Bridge construction question

Shawn

Hello everyone,

I don't know if I should direct this question at Michael and Josh, but I have been fitting a new bridge to one of my Selmers and noticed that the one's avaliable for sale on this site are slightly different. In particular, on each of the feet I noticed there is a small section of wood missing and/or cut out on the ends of said feet. Is there a reason for this? Does it reduce the amount of total area that the feet come in contact with the top and thus project more tone or volume? Is it just a rough guide that implies a distinguishing factor that one should not "file down beyond this point"?

I guess what I'm getting at is...should I file down a bit of wood on the sides of the feet or is it purely used for cosmetic or other purposes?

Does anything I just said even make sense? :?

Josh Hegg

Shawn,

The feet are cut away like that so that the bridge rests right over the transverse bridge braces and not on the edge of the feet thus putting undue (and unwanted) pressure on the top plat in the area past the bracing. You can take the feet down a bit but if you are trying to lower the action that should be done from the top of the bridge. See my sticky post on fitting your bridge. viewtopic.php?t=1200

Let me know if you have any more questions or would like more explanation.

Cheers,
Josh

Shawn

Thanks Josh, that is the answer I was looking for. I'm not so much reducing the height as just inquiring what those were for. I like high action and currently I'm setting it up for 4mm at the 12th fret, as the old bridge was a little low for my liking.

PS- Your bridge shaping instructions have come in quite handy on numerous previous occasions. Many thanks!