Bridge for Stradolin

[dorenac]

Long story short. Eight or so years ago I bought a sweet ole Stradolin. After a year or so I sold it to a teacher who used it for students to play. Well all those years after I sold it I missed it, so one day I emailed the teacher, she still had it and sold it back to me. But when it came back the top had flattened from heavy strings' downward pressure. The bridge is the original adjustable type with top contact at two points, open in the middle. Would a full contact bridge be effective to distribute the downward pressure and maybe improve the tone as an added benefit? The previous person was using J74's and I also concerned those are too heavy.

[mandroid]

Maybe, but perhaps some bracing under the soundboard came loose allowing the sinking..

10-36 is probably a better choice than, 11-40..

[bart mcneil]

A Strad-O-Lin has a fairly heavy transverse cross brace just below the f holes. On both of my old Strad-O-Lins this cross brace had come loose on one side or the other allowing the top to sink under normal string pressure on the bridge. You will need to take the back off to gain easy access to the interior. The top is not graduated (thickness wise) and is fairly thin so any breakage of that single brace or un-gluing will cause the top to collapse in short order. Use a small flashlight, a small pocket mirror inside to reflect the light to gain visual access to the interior through the f holes I use a dental mirror to see exactly what the inside looks like. I am fairly certain that you will find the brace has come unglued on one side or the other. When I took the backs off mine I was amazed at the number of small areas of glue failure over the years. But then both of mine were clearly abused over the years. One may have been used as a weapon.... Seriously!

If I am correct on that brace a full contact bridge won't make much difference.

Most of my mandos are old so I never use heavy strings.

[allenhopkins]

Not sure that your two-footed adjustable bridge is "original." Most of the Strad-O-Lins I've seen, including mine, have a one-piece "full contact" bridge -- sorta like what you're considering.

Agree that you should check, or get a pro repair shop to check, for brace loosening, before getting a bridge that accommodates the sunken top curvature.

[Randi Gormley]

fwiw, my strad has a full contact bridge my luthier built from a piece of scrap ebony and it sounds fine. I can't recall any more what its original bridge sounded like, but the current one definitely works at least as well. I had to have it done to compensate for what was originally a bad-ish neck reset. Oh, and I use J-74's on it and it seems to be fine, but it's a 1952 and solid wood, so it may have more integrity or something.

[Jim]

My Stradolin came with a 2 footed bridge that had been heavily and poorly modified. I fitted an adjustable ebony bridge with a Homemade Maple saddle. It works and sounds great. I use light strings out of respect for its age.