Survey of Ovation players:

[glauber]

Just a silly question out of curiosity: the Ovation mandolins have pinless ball-end bridges. When faced with this kind of bridge, i have always aligned the ball-ends so they're "horizontal", or parallel to the bridge and top.

Well, i just got an Ovation that has belonged to Wayne Benson, and i believe it has the original strings as they came from the manufacturer, almost 10 years ago. To my surprise, the ball-ends were "vertical", or at right-angles to the bridge and top.

What do you do? Vertical? Horizontal? Random? Certainly not random?

[mrbook]

The instruction booklet that came with my 1971 Ovation guitar said horizontal, and I have done it that way ever since. I assume the mandolins should be the same. I've also wondered if it really mattered, but never dared try it another way to test.

[steve in tampa]

Glauber,


That instrument arrived to me with the strings loosened. Tuned it up , tuned it back down, tuned it up again, then tuned it down before shipping. They might have gotten turned during all that.

I always install the new strings horizontal. Seems like the most logical way.

How is it working out for you?

[glauber]

Steve,

Santa hasn't given it to me officially yet! So i can only play it for brief periods when Santa isn't looking. Once it comes into my hands officially, there is a set of TI strings and a "softie" leather strap waiting for it. I have always set the balls horizontally, but i have to admit they look cool vertical. I don't think it matters. I think they were like that all the time, because they're all exactly vertical (90 degrees).

[mandroid]

Yea, wonder if the barrel pulls the wrong way, the bridges tend to split earlier than the 'proper' way..

[glauber]

To be honest, i've never seen that kind of bridge split. In Brazil that's fairly common for steel strung guitars. I don't really think it matters, just obsessive-compulsive behaviour on my part.

[Professor PT]

Isn't that kind of a personal question?

[glauber]

Well, more clinical, sorta.

[mandroid]

Thanks for sharing

[Mandorlo]

Hi, I'm fairly new to the Cafe but not new to the Ovation mandolin. I've put together probably 99% of the mandolins since we started building them around 1995. I always string them verticle so that the ball fits snug into the groove in the back of the bridge.I've never sent one out with them running parallel to the top, it never even crossed my mind before. #Dave

[glauber]

Hi, I'm fairly new to the Cafe but not new to the Ovation mandolin. I've put together probably 99% of the mandolins since we started building them around 1995. I always string them verticle so that the ball fits snug into the groove in the back of the bridge.I've never sent one out with them running parallel to the top, it never even crossed my mind before. Dave

Hello, Dave,

how amazing to have you around here. I think that's very interesting, that you've been sending them vertical and we have been changing them to horizontal, all these years.


So my New Year's Resolution for 2006 will be: "I will start lining up my balls vertically!"

All the best to you. Thanks for putting together the mandolin Santa's bringing me in a couple of days!

[glauber]

I always string them verticle so that the ball fits snug into the groove in the back of the bridge.I've never sent one out with them running parallel to the top, it never even crossed my mind before.

Dave, it just occurred to me that the reason i have strung them parallel to the top is that the groove in the back of the bridge runs lengthwise, parallel to the top. It looks like the ball-ends fit in better when they're "horizontal".

[Mandorlo]

Take a close look at the groove and you will see that is made so the ball ends of the strings will fit nice and snug if the balls run verticle to to top and groove. If you use ball ends with holes you should be able to pass a string through from one end to the other. Dave