Violin Bridge Templates

[jazzjune18]

Howdy. I found a decent 3/4 violin that i fixed up for my son. Normally runs around 400 dollars new, i got it for 20 bucks (just had to go in and fix a crack in the top; stable now). At any rate, I bought a bridge blank, but have not been able to come across a decent (free) bridge template. Any recommendations out there? I know he would get the best setup by a professional, but I want to try my hand at doing it myself (looking for a template for a 3/4 size, and a 4/4).

THANKS for any recommendations!

[Jim Garber]

I found these step-by-step instructions: https://trianglestrings.com/carving-a-violin-bridge/

One possibility in any case.

[David Houchens]

Henry Strobel's useful measurements should have anything you need. Just make templates fro the drawings.

[mirwa]

This may help, the centre two strings get raised a fraction to the outers, some people like to hand carve the feet, I don’t have time for that stuff so I just use sandpaper.

Steve

http://www.mirwa.com.au/HTS_Violin_Bridge.html

[Folkmusician.com]

I made a bunch of templates years ago, but ultimately find that it is just as easy to do by eye. Part of this is the other factors at play, such as the fingerboard.

Fit your bridge feet and get the majority of the other bridge work done.
Place the bridge on the violin and lay a pencil on the fingerboard. Run this along the bridge to draw a line. You are not going to cut exactly along the line, but it will still be your guide. In general, the E string will be at the line, The G string Higher, and then get your arch peaking at the D. This all depends on the fingerboard.

Decide on strings first. Steel strings will be ran lower than Perlon. The bridge is critical to tone. Mind the thickness and shape.

To get you started (in mm):
-------
Bridge Thickness at Feet
4/4 3/4
4.2 3.9

thickness at strings
1.3 1.2

String 1-4 Spacing at Bridge
33.5 31

String I Clearance, Gut
3.5 3.2

String I FB Clearance, Steel
2.5 2.3

String 4 FB Clearance, Gut
5.5 5.1

String 4 FB Clearance, Steel
4.0 3.7

[DougC]

The Triangle Strings video was interesting.
The most important quote is that; if there are Two Luthiers there will be Four opinions about how to make a violin bridge.
Staining a bridge is not necessary and a bit of nonsense, in my opinion. Old and expensive bridges are that dark color.

The other video did not mention why shaping the thickness and adjusting the openings helps the instrument to vibrate properly.

[Jim Garber]

I would also wonder what effect the carvings of the openings have on the tones that gthe bridge will produce. I would hope that info is somewhere. Robert do you have any clues or does Henry Strobel address that issue?

[Folkmusician.com]

I have all of the Strobel books but it has been a while since I read them. I don't recall him going into great detail on the bridge. The useful measurements doesn't go into much theory. I studied it online.

If you are starting with a good quality blank, there are some basic starting points.

foot width 11.5mm
toe to toe 41mm
thickness of toe/heal 1-1.5mm
width at shin to ankle 3.5mm
ankle to ankle 27mm
crotch to heart 13.5mm
width of belly 16mm
crotch to kidney and kidney to heart 5-6mm

This along with the taper from 4.4 to 1.3 results in your standard bridge cut. It looks very artistic, but it is actually cut to measurements.

A low grade bridge blank may need more wood left on to be stable.

[DougC]

I would also wonder what effect the carvings of the openings have on the tones that gthe bridge will produce. I would hope that info is somewhere. Robert do you have any clues or does Henry Strobel address that issue?

Maestronet Pegbox forum has a wealth of information being that violin makers discuss details there.
A number of years ago I got these notes. I think they were from Ed Campbell's workshops on violin bridge tuning.