My luthier has instructed me as follows on cutting and positioning the bridge i relationship to the fingerboard. Hope this helps.

The bridge has a shape that forces the E string to be something like 3 mm above the fingerboard at the end closest to the bridge. The G string is 5 mm above it. I made a small board as seen in the pics that is taped to that exact height as measured with a pair of calipers. Making a small mark on the bridge at the required locations allowed me to sand it down to that gentle curve which allows room between the strings for bowing. Using a sanding block I was able to taper the bridge to 1-1.5 mm in cross section (The distance across the bridge where the string is touching the wood) leaving the center section thickest above the cutouts.

Once cut to the correct height, higher is better than too low... I used a small welders tip cleaner file set to cut a rounded groove into the top of the bridge. File it square with the world and only deep enough to allow the string to fit flush with the top of the wood. Using a knife to cut a "V" shape will only allow the string under tension to spread the wood and eventually possibly split the bridge, then you start all over from square 1.

Place the bridge with the straight side facing the tailpiece and the tapered side towards the fingerboard. Using a piece of 320 sandpaper laying rough side up on the top, you can very gently (keeping the bridge perpendicular to the top surface more or less)  slide it back and orth on the sandpaper causing it to conform to the top shape thus keeping as much in contact with the top surface as possible for max sound vibration transmission.

Hope this helps. 

Terry said

Thanks guys, this is all great advice. I do find (as a beginner) that I have a problem playing the A string. The profile of the bridge is quite flat where it supports this string and whilst eventually I want to play Celtic music with my sailing buddies, so this profile would be easier for double stops I guess but at the moment it's a pain!
So I might experiment with a 'slightly' more pronounced curve, giving me just one or two degrees more bow clearance from the D and E strings.
Whaddya reckon?

The distance between the strings, double stops vs single string notes is a function of the curve with no doubt. Also, the difference in height between the G & E strings above the fingerboard allows a more steep curve without getting the center strings too far away from the fingerboard. With the strings off tension, stand the bridge up where it kinda goes and sight down the fingerboard from the peg end. The curve should almost perfectly follow the same curve shape as the fingerboard, (I think the radius is something like 42 mm) but if the E string is closer than the G string to the board you can get more seperation between the strings and thus hit single notes very easy.

It's difficult for me to say positivly but I see all the strings shifted to the E string side. It does not appear they are 'centered' on the fingerboard. That's an issue. The bridge appears to be a "blank", or one to use to begin your fitting process to your instrument.

The bridge appears to be 'very tall' and when you go to the new strings I would suggest using the following dimensions to shape it. Using the curve of mine as shown above use a distance above the fingerboard as I showed in the first post of this thread and keep the spacing as shown here.

That's what I would do to begin with but maybe another on here that has more experience than i do would suggest different.