QUANTITY PRICING and PURCHASES: Order as many as you like first by messaging me with your choices to get a total with shipping/insurance and paypal instructions. In each purchase/shipment, the first bridge is $25, the second bridge is $25, and each bridge from the 3rd and after will be $20 each. Tell me the "Group" number from the list below of the type of bridge(s) you want and the quantity from each group. I will confirm with you via the hangout message system to make sure I ship the ones you choose.



This is a rare opportunity to select a quantity of NOS/mint/excellent select master grade aged/premium bridges of various features at one time at a discounted price from new. When these are gone, there won't be any more.

THESE ARE ALL 5 STRING BANJO BRIDGES; THERE ARE NO FOUR STRING BRIDGES IN THIS LISTING.

THESE ARE ALL FLAT TOP BRIDGES FOR FLAT FINGERBOARDS; THERE ARE NO RADIUS BRIDGES IN THIS LISTING.

I have available in this listing almost 200 bridges of various makers, heights, string spacings, woods, and thicknesses available for sale from my banjo repair and restoration career. Having been a professional banjo luthier since 2000 (and a serious amateur since 1980), I always kept a large stock of various bridges in my shop so that I could provide the right bridge for any customer's banjo. As you likely know, any given bridge that may not sound optimal on one banjo will be stellar on another, and vice-versa.

Most of my preferred bridge stock choices were the legendary Wadsworth and Huber bridges, and having had relationships with both of those makers, I was able to hand pick my bridge stock. A few years ago, I was permitted to pick through the complete (at that time) Wadsworth 5,000-6,000 bridge inventory which represented 30+ years of that craftsman's work (to that time, I had been the only person permitted to do that). Wadsworth mostly made bridges one at a time by hand from hand selected old/old growth air dried wood, and also made some bridges specifically for me out of wood I provided to him (maple piano and flooring timber with confirmed ages back to about 1900). All of the bridges in this listing I have personally had in my possession since purchased new for almost or longer than ten years. These are all thoroughly aged/seasoned. Most of these bridges were slotted on Huber Banjo's bridge slotting machine by me, and therefore obviously slotted for steel strings. Wadsworth bridges have no maker's mark.

All of these bridges are in new/NOS condition with about 15% of them having been on a banjo for a few minutes during my set up process of selecting the best individual bridge for my customers' banjos. The bridges in this listing that have been on a banjo have been on a banjo for less than a few minutes, only on my workbench installed/removed by me, and are not substandard in any way, they just weren't optimum for the individual banjo I was setting up at the time. I am meticulous and I consider these and all bridges in this ad to be "new", but I am listing them as used-excellent condition for this reason, as well as the fact that none of these bridges came to me with nor include the little plastic case that you sometimes get a bridge bought new individually encased in. It would be difficult for anyone to tell which bridges in this offering had or had not been on a banjo.

If you want to know more about me, my work, or my character and reputation, check my classifieds ratings and click the "Blog" tab on my banjohangout homepage for links to my customer reviews, luthier page, and ancient/archived shop thread.




DESCRIPTIONS AND THICKNESS CODES OF BRIDGES:

THICKNESS/TAPER: In one of the pictures above, I illustrate this explanation about my bridge thickness code/legend for this listing: (SIZES ARE APPROXIMATIONS AND I CAN'T MEASURE EACH BRIDGE OR A LARGE SAMPLE TO GET A MORE ACCURATE AVERAGE; THE SIZES BELOW WERE THE MOST CONVENIENT TO USE, TAKEN FROM A VISUAL CROSS SECTION OF THE LOT AVIALABLE, AND DESCRIBE AND ARE APPROXIMATIONS MORE THAN FULLY ACCURATE NUMBERS ON AN INDIVIDUAL BRIDGE BASIS. In my work, I chose a bridge visually and by feel, then tried it for sound on a banjo; I almost never measured bridges unless I was making or working on one physically once I had it's height within tolerance and slotted it. I will make most judgements based on the side contour taper, meaning how thin the top string edge is (which is the dimension that varies the most between the categories). See the pictures.

1-"Thin"; average around 0.220" at the bottom/foot and around 0.080" at the tip/string top edge. These bridges for most modern banjos/tastes/set ups are not optimum, but can be very, very good with the right skin head or with certain problem banjos and for some open back banjo set ups or for some hoop/woodie/non-tonering banjos.

