49

Hi

Busy saving up and scavenging wood for my next banjo builds. I fancy having a go at making bridges for them . One is going to be a 5 string piccolo and one a fretless A scale .I'd like to build them with an option of using steel or nylgut .i would guess to get the best out of each I'd have to make a couple of bridges .What type of bridge would be best for the nylgut- uncapped minstrel type? what sort of wood ,I have European sycamore ,beech and mahogany but I reckon I can get my hands on off cuts of other hardwoods even maybe some weird ones .There may even be some very old pine around, my local merchant has reclaimed all of the pews from out of our local church-well seasoned by 50 plus years of parishioners bottoms.

Any info gratefully recieved

Jim (Hawgfiddle65)

chickenpickin - Posted - 07/23/2013:  04:14:11

Jim, spruce works well for nylgut strings as does locust.

Tim

jbalch - Posted - 07/23/2013:  04:57:05

quote:

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Originally posted by chickenpickin

 

Jim, spruce works well for nylgut strings as does locust.

 

Tim

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Agree!

steve davis - Posted - 07/23/2013:  05:05:56

I've sold maple with rosewood top to nyl-gut owners.
Sounds like many woods can work well,depending on your tonal preferences.

grm405 - Posted - 07/23/2013:  05:13:35

I use the same wood as for steel stringed, ie. maple with a African Blackwood top.  I have tried several different boards and they all seem to work well.  You do want a board which gives a clear sound with lots of sustain, since Nylgut/Nylon has a lot less sustain than steel strings.  Currently I am using a submerged maple, from the same little piece of wood as the bridges on my Stelling and Vegas.  I would suspect that birch or beech would also work well as long as you can keep the weight down.  For the same reason I suspect that pine or fir would not work as well as these give very short sustain.

Gerry

Edited by - grm405 on 07/23/2013 05:16:29

Hawgfiddle65 - Posted - 07/23/2013:  07:51:43

Thanks all

I'll look about for spruce .We've got lots of Norway spruce here in Scotland but not sure if the wood will be tight grained enough- does grain density matter? Am I best to keep weight down, can you recommend a weight?

Ta

Jim (Hawgfiddle65)

Fathand - Posted - 07/23/2013:  10:02:09

I found a rosewood bridge in my stash for my Baritone Uke Banjo with Nylguts. The remo head is on Brass tone hoop on Ash Rim, It sounds great.

trapdoor2 - Posted - 07/23/2013:  10:43:24

I prefer "very light" bridges for nylgut/nylon strings. Thin, two-footed maple work quite well...also softwoods like pine and spruce do nicely. I would indeed look for tight grain but I have a pine bridge on my Hartel that only has about six per inch and it seems to be doing fine...since 2008.

Frankly, I would try anything that happened to be at hand. The string pressure from nylon/nylgut on the bridge grooves is quite low so while I wouldn't recommend Balsa-wood, just about anything else will work to some degree.

Otherwise, all I can say is that I prefer "lighter" over the std. "Snuffy Smith" type of ebony-topped simple bridge. I used to prefer the "Cole-Type" bridges sold by Elderly as "Morris" (mfg. by Bill Morris) but these days, I tend towards the simple two-footed style as sold by Stewart (and others) back in the 1890's.

chickenpickin - Posted - 07/23/2013:  10:58:20

quote:

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Originally posted by Hawgfiddle65

 

Thanks all

I'll look about for spruce .We've got lots of Norway spruce here in Scotland but not sure if the wood will be tight grained enough- does grain density matter? Am I best to keep weight down, can you recommend a weight?

Ta

Jim (Hawgfiddle65)

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A close grain spruce would be preferred and if you make it similar in size and shape to a standard looking bridge, you'll find spruce to be very light weight and can end up being too light in fact. Make it thick and work it down as you are trying it on the banjo.

Tim

banjered - Posted - 07/23/2013:  13:36:25

Anybody try one of the paint store stirring sticks? Looks about right to me. Banjered