Here's a picture of a new bridge I made for it. I chose a viola bridge because I wanted it broad in the bottom. Simplified the shape a bit too.

I've been taught that the fiddle bridge is designed to filter the sound. This instrument already has a dark and mellow sound, so I found that unnecessary. The idea was to get rid of all dead ends, so that as much string energy is transfered into the soundboard. Not sure I can hear any difference, but as long as the sound doesn't get worse, I chose this design for aesthetical reasons. The brass bridge I'm planning will be a lot more simple, more like a cello bridge

On my electric, the top of the bridge is made from brass. Some strings break to early, some do not. It probably has more to do with how sharp some of the scores are. If I'd round the scores with a file, the strings would probably not break.

Thanks for that.

It's the A string breaking all the time. Probably because the surface is more smooth in the other scores.

The bridge design I'm about to land in will probably be little more than a horseshoe shape. The idea is that it will be a bit heavier than a normal bridge and not flexive. Besides, there will be no dead ends at all, so I hope that it will allow for a maximum of the string energy to be transfered into the soundboard. If I make it as simple as possible, there's a better chance I can tell the difference compared to a standard bridge.

If it doesn't work the way I want it to, ie make the instrument louder and the tone more pronounced, my first action will be to make it thinner so that it vibrates. A bridge seems to have a lot of sound of its own which may contribute to the output volume - or not.

On my electric, I have a stiff construction made from brass and ebony. Compared to the modified maple bridge that I originally used, this one made the instrument more silent acoustically, but there may be other reasons for that. It also gave the instrument a different tone electrically as well as acoustically. Less typically violin like and more compact. I also got rid of some strong and very painful overtones.

My guess is that the non-flexive bridge filters a minimum of the vibrations, so that the sound I have now is more of the pure body sound - and a more or less solid body does have a weak output volume. I believe this one will respond differently to a stiff bridge. The result will probably be more body sound, but the body sound is very different on an acoustic instrument.

I think I get it now. It's probably electrodtnamic like Edingers Stringamp. I know a guy amplifying solid fiddles that way but he's sceptical to mounting it on an acoustic instrument - don't ask me why... The problem is that the fingerboard and the back of the body will need to be removed. Very big project.