BYO Bridge Mass

Bones

Hey folks,

Can anyone educate me on the easiest way to remove bridge mass?

Thanks!

Craig Bumgarner

• Hollow out the underside, I use a dremel tool and a couple vee bits. Quite a bit of weight can be removed this way. Be careful not to go through the sides.
• Decrease the thickness of the feet. Do it from the top or you will change the height of the bridge.
• Reduce the length of the edge where the strings rest, that is the outboard ends.
• Keep the top edge as thin as possible. A feather edge is fra
• Hollow out the sides of the bridge.
• Drill out non-structural wood were ever you can.

If you are making a new bridge, the species of wood you use makes a difference. I like East Indian Rosewood for being light and resonant. Ebony can easily be twice as heavy. Make the bridge as small as other design requirements permit.

My bridges are consistently 11-12 grams, which seems to work fine, for me at least. I've made them as low as 9 grams and am working on a 12 fret gypsy mystery guitar right now that came in with radically hollowed out 6 gram bridge.

pickitjohn

Hey Bones,

This was in a earlier post:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9247&p=49192#p49192

pick on

pickitjohn

Bones

Hey thanks guys!

Hey Craig, I think part of this sentence was deleted in your post:

'A feather edge is fra'

Craig Bumgarner

Oops..... A feather edge is fragile, 0.5mm works.

Bones

Ahhh, yes that makes sense.

Thanks, I'll try all that. I hope my hand is steady because I'll just be using a Dremel.