mandojimmy

[mandojimmy]

Has anyone tried a pearl bridge top on top of the upper part of an adjustable bridge. I find that when the E or A strings cut in after a while the balance of volume is affected. The early Gibson pearl nuts tend to last a very long time and no dount the aluminium bridge tops (such as Dave Appollon's) lasted well. be interested to know if anyone has tried pearl as the nut and bridge top is crucial to the balance of volume.
Thanks in anticipation
Jimmy powells

[Scotti Adams]

..finding a piece of pearl suitable for a whole bridge saddle may be a problem.....maybe just a insert might do the trick....interesting idea though..

[krishna]

Don't forget ebony inserts on violin bridges.I agree thogh, I don't know were you would get peices big enough. Maybe laminating?...Kerry..Keep us posted if you try, OK?

[Paul Hostetter]

An ebony insert in an ebony bridge top? Why?

A pearl bridge top is possible (I have some pieces big enough) but in terms of response would be utterly deadly: it would absorb all the sound, like a mute. I've had best luck using tiny inserts of carbon graphite, and in truth, I mostly only do this for players of Selmer-style guitars because they break strings thanks to ragged string slots. The carbon graphite inserts seem to completely solve that problem. I have been doing this for 20 years or more now. No reason why it wouldn't work on a mandolin bridge as well.

The point of the small insert is to put in enough to support the string without significantly messing with the inherent damping and sound transmission qualities of the bridge top itself.

Another approach would be to cut the bridge top such that the plain string notches don't just sit on a blade edge, but instead have a surface behind them that the string also rests upon. This will take some of the wear and tear off the front edge of the slot.