Violin Forum/Message Board

ollieken · Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 11:32 pm Post subject: Bridge ?

I seen a fiddle tonight at our fiddle night, with the left wing under the heart on the G side Has a peice of wood glued in the slot .Not heart hole !!It has a very nice sound The bridge looks Like a normal cut bridge not thin This is the second one i have seen I think done by the same person .
Is he onto something that no one else knows ?Any one else done this ?
Any one have any clue as to why ? I played it & it is easy to play Did not see a tag in it Ken

Mat Roop · Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 1:43 am Post subject:

Ken... quite possible that that instrument works like that. Often if the instrument body is not exactly to standard specs then unusual set up technique can counteract the variances and create an Ok sound. If you were to do that with a strad... undoubtedly the sound production would not be the best possible.... but then that is just my opinion...and I have never worked on a Strad... cheers, Mat

chrisandcello · Junior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2008 Posts: 18 Location: UK

He probably did it to reduce excessive/unwanted/bad overtones.
You can replicate on a normal bridge with small wood wedges

ollieken · Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 5:41 pm Post subject: Thank You

Mat & Cris Thank you for the reply That must be what it is done for .
Do you think that would mute the violin a lot. Would a thick bridge
not do the same as what the wedge is doing . I suppose that may be a shortcut rather than cut a bunch of bridges I would hate to try and replace
that bridge . Thanks again Ken

chrisandcello · Junior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2008 Posts: 18 Location: UK

You would get a 'similar' effect with a thicker bridge...I'd hesitate to say exactly the same as these things are about mass and wood quality too.
I messed around some time back with small wedges...it was interesting for a few days....can't really remember how much they muted...
I was using the wedges to experiment on a non standard bridge design to get rid of weird overtones
I would guess that if yours is glued it would certainly take any edgy overtones off and mute to a degree...maybe the instruments seemed too lively for its intended use originally...?
Guess the only real way to satisfy your curiousity would be to temporarily fit another bridge .....

Mat Roop · Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 1:26 am Post subject:

Gluing the wings down would to my guess create a harsher sound, but if the graduations are thick, then that may counteract. A bridge actually flexes side to side at the waist and the narrower the waist, the smoother the sound (to a point) and the wider the waist the harsher the sound. This action is different than muting by weight.
Cheers, Mat