Bridge splintered thoughts on replacement?

[Bryan Gerrells]

Hi I have a Kentucky KM-250 mandolin and the bridge has splintered. I attached a picture of it. I'd like to buy a replacement bridge, but I'm having trouble deciding what to get. I'm pretty sure my KM-250 is radius fret board. The serial number is 10111203- I'ts has nickel plated hardware. Would an ebony bridge be a ok replacement? It's a lot cheaper price wise, but I'd still have to take and get it slotted. Should I pay extra and get the cumberland replacement or is it 'worth it'.


Cumberlands options:
What saddle options should I order? 9 5/8's radius or 12" radius?
Whats a tall boy or low boy?
Pretty sure I should get slotted
Should I get full contact or patent base?

Thanks

Bryan

[Pete Jenner]

You would do well to get yourself a Brekke bridge.

[Dave Cohen]

Get whatever bridge you want. No matter what bridge you get, you will need to either fit it to the top plate yourself, or get a luthier to do it. Same goes for matching the fretboard radius, also for string slotting. A luthier can do those things for you, as well as determining the radius of your fretboard.

http://www.Cohenmando.com/

[Rob Grant]

'Nother possibility is to remove the saddle, run a bit of CA into the crack and clamp it. Natural Ebony, due to its growing environment, can often contain natural stress cracks. A good quality CA (like Loctite 406) works a treat with these sort of cracks. I often use CA to "stabilize" the local Aussie dry country ebonies that I use in my instruments.

[Rick Lindstrom]

Lastly, a very simple and reversible fix would be to get a couple of tongue depressors, popsicle sticks or something similar, and use them to make a shim that would fit between the bridge and the foot and hold the saddle at the proper height. Probably a good idea to remove the thumb wheels if you do this. Cost is pennies or nothing, and I really doubt that it would change the sound of your mando in any appreciable way.

[Mickey King]

Cumberland Acoustics!!!http://www.cumberlandacoustic.com/id2.html

[kkmm]

a very simple and reversible fix would be to get a couple of tongue depressors, popsicle sticks or something similar, and use them to make a shim that would fit between the bridge and the foot and hold the saddle at the proper height

This works, I have done this once to one of my mandolin. The saddle has to go as low (by the thumb wheel) to lay flat on the bridge with shims in between. This way, the string pressure is on the bridge, not the saddle. It's good to reglue the crack as well with CA glue (not sure if the glue is strong enough to hold without the shims).
Fitting a new bridge & saddle is not a simple job for most mandolin players.

[CES]

Tall boy is simply a taller bridge...may be needed depending on a number of factors (neck angle, the height of action you like to play at, or, in older instruments, to compensate for top sinkage). Low boy is a shorter bridge/saddle configutation. Probably the easiest way to decide between these two is to measure the height of your current bridge, then pick the option that fits most closely to that measurement. Would go with slotted unless you have files/skill to do that yourself. Even going with slotted you may have to fine tune the intonation just a bit on the saddle.

Sorry, not knowledgable enough to give advice on the radius...suspect that your FB is flat and that the 9 and 5/8s is what you'd need, but don't hold me to that . It may be worth a phone call to the CA folks (or an email) if one of the dealers/luthiers who typically works with CA bridges and Kentucky mandolins doesn't chime in.

I really like the Brekke bridge on my OM, CA bridges are excellent, and a less expensive option would be to get an ebony bridge from Stew-Mac. I got one for my Kentucky 675-S and was surprised by the quality of the bridge compared to what came on my Kentucky AND with the tone difference it made in that mandolin. Certainly not as nice as a CA or Brekke, but a less expensive option...though still not as inexpensive as Rob's advice regarding the superglue fix, which, if nothing else, will let you keep playing until the new bridge arrives!

[Willie Poole]

You can order a CA bridge with slots...I glued one like is suggested above and then tried to break it again with my hands and I could not break it so I believe it would stand up under the string pressure, I never installed mine back on a mandolin but always meant to....Some one must have pushed down on that saddle to break it in the first place, if not, that is some inferior or fake ebony wood...

Willie

[Steevarino]

Hi Bryan,
I sent you an e-mail about 10 minutes ago, and then I just stumbled upon this thread. I think I gave you all the information you needed in that e-mail, but feel free to call me here at Cumberland Acoustic if you have any questions. 877-857-4896.

[Bryan Gerrells]

Thank you all.