Ebony vs. Rosewood Archtop Bridges

[die Bullen]

I've been contemplating swapping out my archtop bridges with compensated bridges. I noticed that Stewmac has both ebony and rosewood. My current bridges appear to be rosewood- is there any advantage to moving to an ebony bridge?

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Archtop_guitar_bridges/Archtop_Guitar_Bridge.html

dB

 

[chazmo]

Re: Ebony vs. Rosewood Bridges

I think ebony is a little tougher to dry out and crack than rosewood. I rarely see ebony bridges crack along the pins when guitars belly a bit... That said, they're probably more prone to lift (for the same reason).

Soundwise, Guild has gone back and forth on this over the years. Currently, the Traditional Series are built with rosewood bridges.

Personally, I like the look of rosewood, and I don't mind feeding it with some bore oil (or whatever) occasionally.

[edit: SORRY, I realize now you were discussing archies, die Bullen... Please do not take my comment above, then, as anything but an orthogonal discussion about flattop acoustics]

 

[die Bullen]

changed the thread title to be clear!

I kind of like the look of rosewood too- are you aware of any tonal differences or advantages?

 

[chazmo]

There is definitely debate on this subject in the pure acoustic realm. I cannot comment, though, because I have never been in a position to do an A/B comparison when only the bridge material was changed. I don't know if it can be compared to, say, bridge pins which are easy to compare but in my experience show negligible differences when swapped.

 

[kakerlak]

Theoretically, ebony is harder/denser and would result in a brighter/crisper tone. In the real world, I don't know how much actual difference you'd hear, especially in the amplified sound.

I'd go with whichever look you preferred. If you do want to brighten the guitar up, I'd go the route of getting a metal tune-o-matic style bridge on a floating wooden base. Not only would it give adjustable intonation, but I think you might actually hear a difference w/ that swap.

 

[Walter Broes]

No idea, I have metal bridges on a rosewood base on my guitars. The difference might be more dramatic on an acoustic archtop with a carved top, but I really don't know.

 

[die Bullen]

I definitely don't want it brighter- aesthetically and tonally it sounds like sticking with rosewood is the way to go in my case. If it ain't broke don't fix it...

Guys, thank you for the opinions/ feedback- very helpful!

 

[AlohaJoe]

The biggest difference will probably be the look. I think it would take a mighty sophisticated ear to hear the difference.

I'm sure there are repair/Luthier folks out there that know a lot more about this than I do, but if I was planning on doing it myself I'd lean toward the Rosewood. I think it would be easier to work if the contour of the base didn't exactly match the contour of the guitar top (although if the post spread matches up you could probably use your old base).

edit: Oops... now I see these are double-foot bases, so curvature may not be much of an issue.

 

[hideglue]

Match the fingerboard material. It always sounds better that way.

 

[die Bullen]

does that mean the converse is true that if you have metal saddles a metal fingerboard sounds best?
:wink:

 

[powerwagonjohn]

So then would there be a sound difference between a one piece base or a two post base? How important is it to have the solid base match the guitar top perfectly?
Thanks John

 

[Walter Broes]

How important is it to have the solid base match the guitar top perfectly?
Thanks John

No answer to your first question, but to the second - very important!

 

[AlohaJoe]

So then would there be a sound difference between a one piece base or a two post base? How important is it to have the solid base match the guitar top perfectly? Thanks John

Acoustically, yes, electrically, not so much. A solid base will transmit more vibration to the soundboard, with a noticeable increase in acoustic volume and tone, especially on high quality carved archtops. If you do end up with a solid base, as Walter so wisely said, it is very important to have it matched to the curvature of the top, both for good transmission and to avoid deforming or even cracking the top when the base pushes down on it unevenly. Any experienced archtop luthier should be able to do this, although good, archtop luthiers seem to be a little harder to find than flat-top luthiers since those instruments are generally more rare.

I haven't done it, but a friend of mine recommends putting sandpaper sand side up on a thin piece of paper (to protect the finish) on the top of the guitar in the correct spot and holding it while working the bridge base gently back and forth until it conforms to the curvature of the top.