Bridge

[jk245]

Bridge material

On $1000+ instruments it seems (in many cases):

Gibson uses Adjustable/Ebony bridges
Washburn uses Rosewood bridges.
Michael Kelly uses Adjustable Rosewood bridge
Weber uses a Brekke bridge: one solid piece of ebony to another solid piece and then to an ebony base and finally into the instrument top.

Is there a real difference in the sound?

[Ken]

Yes, but like everything else about mandolins, it's not simple. The tradition is the ebony adjustable. You'll probably get the biggest tone difference from that with the Brekke, but exactly what the difference will be will vary from instrument to instrument, and player to player. As far as rosewood vs ebony, generally rosewood is on the less expensive models, but I've seen rosewood that just sang, and ebony that just thudded, so the individual piece of wood will make a difference. Then you also have to consider whether the bridge has one solid foot or is two footed, which can again make a difference in sound, varying from instrument to instrument and player to player. Then again you can vary the material of the bridge top and use wood, bone, fossil ivory, aluminum, etc, etc. The only real advice I can give is do some searches on the cafe board here for previous threads on bridges, and experiment. Sorry, my wife and kids say I can never give a simple answer, but when it comes to mandolins, I don't think there are any.
Ken

[mandroid]

Observation : fingerboard and bridge is often using same wood type,
perhaps an esthetic pairing chosen , visually.

[jk245]

Observation : fingerboard and bridge is often using same wood type,
perhaps an esthetic pairing chosen , visually.
Review of the specs for the four makers seem to verify that the fingerboards and the bridges are made from the same wood.

Likely as you say, this is for aesthetic reasons.
I believe rosewood is less expensive, more uniform, and easier to work. Is that true?

[Paul Hostetter]

Brazilian rosewood is actually (and deservedly) more expensive than other more common rosewoods, and even more than ebony. I don't think their working qualities are very different, but ebony is a bit more substantial when it comes to details like string slots. I like both rosewood and ebony and don't believe it's as big a deal in terms of tone as some folks do. It's hard to go wrong with ebony. You can find ebony that looks like rosewood, and you can dye rosewood to match ebony, so aesthetics needn't dictate that choice.