Results 1 to 22 of 22

Thread: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

  1. #1

    Default Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    I have a Trinity College octave mandolin from the 2000s. It has the flat top and a very low fixed bridge. I am continually irritated by the way the bridge is cut. I honestly don't know if it's the original or had been replaced already by the previous owner. The strings are not well spaced (they're slightly more evenly spaced than in pairs) which makes it really hard to play properly without my fingers essentially slipping into the spaces between the strings.

    I just played an Eastman OM today and ... what a huge difference! So rather than continuing to be irritated by the string spacing on the bridge, I would like to try a new bridge (before splurging on a new mandolin, lol).

    But I cannot for the life of me find a flat-top low-cut Trinity College OM bridge. All the bridges I can find are too high (any adjustable bridge is simply too high). Is there a place that would sell this specific item for the TC or do I need to custom order one from someone?

    Thanks for ANY advice you have about this!!

  2. #2
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    1,971

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    If possible, I'd have a luthier make or at least order and fit one for you. I think the odds of getting an off the rack bridge you'de be satisfied with are not so good. Can you show a photo of what's on there? It would help to know if it's factory original or not. You can always try to see if Saga will sell you one but I don't know if they stock spare parts.
    Steve

  3. The following members say thank you to Steve L for this post:


  4. #3
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Howell, NJ
    Posts
    26,874

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Honestly any decent luthier can make you a bridge to your specifications. That might not be the guy at Guitar Center or Mom's Backyard Music. What large town are you near? Perhaps we could recommend someone in your area that is familiar with mandolins.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  5. The following members say thank you to MikeEdgerton for this post:


  6. #4
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Howell, NJ
    Posts
    26,874

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    It might look like this but even Elderly has a notice on their website that what you buy may not look like what they have pictures of. Saga is the company that imports them. You could contact them through their website at www.sagamusic.com. They might have parts or they might have someone you can contact locally. If it was me I'd just have one made that meets your expectations.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	TrinityCollegeOctaveBridge.jpg 
Views:	44 
Size:	42.9 KB 
ID:	207645  
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  7. The following members say thank you to MikeEdgerton for this post:


  8. #5
    Teacher, repair person
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Southeast Tennessee
    Posts
    4,077

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    A good repairman can either fill and re-cut the slots on your existing bridge to fit your needs, and/or raise it by adding an ebony shim to the bottom of the bridge. I did this very repair on a Trinity College octave mandolin last year. I also shim up the one-piece bridges on old oval hole Gibsons from time to time.

    Or, as Mike said, any decent repairman can make you a bridge.
    If you do find an off-the-shelf bridge for a replacement, bear in mind that it will still be necessary to have it fitted to your instrument, the height adjusted, and the slots cut to your needs.

    There's no need to replace your instrument, unless you want to. None of the above solutions should be expensive.
    Last edited by rcc56; May-19-2023 at 6:53pm.

  9. The following members say thank you to rcc56 for this post:


  10. #6
    Ursus Mandolinus Fretbear's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Copperhead Road
    Posts
    3,136

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    That picture is of a stock Trinity College Bridge.
    There is a ton of Compensated material to file flat and re-groove, and just add a shim underneath.
    I had an Irish Bouzouki for years and while the stamped tailpiece imploded, the bridge was always excellent.
    But Amsterdam was always good for grieving
    And London never fails to leave me blue
    And Paris never was my kinda town
    So I walked around with the Ft. Worth Blues

  11. The following members say thank you to Fretbear for this post:


  12. #7

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Thank you everyone for your replies! I really appreciate it.

    I have actually never needed a luthier to do any work for me, but I do live in a city where there are some good music stores, so I suppose I could ask there, at least to hear what they say about it. It seems that may be the best way to proceed.

    Thanks again!

  13. #8
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Howell, NJ
    Posts
    26,874

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    If you are located where I believe you are it's about a 2 hour drive to Asheville to James Condino's shop. I'm sure he could take care of this for you.

    https://condino.com/
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  14. #9
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2022
    Location
    Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts
    446

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Quote Originally Posted by lizziebird View Post
    Trinity College octave mandolin... strings are not well spaced
    you may be able to salvage the existing bridge, fill the existing grooves with ??? (many options) and recut them to string spacing of your choice.

    I also had good success assembling ersatz bridges using guitar nut and bridge saddle blanks, lego style. i go to local guitar shop, ask them "what do you have in your box of loose parts", grab the stuff that looks right. Graphtech.com are local to us, so I used mostly their slab blanks and uncompensated bridge saddle blanks, looks like this. pile a bunch of them on top of each other for extra height. https://graphtech.com/collections/st...ddles-acoustic

    Once you have an ersatz bridge where you are happy with string height, string spacing and have an idea of required compensation, show it to somebody and they will make a normal bridge with same specs/dimensions.

  15. #10

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    delete

  16. #11

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    It might look like this but even Elderly has a notice on their website that what you buy may not look like what they have pictures of. Saga is the company that imports them. You could contact them through their website at www.sagamusic.com. They might have parts or they might have someone you can contact locally. If it was me I'd just have one made that meets your expectations.
    Thanks for posting the picture, that's definitely not the same bridge that is on my instrument.

