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Thread: bone cap saddle - too much time on my hands?

  1. #1
    Registered User AndyPanda's Avatar
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    Default bone cap saddle - too much time on my hands?

    I had recently bought a "the loar" LM-600 and I'd searched the archives here finding lots of posts suggesting the bridges are awful and to buy a CA bridge.

    I've got a lot of experience making/fitting violin bridges and doing fretjobs making nuts etc. So I carefully fit the bridge feet on the stock bridge and wondered what the big difference could be that would make a CA bridge sound so much better as reported in all the posts (I was guessing it was more the act of having the bridge fit correctly during the upgrade).

    Meanwhile, I picked up second instrument and it had a CA bridge installed. The first thing I noticed was that the shape of the saddle was very different - the offset for the E strings was very far forward, which brings the whole bridge back square on the body - my stock saddle didn't have that and the E side of the bridge needed to be slanted forward a lot to get the intonation on. The other thing I noticed was how the CA has the holes sized correctly so the saddle cannot rock on the posts - the stock saddle was a sloppy fit over the posts.

    So ... for fun, I sanded down the top of my stock saddle and glued on a scrap piece of bone and shaped it with the offsets more like the CA saddle. It sounds and plays much better, and the bridge feet are now lined up better with the body.

    I'm thinking any sane person would just buy a CA bridge rather than spend all this time but I'm retired and this was fun. The holes in the stock saddle were still a sloppy fit over the posts so as a ghetto workaround I wrapped the posts with teflon tape and now it has a snug fit and the saddle cannot rock back and forth.
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  3. #2
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    Default Re: bone cap saddle - too much time on my hands?

    Wood quality. Dimensions often different from less expensive.

    One thing I notice is that the CA bridges are much stiffer than the usual stock bridges as a result of material and design/machining.

    I carve stock and CA all the time. CA is very very nice and consistent. There's the odd one that is a little brittle. EZ to work with. Stock are all over.

    Bone on top an interesting idea. Materials have impacts.
    Stephen Perry

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  5. #3
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    Default Re: bone cap saddle - too much time on my hands?

    There is/was a fellow that was selling bridge saddles made out of deer antlers and I bought two of them quite a few years ago and they fit the CA bridges very nice...I don`t guess there is much difference in bone and deer antler material...I bought them from Rosa Mandolins Co. in case you might want to try one...

    Willie

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    Registered User fscotte's Avatar
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    Default Re: bone cap saddle - too much time on my hands?

    Mandos are generally on the brighter side as far as stringed instruments go. Adding bone or anything harder than ebony seems to brighten the mando even more.

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  9. #5
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    Default Re: bone cap saddle - too much time on my hands?

    I've used both bone and antler for the saddle of the bridge and they do improve sound... a cow leg bone from the butcher is about $5. and you can get nut, saddle, and points enough to last many many years..
    kterry

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  11. #6
    Registered User AndyPanda's Avatar
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    Default Re: bone cap saddle - too much time on my hands?

    My purpose was just to get the saddle shaped right for intonation (the stock one required drastic angle of the entire bridge). And if I'd had a piece of ebony sitting around I probably would have used that - but the bone scrap I had was handy so that's what I used. My ears have lost a lot of high freqs after many years of playing in loud bands - so I'm not sure if it made it brighter. It certainly seems louder, but that may well be due to getting the bridge feet back where they belong.

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    Default Re: bone cap saddle - too much time on my hands?

    I have done this to a few mandolins without making them brighter. It does however make the bridge weaker and eventually it may break. The last one lasted close to 20 years tho so not too big a deal.
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

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    Registered User jim simpson's Avatar
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    Default Re: bone cap saddle - too much time on my hands?

    Here are 2 pics of bone saddles I had made, one is on the black Kentucky KM-1000 and the other is on a Chris Warner Gibson copy. I liked the effect the bone had on each.
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    Old Hometown, Cabin Fever String Band

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  16. #9
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    Default Re: bone cap saddle - too much time on my hands?

    Oliver Apitius used to make wooden saddles with tiny bone inserts inset where the strings cross. I've played at least one where only the 2 plain strings had bone inserts and the wound strings went over wood. They retained the warmth and wood tone on the low end with bright sparkling highs. Very fine sounding instruments with beauty to match.
    MWM

    Mark in West Michigan

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  18. #10
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    Default Re: bone cap saddle - too much time on my hands?

    I had the wood separating the E course split out, On the bridge, the fix was a bone insert,
    returning the separation again..

    So the added benefit of bone is a different split resistant grain structure.




    writing about music
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