Brekke Bridge on Martin A Flattop

[GoingHome]

I've got to replace the frets on my pre-war Martin A mandolin. While it's in the shop, I'm thinking of having the non-adjustable bridge replaced with a low base Brekke Bridge for flattop. Yes, no, maybe? It's not an irreversible alteration. It would be nice to have an adjustable bridge. What do you think? Thanks.
Richard

[rcc56]

Martin A's were designed for a lower bridge than carved-top mandolins.
You will have to make sure that the Brekke bridge is low enough to work on your mandolin.
I recommend that you measure the height of your current bridge, and then contact Brekke to see if their low profile bridge is low enough to be usable on your instrument.

[GoingHome]

That's the plan - to call Vern tomorrow to inquire if their low base Brekke Bridge for flattop will work on the Martin A. I've got the measurements of the string height from the top. Thanks for the reply rcc56. I'll post back here with his answer.

[GoingHome]

The low base Brekke Bridge will not be suitable on this Martin A because the string height is too low for the Brekke Bridge.

[pops1]

I don't see a lot of movement on my Martin, and you live where there is no winter and should see less. With the light strings that a Martin requires, a slight difference in action will not make it play hard, and not worth having an adjustable bridge.

[GoingHome]

You are right pops1. The existing original bridge is fine. As long as you're on the line, let me ask you what strings you prefer on your Martin. I've got D'addario EJ62 on now. This mandolin needs a setup and some new frets. Here it is.

[pops1]

I am using GHS A250 which is a 10-36 anything in a similar gauge would be fine.

[peter.coombe]

How high is the bridge? I use Brekke bridges on my flat top mandolins. He makes extra low bridges for flat top mandolins. They are similar but different so they can go lower. I aim for 14mm height, but they can easily go to 12mm.

[GoingHome]

Thanks pops1. What is the height of your Martin bridge? Same as mine?

Peter, the Martin bridge is 3/8" or around 9.5mm. I spoke with Vern today and he said the extra low bridges for flat top mandolins will not be suitable for this Martin A. Thanks for your reply.

[pops1]

I have my Martin loaned to a friend, so I can't measure, but it is low. She wants to learn mandolin along with her fiddle playing.

[rcc56]

I just measured a very early [1920] Martin flatback at a shade over 5/16".
They went to thicker fingerboards sometime later, so a range of 5/16" to 3/8" or a little more sounds reasonable, depending on the period.