  17. #12

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    If you are located where I believe you are it's about a 2 hour drive to Asheville to James Condino's shop. I'm sure he could take care of this for you.

    https://condino.com/
    Thanks for the tip. I'm in Durham, NC. There are some good music shops closer than Asheville, I can check those first.

  18. #13

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Quote Originally Posted by mandocello8 View Post
    you may be able to salvage the existing bridge, fill the existing grooves with ??? (many options) and recut them to string spacing of your choice.

    I also had good success assembling ersatz bridges using guitar nut and bridge saddle blanks, lego style. i go to local guitar shop, ask them "what do you have in your box of loose parts", grab the stuff that looks right. Graphtech.com are local to us, so I used mostly their slab blanks and uncompensated bridge saddle blanks, looks like this. pile a bunch of them on top of each other for extra height. https://graphtech.com/collections/st...ddles-acoustic

    Once you have an ersatz bridge where you are happy with string height, string spacing and have an idea of required compensation, show it to somebody and they will make a normal bridge with same specs/dimensions.
    Thanks for the suggestions. Hmmm, I've never tried to cut my own bridge grooves before. But that's cool there are so many different options for blanks!

  19. #14
    Teacher, repair person
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Southeast Tennessee
    Posts
    4,077

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Cutting bridge grooves is not very difficult.

    Required tools are a very well sharpened pencil, an X-acto knife, a set of X-acto needle files, and a 6" steel rule graduated in 64th's of an inch, available at Ace Hardware for $5.

    Use the rule to lay out the desired spacing. You can practice on a piece of cardboard until you get it the way you want it. You will need to take the diameter of the wound strings into account when you do your layout because their thickness will affect the spacing. The cardboard can then be used as a template to lay out the spacing on the bridge.

    Lay out the spacing on the bridge. Then, start each slot by making a shallow groove with the X-acto knife. This groove will keep your files from wandering as you deepen the slots. Make sure the grooves are angled downward so they are shallower on the front side of the bridge and deeper on the back side of the bridge.

    You can use the triangular file to make the grooves for the unwound string. To cut the wider grooves for the wound strings, you can use either one of the files with a blunt corner, or the first inch or so of the round file.

    Old grooves can be filled with one drop of super glue and some bone dust, ebony dust, or even baking soda. You can use masking tape or Scotch tape to avoid getting the glue any place you don't want it. This will leave a rough surface, which can be filed down a few minutes later.

    Wait a minute or two to let the glue/dust get hard, cut through the stuff at the edge of the tape with your knife, then peel off the tape. Then wait a few minutes more, and file the rough surface smooth. If you pull the filler out when you remove the tape or file it flat, you can re-do it without hurting anything.

    Don't glue your fingers together. Keep a piece of paper towel handy to wipe off any excess glue, and keep this paper towel away from the mandolin or anything else so it doesn't get stuck to anything.

  20. #15
    Confused... or?
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Over the Hudson & thru the woods from NYC
    Posts
    2,927

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Wisdom (or blather?) from a purely non-profesional tinkerer who, uhmm, has learned a lot by trial & error:

    IF the bridge is slightly offset to one side or the other (not unusual, and often barely noticeable), you might get away with cutting new slots for only half the strings, thus bringing each course closer together. That gives you a solid visual reference on what each new slot should look like. If the new slots are far enough away from the old ones, you don't need to fill them in, at least not initially.

    Do check that, for starters, the strings are equi-distant (or whatever is the proper distance) from the edge of the fretboard. It could be that the bridge is currently centered ... but shouldn't be!
    - As to how exactly the strings should "center" on the fretboard, that's a way bigger question than I dare tackle! Most of my research shows electric guitars w/ bolt-on necks. Sorry!

    If it were me and I was thinking about bridge replacement, I'd probably go thru the exercise regardless, just for the hands-on learning experience.
    - Ed

    "Then one day we weren't as young as before
    Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
    But by all those roads, my friend, we've travelled down
    I'm a better man for just the knowin' of you."
    - Ian Tyson

  21. #16
    Teacher, repair person
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Southeast Tennessee
    Posts
    4,077

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Or just bring it to a good local repair person. You can seek out a violin repair person if you can't find anyone except people whose experience is limited to setting up electric guitars. There's a fellow in Greenville NC named Bob Gaddis who might be able to handle the job. He can be reached through www.banjohangout.org/luthier/beegee.

    Or you can send the bridge to James or me or someone else who knows the craft, and one of us can re-slot it and supply an ebony shim in case the bridge's height needs to be raised.
    Last edited by rcc56; May-21-2023 at 2:33pm.

  22. #17

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Quote Originally Posted by rcc56 View Post
    Cutting bridge grooves is not very difficult.

    Required tools are a very well sharpened pencil, an X-acto knife, a set of X-acto needle files, and a 6" steel rule graduated in 64th's of an inch, available at Ace Hardware for $5.

