Bridge Slope?

[Mandophyte]

Hi All,

I'm new here and have been bashing my mandolin for just over a year, mainly with Ted Eschliman's excellent FFcP stuff.

A silly question: Which way does your bridge slope?

I ask this because when I reset mine (Tonewood AM20s, £125, just starting! I may visit TAMCO later in the year.), looking directly at the mandolin, mine slopes down to the right and I've noticed that guitars all slope the other way

[Phil Goodson]

By "slope" do you mean which end of the bridge is closer to the tailpiece?

And your mando has the treble end of the bridge closer to the tailpiece?

Usually this configuration will result in a mando which has poor intonation.
Check to see if your intonation is set properly. If it is, then your bridge is okay.

[Mandophyte]

Phil,

Thanks for the response, that's exactly what I mean!

I've used an electronic tuner to check that the strings are an octave higher at the twelfth fret (and it sounds OK to my 59 year old ears).

John

[Big Joe]

With a moveable bridge on an arched top almost anything can happen. Most well built mandolins will be pretty close to even, but not always. The saddle compensations on the bridge you have on your mandolin, whether it sits straight up and down, how well the bridge fits the top where you have it all are important elements to the whole situation. It really is less important how it sits as long as it is intonated properly. As long as you are happy, who really cares? :) .