Just a quick post. I made a Douglas Fir two footed, ebony topped bridge for my fretless. Wow, it gives a good sound! I then got to thinking: Would anyone like to review one of the wave of custom bridges and the consultations with their creators, with ones made specifically for our Nylon stringed instruments?
9 Comments |
 | Bufo Bill says:
1/11/2013 3:47:51 PM
Have you bought a bridge that livens up your banjo? Or did your craftsperson impress you with their service or listening skills? Good experience? Bad experience? As long as it relates to a nylon string banjo, let us know!
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 | DEmery says:
1/11/2013 4:28:09 PM
Tim Purcell builds all of my bridges and they are excellent. He built for bluegrass banjos for the most part but I play openback wood rim and tone ring banjos. He provides me spruce/ebony capped along with locust/ebony capped bridges and they do things for me that maple bridges do not. All are highly finished and built to specific mass or weight. They are consistent and I would recommend Tim (a BHO member) to anybody for bridges custom built for bluegrass or open back banjos. David E.
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| Bufo Bill says:
1/13/2013 1:45:46 PM
David, thanks for posting so promptly. Your answer just what I was looking to find. I had wondered if it was a bit of a tenuous link for the group, but I know now that at least some of us appreciate this topic.
Out of curiosity, do your Spruce and locust bridges give extra volume or a better tone or both? My fir bridge is louder, but gives a sort of growl to the slides, like a melodious slide on an electric guitar, if you see what I mean?
All the best from Bill. :D
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 | BobJJ says:
1/20/2013 7:00:06 PM
I have built a half-dozen banjo ukes. I have used (black) walnut for the bridges and they work OK.
I have been messing around with a 5-string banjo.
I have started experimenting with sugar maple, hornbeam, basswood, white pine, etc.
I like bone. A bone bridge with 2 small feet works for me.
BoB
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| Bufo Bill says:
1/22/2013 1:16:57 PM
Bob, I hear Sugar maple is great and gets better still with time. The bone sounds interesting too. Is the Pine any louder than usual to your ear?
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 | chadp says:
2/4/2013 6:45:19 PM
I ordered a bridge from Eric Stefanelli of France (google stefanelli banjos), simple boxy two foot design (think old ss stewart style) with an ebony cross piece (like a grover non-tip), looks and sounds fantastic with nylgut strings. harmonics chime louder with this bridge than any other bridge i've used
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| DEmery says:
2/5/2013 7:30:31 AM
Bufo Bill...I apologize for not seeing your question after my post. Yes...the spruce in particular provides more volume. They work best in my view on all wood, non tone ring open back banjos. The spruce does project more but seems to be most effective on tone ring banjos. When Jason Burns completed my slot head recently; he made a spruce bridge from old air plane wing spruce. He said it was louder and that he liked it. He put a Tim Purcess locust bridge on it at 2.1 grams and Jason felt it may not have all of the volume but was described as more "powerful." Again, this is a dobon tone ring banjo and it has followed consistent that locust performs best when paired with a tone ring. Keep in mind I use skin heads and have tested these bridges across a varitey of rim woods from ebony, rosewood, to walnut/maple. It has been consistent. Hope you are enjoying the feedback on bridges. David E.
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| BobJJ says:
2/5/2013 8:20:24 AM
The lighter weight bridges sound slightly louder to me also. The biggest improvement in sound with nylon strings was going to a 2 foot bridge.
Spruce has the greatest strength to weight ratio of just about any wood. That is why spruce is used for guitar tops and braces.
2x4s are mostly made of either spruce or fir, so there is a plentiful supply of light weight wood to experiment with. All you need to get started is a hatchet and a pocket knife
Bob
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| Bufo Bill says:
2/5/2013 2:04:09 PM
David and Bob, thanks for replying. I think you make a very good point Bob, that two footed bridges sound better with all polymer strings. For those interested in building bridges for your Polymer stringed banjos, there is a link to a useful thread here on the group page in the column of links to the right, several pages back
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