Re: Bigfoot Cedar Bridge to Prevent Caving- Flat Top Octave Mando
Remember when you first posted about this instrument, and you noted that there was no arch to the top? And I said my big concern would be eventual top collapse? Well, I hate saying "I told you so", but....
These things are what they are. I know you said you were impressed with the build quality but they can't be offered at that price point without cutting some corners. Proof of that is the factory ultra light strings,which they appear to use for good reason.
You can't add arch to the top after the fact. This is a basic design flaw. As I see it if you want to bother your only solution would be to remove the back and beef up the bracing somehow, with extra reinforcement where the bridge feet rest. This would stiffen the top and it may lose some tone but al least it wouldn't self destruct. You could compensate for the loss of tone somewhat by making a properly designed one piece bridge from hard maple. The banjo bridge was a poor substitute to start with. Your premise that "less mass is more sound" is somewhat flawed in my opinion. Most mandolin family instruments use ebony or rosewood, and violins use hard maple. I think your mahogany and cedar experimental bridges will not work. There have been some great threads recently on bridge design. These should point you in the right direction. But nothing will work right until the top is reinforced.
Don
2016 Weber Custom Bitterroot F
2011 Weber Bitterroot A
1974 Martin Style A
Bookmarks