Interesting bridge concept

[Harpymorgan]

http://www.ricktoone.com/2010/09/neutral-tension-bridge-patent.html

Saw this and thought it would be worth a share. Apart from having a perfect name for a luthier, I was interested in his concept.

However in my experience, if you do not have enough pressure on the sound board then the tone is not so good. My Hofner only achieves a good tone if the action is so high you need to be a gorilla to play it, and I have always thought that this was because the set in the neck was wrong when I rebuilt it, but having a nuetral pressure bridge negates this theory. So one of us must be wrong, and I guess its me.

 

[geoguy]

Interesting design, though I don't care much for the prototype's sound.

Isn't that string path (over/under/over) similar to some Bigsby vibrato units?

 

[jcwu]

Did you see his other guitars? They sell for close to $10k.

Very interesting body design!

 

[JohnW63]

It does seem to follow the concepts of a floating bridge and tailpiece. The strings are now the harp. I think the metal bridge makes it a bit too twangy. Maybe other materials could be slid in place ?

 

[jazzman]

Whlle the concept is a teensy bit different the bridge idea isn't too far removed from using a string through bridge and tailpiece. Epiphone did it in the late 30s and many cheapo acoustics used it later.

Also the general design immediately made me think of the Gretsch "tuning fork" from the Viking model except he has attached it to the top and uses it for the bridge.

Personally I'm not impressed but to each their own!

 

[Harpymorgan]

Not to my taste either. He has some very good ideas though, even though perhaps a little complicated. I think we all like Telecasters mainly because they are not really very good guitars, and perfect for rock and roll. These are not rock and roll guitars. I was really looking at the site because I am building an experimental bridge myself for my old archtop that gives effectively an adjustable break angle, and hence more bridge pressure. Anyone aware of any designs for such a bridge?