Wound A

[Stefan Netsman]

Is there a highquality bridge compensated for wound A-strings available?

[JEStanek]

Any decent luthier/repair person should be able to adjust a quality bridge for different string gauges (wound or unwound).

[acousticphd]

Good question, and I don't think the solution is as easy as a qualified adjustment. A wound A-string would need ~no compensation, that is, come up more or less even with the E string. Whereas a standard saddle is cut with ~1/8" set-back for a a plain steel A string. If you have really wide saddle flats, you can do some filing and some fudging, but reversing ~1/8" of saddle position would seem pretty difficult.

I have a 1-pc bridge compensated for 3 wound strings on my mandola, made by Peter Sawchyn, but I don't know if he makes the bridges, and you are probably not looking for a 1-pc bridge. You might look up a luthier who builds mandolas, though (Old Wave, Pomeroy, Weber, etc), because these imandola bridges should/would be designed for a wound 2nd course. Maybe you could get a bridge through one of these builders.

[Paul Hostetter]

Stefan - is your current bridge an adjustable 2-piece? If so, you could get a new top made for it. This would allow you to switch back and forth easily without having to worry about the entire bridge. The advantage of this is that it could be an easy by-mail situation.

[Stefan Netsman]

Yes, it's a standard adjustable 2 piece. I will make a new top that's compensated for wound A. I was just wondering if one was comercially available, it would have saved me some time. I'm surprised noone makes one though...

[Paul Hostetter]

Jeff's suggestion of a mandola bridge is a good one, and I think Cumberland makes one that's worth a try:

http://cumberlandacoustic.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/MandolaBridgesmall.jpg (http://cumberlandacoustic.com/id6.html)

Click on the image, and just buy the top, which should fit your bridge base fine. Steve is going to ask you some measurements when you call, so have the bridge and a good ruler handy.

I find it fairly easy to tweak compensated bridges by simply gluing ebony to the faces of the insets and reprofiling the points of contact. But I'd try the Cumberland mandola bridge first. That setback for the A, behind the steady steps for the A, D and G, looks correct to me. At least a better point of departure than a conventional mandolin bridge, in case it needs further adjustments.