    Use the rule to lay out the desired spacing. You can practice on a piece of cardboard until you get it the way you want it. You will need to take the diameter of the wound strings into account when you do your layout because their thickness will affect the spacing. The cardboard can then be used as a template to lay out the spacing on the bridge.

    Lay out the spacing on the bridge. Then, start each slot by making a shallow groove with the X-acto knife. This groove will keep your files from wandering as you deepen the slots. Make sure the grooves are angled downward so they are shallower on the front side of the bridge and deeper on the back side of the bridge.

    You can use the triangular file to make the grooves for the unwound string. To cut the wider grooves for the wound strings, you can use either one of the files with a blunt corner, or the first inch or so of the round file.

    Old grooves can be filled with one drop of super glue and some bone dust, ebony dust, or even baking soda. You can use masking tape or Scotch tape to avoid getting the glue any place you don't want it. This will leave a rough surface, which can be filed down a few minutes later.

    Wait a minute or two to let the glue/dust get hard, cut through the stuff at the edge of the tape with your knife, then peel off the tape. Then wait a few minutes more, and file the rough surface smooth. If you pull the filler out when you remove the tape or file it flat, you can re-do it without hurting anything.

    Don't glue your fingers together. Keep a piece of paper towel handy to wipe off any excess glue, and keep this paper towel away from the mandolin or anything else so it doesn't get stuck to anything.
    You make that sound so easy!

  23. #18

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Quote Originally Posted by EdHanrahan View Post
    Wisdom (or blather?) from a purely non-profesional tinkerer who, uhmm, has learned a lot by trial & error:

    IF the bridge is slightly offset to one side or the other (not unusual, and often barely noticeable), you might get away with cutting new slots for only half the strings, thus bringing each course closer together. That gives you a solid visual reference on what each new slot should look like. If the new slots are far enough away from the old ones, you don't need to fill them in, at least not initially.

    Do check that, for starters, the strings are equi-distant (or whatever is the proper distance) from the edge of the fretboard. It could be that the bridge is currently centered ... but shouldn't be!
    - As to how exactly the strings should "center" on the fretboard, that's a way bigger question than I dare tackle! Most of my research shows electric guitars w/ bolt-on necks. Sorry!

    If it were me and I was thinking about bridge replacement, I'd probably go thru the exercise regardless, just for the hands-on learning experience.
    The bridge is well-centered with regards to the fretboard. It's the actual spacing of the strings as they sit on the bridge that's the issue. It's not terrible, it's still totally playable. I would just like the pairs of strings to be a little closer to each other, and thus a little farther from their neighbors. So it seems like filling and re-cutting slots on the existing bridge might be the easiest first thing to try...

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by rcc56 View Post
    Or just bring it to a good local repair person. You can seek out a violin repair person if you can't find anyone except people whose experience is limited to setting up electric guitars. There's a fellow in Greenville NC named Bob Gaddis who might be able to handle the job. He can be reached through www.banjohangout.org/luthier/beegee.

    Or you can send the bridge to James or me or someone else who knows the craft, and one of us can re-slot it and supply an ebony shim in case the bridge's height needs to be raised.
    Cool, thanks for the tip. Appreciated.

  24. #19
    Teacher, repair person
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Southeast Tennessee
    Posts
    4,077

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Quote Originally Posted by lizziebird View Post
    You make that sound so easy!
    Well, it is easy . . . . . for me. 20 to 30 minutes work, in most cases. Maybe a little more if I have to install a shim.
    Not necessarily so for a person without experience. But a lot of that depends on a person's innate mechanical ability.
    Which is why I went into such great detail, for the benefit of anyone reading this thread who wants to try it.

    At any rate, it's a lot easier and quicker than fitting a new bridge, which is why I recommend using the existing bridge when possible.

  25. #20

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Quote Originally Posted by rcc56 View Post
    Well, it is easy . . . . . for me. 20 to 30 minutes work, in most cases. Maybe a little more if I have to install a shim.
    Not necessarily so for a person without experience. But a lot of that depends on a person's innate mechanical ability.
    Which is why I went into such great detail, for the benefit of anyone reading this thread who wants to try it.

    At any rate, it's a lot easier and quicker than fitting a new bridge, which is why I recommend using the existing bridge when possible.
    Makes sense. Thanks again!

    Out of curiosity, if you also had to cut a new nut, would you fill the grooves in the old nut and recut, or start with a new nut? I am realizing that this instrument would benefit from both new nut slots and new bridge slots to attain the best string spacing.

  26. #21
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Saint Augustine Beach FL
    Posts
    6,633

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    If you are in Durham, go see Hanson and Crawford, they are good guys and do very good work.

    https://hansonandcrawford.com/
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

  27. #22
    Teacher, repair person
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Southeast Tennessee
    Posts
    4,077

    Default Re: Replacement bridge for Trinity College Octave

    Quote Originally Posted by lizziebird View Post
    Out of curiosity, if you also had to cut a new nut, would you fill the grooves in the old nut and recut, or start with a new nut? I am realizing that this instrument would benefit from both new nut slots and new bridge slots to attain the best string spacing.
    I usually replace nuts rather than re-spacing them.

  28. The following members say thank you to rcc56 for this post:


Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •