Bridge OnThe Balsa-Top Fiddle

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janepaints

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Posted 9/12/2008 9:36:42 PM

I carved this to help tame the honk of this fiddle. I wanted a warmer sound. It sits within a cut-out rectangle of the balsa, standing on a central strip left from the original cedar top, The original bassbar is attached to this beam and the soundpost is lodged against it. The balsa was glued to the beam with hide glue. Since this was my first experience with a balsa top I figured that sturdy support was good for starters--better to have heavier support which can later be reduced, rather than too little support with a resultant cave-in.

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2 comments on “Bridge OnThe Balsa-Top Fiddle”

John Gent Says:
Friday, September 12, 2008 @11:28:23 PM

That's a good looking bridge. I've started one with an ebony insert for the E string - but it looks too conventional. I've since seen others not-so-conventional and will revisit that at some point.

The feet look to be on pads of a different material. Is that right? What is it?

(and thanks for the pictures of the peg box - elegant and simple)

janepaints Says:
Saturday, September 13, 2008 @6:41:16 AM

Hi John. This bridge was used on other fiddles and was too low for this one, though it wasn't the final shape seen here. It was raised by gluing blocks of maple to the feet and then carving to fit. The maple of the shims is lighter-toned than the maple of the bridge proper. Super-glue was used for the joining

Thanks for your kind words about the pegbox shape. I'm considering using geared tuners on this pegbox. There's a bunch of small mandolin tuners here in the parts bin. Being thicker than a traditional pegbox, four small screws shouldn't cause cracking. The fiddle could then have a wooden tailpiece with no fine-tuners, which would increase resonance a bit.

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