2-"Regular"; average around 0.240" at the bottom/foot and around 0.115"-0.0150" at the tip/string top edge. This would be a range similar to a stock new Huber bridge and some of the Sullivan bridges you would possibly be used to seeing/experiencing.***MANY TIMES, 11/16" BRIDGES ARE A BIT THICKER TOWARDS THE FEET END THAN THE SHORTER SIZES IN THIS GROUP (INDUSTRY STANDARD)

3-"Thick"; average around 0.240-0.290" at the bottom/foot (but could go as small as 0.220") and around 0.160-0.180" (and in some cases possibly a bit thicker) at the tip/string top edge. These LOOK a lot thicker than the #2 "Regular size because the string top edge is thicker, but the bottom is similar size but maybe a tad bigger, so the side contour taper LOOKS like the bridge is just much thicker overall because the front and back side taper is closer to paralell than the angle typically found in group #2 above. This would be a range similar to Robin Smith/Heartland, Snuffy Smith, stock Stew Mac, and a lot of the old Brian Hooper Curtis McPeake Lightningbolt bridges (though those brands' top edge might be thinner than 0.0160"). Most players use/select these as made, but these do have a good enough amount of material to thickness sand these to suit a given banjo/project if desired, but are usually made to be used as they are. Most of the bridges of this thickness/taper in this listing are Wadsworths made of other species than maple, and I had and used many of these for certain banjos. I had them this thick so that these species of wood could be voiced specifically to whatever project I was using them on. They are absolutely playable as is and actually may be just fine as they are for some banjos....but they are noticeably thicker than what most would be used to seeing for sale as a new ready to use bridge. This #3 "Thick" category size varies the most, and some could be as small as 0.220" on the foot, but I will put most bridges in this category if the top edge is thicker than about 0.0150"


WOOD SPECIES: Unless otherwise specified, the bridges in this listing are ebony topped maple of what many call the old Grover style shape. Some limited run Hubers are one piece maple; I have a few bone topped Snuffy Jenkins style, and some body woods from Persimmon (EXCELLENT bridge wood and REALLY good to my ears on some banjos and can really do wonders for problem banjos/set ups where maple isn't quite right), Cherry, Beech, Yellow Heart, White Holly, and Sweet Gum (when I restored Russ Carson's Gold Star, we both loved the Sweet Gum bridge that suited his banjo best at the time and he played it that way for a long time before he started taking endorsements). Check the listings below for each specific bridge's materials.


STRING SPACING: I have Standard (STD) and Crowe (CR) string spacings with a few new unslotted bridges as listed below.


HEIGHTS: I have 5/8, 0.656/21-32, 11/16, and a few 3/4 as grouped below.


COMPENSATION: All bridges are uncompensated unless noted; I just have a few compensated 3rd string bridges below.

ALL BRIDGES (that do not have a maker's mark to indicate installation orientation) HAVE A HORIZONTAL PENCIL LINE ON THE MIDDLE FOOT ON THE "FRONT" SIDE OF THE BRIDGE; THE BRIDGE SHOULD BE INSTALLED/ALIGNED WITH THIS LINE OR MAKER'S MARK FACING TOWARDS THE PEGHEAD SO STRING SLOTS MATCH STRINGS' THICKNESSES. THERE WILL BE PENCIL NOTES AS TO HEIGHT AND STRING SPACING ON THE FEET (SURFACE THAT CONTACTS THE HEAD) OF EACH BRIDGE FOR IDENTIFICATION. This is the industry standard by most bridge makers for identification.


SHIPPING: I realize several bridges could be shipped a bit cheaper first class without insurance, however for convenience and protection to both of us, all bridges will ship in the USPS Small Priority Box for protection and insurance. A 1 or 2 bridge purchase will ship Priority Insured for $9.20. 3 or more bridges will ship the same way for $13 or more (depending on insurance cost) to pay for the extra insurance. If someone wants to buy enough bridges that I think they would be better protected in a larger box, we can quote those situations as they arise. I will not take a chance with my and your bridges by shipping them in an envelope uninsured....period. USA SHIPPING ADDRESSES ONLY.





BRIDGES AVAILABLE:



Group 1: 5/8 STD Huber Maple/Ebony #2 "Regular"; 13 total at beginning of listing: 12 available

Group 2: Per #1 immediately above, but with 3rd string compensation; 1 total at beginning of listing: 1 available

Group 3: 5/8 STD Wadsworth Yellowheart/Ebony #2 "Regular"; 1 total at beginning of listing: SOLD OUT
(Yellowheart is similar to maple but has a bit more coarse grain with more visible silk flaking,
and a bit more of an yellow/orange cast).

