Bridge again

Jazzaferri

I prefer a bridge that duplicates the fretboard radius.

Jeff Moore

Cheifbigeasy: On the Taylor diagram I see something I see on a lot of bridges. The A string is the highest. This doesn't work for me personally. In fact I'm always tempted to take the low E up disproportionately to the A to equalize string slap: but don't. If I need the low E higher, I'll mess with the whole arc so to avoid a compound curve.
At some point you might not accept what's available and want to adjust the geometry to your style of play, and what you want to hear. I use the low E sound heavily and want, at times, to have it be able to dominate. I can't do that with a really low action on it. I personally find the A string, when left neatly in an arc or flat line with the low E, will be higher than necessary, and accept it so as not to compound-curve (a new verb!) my bridge.
On the high E side of the bridge I find the reverse issue. You can (but probably shouldn't lower the high E so much that its out of line with the rest of the strings. You can see guitars on the showroom floor with the B string dropped out of line, and the E dropped even further (a compound curve). It's really nice for the left hand, but not a choice I make even though I'd like to when my left hand is tired.

The other thing I should say is. This dislike of compound curves on string arcs is just my obsession. They exist in guitar shops everywhere, and I won't even realize it when I pick up a guitar unless I focus on it while cross picking and then it's usually the dropped high E and B string, not the low E, that's really out of the curve. If I buy a guitar, I already suspect I'll be making a new saddle or bridge (which ever is the case), to put intonation and an arc I like in place so I don't concern myself with how it is bridged when I buy it.
I have no idea if this smooth arc and relatively flat arc thing matters at all to anyone else or if others would even notice or care. I can't and don't want to generalize or suggest a principle cuz I'm just doing it for myself. It's likely that guitarists just want the lowest action they can tolerate for the left hand, but even if that were the reason, I don't understand why guitars are built with the A string and even the D string being higher than the low E as it appears to be on your Taylor diagram?

If you want to see a wild set up, look at the vid "Selmer 503". C'est la vie!
Look at the 0 fret vs the other frets. Look at the string height at the 1st fret and the thickness of the neck stem to stern. It may be different in reality than it looks in a vid, but holy smokes: Our hero perhaps didn't give a hoot about setups. Whoever last played Nuage on 503 could easily rip a phone book in half in one move.

wim

Selmer 503 is sitting for decades without being played. The strings are not up to tension. Also RF Charle has done some restoration work on it before it was displayed in the museum. How it looks in that video can't tell you much about however the guitar was setup when it was playable.

Bones

Again, top of the bridge does nothing. It is literally in air. It's the 'action' of the strings that is important with the bass strings a little higher off the fretboard than the treble. The height of the bottom of the little notches sets the action. The top of the bridge should not be much higher than the notches since the notches should just be slight indentations. There is no reason for a lot of wood sticking out above the strings and it actually can be detrimental since the indentations will actually be slots (like in the nut) and will need to be precisely matched to the string gages (not too loose but definitely not too tight either). Also the extra wood I imagine might snag the edge of your hand occasionally? In a perfect world you would have a bridge that is close to the right action height just a bit high, arch the top of it to match the fretboard or there about, put in your little indentations and then adjust the action by sanding off the bottom of the bridge on the bass and treble side feet leaving the action on the bass side slightly higher than the treble.

Another minor point but typically people want the bridge as light as possible for max volume so having a bunch of extra wood on top of the bridge is not desirable for that reason as well.

Jazzaferri

On my Dunn, the nut is raised around the point the strings cross so that the string cuts can be done at the right height be the rest is lower between the strings. (No zero fret) Great attention to detail. on the bridge which I am trying to post a photo
For those who want a deeper understanding of bridges, nuts and setup. The Luthiers Handbook by Roger Siminoff is one of the must haves. Published by Hal Leonard.

Jazzaferri

Dunn Bridge

Jeff Moore

Wim, I love that video. 503 itself is a time capsule. Doesn't matter to me how they store it as I'm sure they know how, but couldn't help noticing that 0 fret. The eye's could deceive and the vid distort depth creating a beautiful monster for me to ponder.
Watching close ups of 503 while likely hearing it on the audio is magical.