Posted by Timeliner on Saturday, May 24, 2008
After seeing all the offerings available from the
Golden Eared Profits I thought, "why not just make my own Banjo Bridge and see how it turns out "?
I selected a piece of 100+ year old Maple that I had and with a hand plain brought it down to about the right size. Next I cut out the rough shape with a jewelers saw and finished the form with jeweler’s burrs and sand paper.
I cut out and shaped the Purple Heart top and fashioned the top and bottom to fit. It’s a bit wider at the bottom and the top then most bridges and is a little longer as well. There about 7 growth rings in the Maple and they are parallel. I didn’t want to glue them so I made small threaded ( 1.20 mm / 25 thread) rods of Silver Bronze to join the top and bottom together.
After filing and polishing the string slots. I gave it a try. It works pretty well with a deep base, soft highs and a smooth mid range. There is a picture of it in my photos called
Sleigh Ride Bridge.
I made and different one this week with a more conventional shape and used a section of Maple with a tighter set of growth rings. 9 of them to be exact. The base of this bridge is narrow compared to most bridges. It’s about as low as I could get it without having any string buzz. I made Sterling Silver threaded rods to join the Purple Heart top.
This bridge rings like a bell.
The process of making these is a lot of fun and I’ll be making some more I’m sure.
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'ML-1 banjo neck' 50 min
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