Group 4: 5/8 STD Wadsworth Maple/Ebony #2 "Regular"; 22 total at beginning of listing: 3 available

***these last 3 left were made from the maple flooring of a St. Louis Hardware store that was built in 1900 that was demolished and I got the wood from a customer from the salvage yard in TX about 8 years ago and had David Wadsworth make these for me out of this wood. These are the best bridges I've heard, and are priced higher than the rest here, but are still cheaper than a new run of the mill Wadsworth bridge direct from David;
these are $30 each independant of the discount mentioned at the beginning of this ad***


Group 5: 5/8 STD Wadsworth Maple/Ebony #1 "Thin"; 3 total at beginning of listing: SOLD OUT

Group 6: 5/8 STD Huber Maple ONE PIECE NO SEPARATE TOP #2 "Regular"; 2 total at beginning of listing: SOLD OUT

Group 7: 5/8 STD Wadsworth ROSEWOOD/Ebony #2 "Regular" but a bit thicker on top; 1 total at beginning of listing: SOLD OUT

Group 8: 5/8 STD Wadsworth EBONY OR DARK ROSEWOOD/BONE TOPS #3 "Thick"; 3 total at beginning of listing: 1 available

GROUP 9: 5/8 CROWE Huber Maple/Ebony #2 "Regular"; 3 total at beginning of listing: SOLD OUT

GROUP 10: 5/8 CROWE Wadsworth Maple/Ebony #2 "Regular"; 12 total at beginning of listing: SOLD OUT

Group 11: 21/32"/0.656" STD Wadsworth Maple/Ebony #3 "Thick"; 9 total at beginning of listing: 7 available

Group 12: 21/32"/0.656" STD Wadsworth Maple/Ebony #2 "Regular"; 30 total at beginning of listing: 23 available

Group 13: Per #12 immediately above, but with 3rd string compensation "; 2 total at beginning of listing: SOLD OUT

Group 14: 21/32"/0.656" STD Huber Maple/Ebony #2 "Regular"; 7 total at beginning of listing: 7 available

Group 15: 21/32"/0.656" UNSLOTTED Huber Maple/Ebony #2 "Regular"; 1 total at beginning of listing: 1 available

Group 16: 21/32"/0.656" STD Wadsworth Maple/Ebony #1 "Thin"; 24 total at beginning of listing: 17 available

Group 17: 21/32"/0.656" STD Wadsworth PERSIMMON/Ebony #1 "Thin"; 6 total at beginning of listing: 1 available

Group 18: 21/32"/0.656" STD Wadsworth PERSIMMON/Ebony between #2 "Regular" and #3 "Thick"; 5 total at beginning of listing: 3 available

Group 19: 21/32"/0.656" STD Wadsworth CHERRY/Ebony #3 "Thick"; 2 total at beginning of listing: SOLD OUT

Group 20: 21/32"/0.656" STD Wadsworth BEECH/Ebony #3 "Thick"; 1 total at beginning of listing: SOLD OUT

Group 21: 21/32"/0.656" CROWE Wadsworth Maple/Ebony #2 "Regular"; 20 total at beginning of listing; 15 available

Group 22: 21/32"/0.656" CROWE Wadsworth PERSIMMON/Ebony #3 "Thick"; 3 total at beginning of listing; 1 available

Group 23: 21/32"/0.656" CROWE Wadsworth CHERRY/Ebony #3 "Thick"; 2 total at beginning of listing; 1 available

Group 24: 11/16" STD Wadsworth Maple/Ebony #2 "Regular"; 3 total at beginning of listing; 2 available

Group 25: 11/16" STD Huber Maple/Ebony #2 "Regular"; 6 total at beginning of listing; 4 available

Group 26: 11/16" STD Wadsworth SWEET GUM/Ebony #2 "Regular"; 2 total at beginning of listing; SOLD OUT

Group 27: 11/16" STD Wadsworth Maple/BONE #2 "Regular"; 1 total at beginning of listing; SOLD OUT

Group 28: 11/16" STD Wadsworth ?/Rosewood #2 "Regular"; 1 total at beginning of listing; SOLD OUT
-? Body Wood-very nice closed pore smooth almost grainless wood with a yellow tint

Group 29: 11/16" CROWE Huber Maple/Ebony #2 "Regular"; 2 total at beginning of listing; SOLD OUT

Group 30: 3/4"- (@ 0.744") STD Wadsworth Maple/Ebony #2 "Regular" COMPENSATED 3rd string; 2 total at beginning of listing; SOLD OUT THROUGH ANOTHER BHO AD

Group 31: 3/4" UNSLOTTED Wadsworth PERSIMMON/Ebony #3 "Thick"; *Some chips around feet; 1 total at beginning of listing; SOLD OUT THROUGH ANOTHER BHO AD

Group 32: 3/4" UNSLOTTED Robin Smith/Timeless Timber Maple/Ebony #3 "Thick"; 1 total at beginning of listing; SOLD OUT THROUGH ANOTHER BHO AD