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View Full Version : Bridge Wood/old Gibson-Affects Tone ?



sailaway
Mar-02-2004, 2:23am
there is a thread on this board about the 'mystery wood' which was used by Gunnington to carve a replacement bridge for the old ebony bridge for his 1919 gibson. (hey, nice job on the carving !)he says the new bridge gives louder volume without sacrificing the quality of the tone . can anyone explain why this happened? is this true forreplacing ebony bridges generally on most of the old A style mandos-- that you can improve tone by replacing the bridge ? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

Patrick Gunning
Mar-04-2004, 1:56am
Well, to answer your question - I really can't explain what happened, or even if I am right and the tonal quality did improve with the volume. I had back to back digital recordings of the two bridges (original ebony and new one) but they have disappeared into the great mess around my room. Actually, if you want to hear what the mandolin sounds like now - it is the 1918 (not 1919) gibson A included in this year's mandolin tasting (thanks Ken for letting me in on it) being played by a real mandolin player. If you want me to, I could probably make new recordings of both my original ebony and new bridges and send 'em to you.
# # I cannot speak of general characteristics of Gibson A's nor can I even speak to the effectiveness of the wooden bridge. In fact, the only "professional" opinion I have gotten was John Reischman, who said he was "surprised." Not exactly a definitive answer.
# # This was merely an experiment I did while being bored in my dad's workshop - I am not a builder and this is my second mando - and first one worth playing. I will try to get some more concrete comparison in the form of a digital recording with my new minidisc mics.
# #I am not sure if the new bridge doesn't "compromise" the tonal quality - it is different. I haven't the slightest idea of what it is, but I have two two-foot-long 4x6's, with about half of the wood in each useable for bridges. My playing may also have something to do with it. I wouldn't characterize my mandolin playing as a true bluegrass style (my earliest influences being more Grisman/Garcia and Tim O'brien than anything else), so it is hard to tell if it would suit you. Hopefully I can get some concrete answers for this soon - and I would like to have other opinions of Gibson A owners on what I have done. Message me or post here if you have any other comments or questions (sorry for so much rambling).

Patrick Gunning
Mar-04-2004, 3:45pm
Well I was wide awake last night and made the two side by side recordings with my good microphones. It sort of pointed out the futility of it all - there was negligible difference in terms of quality. The ebony bridge had a darker, slightly richer tone with shorter sustain, but no less volume. The mystery bridge had much more of a ringing, sustain-heavy tone, with about the same volume but lacking the darkness and a slight bit of richnesss from the ebony sound.

It is different, but not really much better as I had once suspected. I have switched back to the original ebony bridge for a while.

Bah, I think I'm just going to try learning to play the mandolin better for a while instead of tinkering so much...

sailaway
Mar-06-2004, 8:59am
well, thanks for the bridge wood update! I don't think it's worth my trying to carve a new bridge out of ?teak or ? mahogany bits lying around my wood shop as the old multi piece non adjustable ebony bridge on the old Gibson A is a perfect fits and the instrument stays in tune . thanks for your comparison tests !!