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Mutant Violin Bridges
Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 (20 votes) 
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Fiddlerman
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March 6, 2019 - 10:07 am
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The shape and amount of wood affects the sound substantially IMO.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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Batto
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March 6, 2019 - 11:50 am
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Fiddlerman said
The shape and amount of wood affects the sound substantially IMO.  

which is something I've observed. Its hard to find information on what cuts do what or what affects the sound in certain ways. I noticed the bridge on my old violin has a lot detailed cuts and its really interesting seeing the work that was done to it.. compared to my Chinese Ebay violin which is borderline a bridge blank slapped on. 

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steveduf
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March 6, 2019 - 6:36 pm
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Irv
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March 6, 2019 - 8:44 pm
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In a moment of weakness, I actually purchased one of these.  Never tried it.  If it works,  I could easily replicate on milling machine.96744EB6-22C8-4C91-987A-1F1582514107.jpeg

Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.

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Fiddlerman
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March 8, 2019 - 2:04 pm
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Interesting!

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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Batto
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March 8, 2019 - 7:31 pm
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Irv said
In a moment of weakness, I actually purchased one of these.  Never tried it.  If it works,  I could easily replicate on milling machine.96744EB6-22C8-4C91-987A-1F1582514107.jpeg  

not exactly sue what I'm looking at. At first I thought this was a wood worm damaged bridge?

 

What exactly is the purpose here?

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Irv
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March 8, 2019 - 9:12 pm
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Years ago, I bored cavities into clarinet reeds to provide more players out of a box.  This is a variation on the same theme.

Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.

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Irv
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March 11, 2019 - 7:42 pm
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A unnamed violin shop sells this innovative mute for $0.10.  Worth every penny to set the tone for 5840A403-E84F-43D3-BCBA-CC21133AB57C.jpegyour next audition.

Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.

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bocaholly
Boca Raton, Florida
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March 11, 2019 - 10:04 pm
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Carpathian tone wood clothes pin with titanium spring?

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Irv
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June 13, 2019 - 7:57 am
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Just found out that this design was created by the French luthier Chanot hundreds of years ago. 6F5953B9-F4B8-4DC9-968D-3E2A41D95E48.jpeg

Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.

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JiminTexas

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June 13, 2019 - 4:17 pm
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I think that what the bridge is made of is as if not more important than the shape of it. Why is there so little experimentation with other bridge materials such as horn, glass or some space age plastic? I would really like to hear from anyone that has actually tried some alternate materials, I am particularly intrigued by a few that I have seen with an extremely hard wood such as ironwood or bone or ivory bonded the top edge of the bridge to be the contact point with the string.

The search for great technique does not always lead to great music, but the search for great music does always lead to great technique.

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Irv
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June 13, 2019 - 4:58 pm
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Well @JiminTexas , I have tried a bridge made of ebony and gave out a few to other forum members.  Nothing exciting to report there.  I have a violin with an ivory insert on the bridge.  That one needs repair before I can play it.  Carbon fiber has been used with a wood core.  

Funny, I have never seen one made out of metal.  

Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.

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Fiddlerman
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June 15, 2019 - 9:11 pm
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It would be fun to test a bunch of new materials and make notes.

Maybe a future project. :)

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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JiminTexas

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If believe that there would be a lot of interest in doing some experimentation with different bridge configurations and/or materials. I personally would like to see the results of using saddles rather than barefooted bridges. If the purpose of the bridge is to transmit the string vibrations to the top, then it seems to me that maximum transmission should occur when there is maximum contact between the transmitting medium (the bridge) and the part that acts as a diaphragm (the top).

The search for great technique does not always lead to great music, but the search for great music does always lead to great technique.

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Irv
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June 16, 2019 - 3:21 pm
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@JiminTexas and others.  The physics against the “three legged” bridge was worked out two centuries ago.  It turns out that the center line of the violin is a null area for the vibrational nodes of the top plate.  So any vibrational energy put in that area goes directly into heat and has no acoustic benefit.

It would be interesting to put the bass bar in the center so that it provides buckling support while removing its mass in a prime vibrational node.  That makes a lot of sense to me.

You may also want to look at the “hole in the heart” viola thread.  I am purchasing instruments to expand that procedure to fractional violas and fractional cellos.  

Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.

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Irv
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April 9, 2021 - 9:53 am
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I was doing a manual search and came upon this thread.  Adding photo of aluminium bridge to maintain continuity.

1B8C24C9-1B33-4220-9FF9-5DE185CF1B28.jpegImage Enlarger

Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.

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Fiddlerman
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April 13, 2021 - 8:14 am
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Recently I started experimenting with bridge density to solve violin wolfs (wolves lol). Wonder if this would be better or worse. Where can one find these bridges? Not that we could ever get away with installing metal bridges on our instruments but it would be great to experiment.
I suppose we could make one ourselves.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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Irv
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April 13, 2021 - 9:23 am
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@Fiddlerman .  I know of no company making these, so you are on your own.  They would be a piece of cake for the firm making your titanium tail pieces.  Any work shop with an assortment of machine tools should also be up to the task.  I think that aluminum bronze would be a superior material to the assumed aluminum used in this bridge.

Two suggestions to overcome the objection of placing a metal on a wood top plate (although I think that if contact surfaces were matched there should not be a problem). The first is a rocker arrangement shown in post #30 above.  The second is the use of wood feet in a standard “adjustable bridge” arrangement.

If found useful in your future experiment, the cheapest method of mass producing the bridge would extrusion, band saw to width, and then tumble to remove sharp edges and burrs.

Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.

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Mouse
April 13, 2021 - 9:27 am
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@Irv loves to fiddle around. 

                  Learn Violin and Fiddle

                   on

                         Fiddlerman's Fiddle Talk Forum

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Fiddlerman
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April 13, 2021 - 11:52 am
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Irv said
@Fiddlerman .  I know of no company making these, so you are on your own.  They would be a piece of cake for the firm making your titanium tail pieces.  Any work shop with an assortment of machine tools should also be up to the task.  I think that aluminum bronze would be a superior material to the assumed aluminum used in this bridge.

Two suggestions to overcome the objection of placing a metal on a wood top plate (although I think that if contact surfaces were matched there should not be a problem). The first is a rocker arrangement shown in post #30 above.  The second is the use of wood feet in a standard “adjustable bridge” arrangement.

If found useful in your future experiment, the cheapest method of mass producing the bridge would extrusion, band saw to width, and then tumble to remove sharp edges and burrs.

Thanks for the tips.

I also see a potential problem with the groves wearing/destroying the strings.

I thought that you found someone who was selling them. :)

If I had the time I might take on such a project, or at least do some experimenting but am so incredibly busy now a days.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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