Aluminum Foil Under the Bridge

[Mr. Loar]

I was picking with this guy the other day and he had a neatly cut out piece of glue on aluminum foil under his bridge. When I asked him about it he told me that it reflected more of the sound.

[mandroid]

And how about the Foil Lining in his Hat?

[AlanN]

Hey, that's not that weird. I once saw a guy who had glued his pick to his fingers, said it slipped around too much.

[John Hill]

Did the tone put your teeth on edge?

[billkilpatrick]

probably does have an effect - a bit like wax-paper and comb - but i'll bet the difference, before and after, is negligible.

[Austin Koerner]

Wow

[JEStanek]

Let me understand this right, he glued foil under the bridge feet or on the soundboard under the strings near the bridge... Is the foils shaped like anything? A cone? or is it just the size of the bridge (with maybe some extra sitting out)?

Jamie

[earthsave]

For real sound reflection and sealed in freshness, wrap your entire mando in aluminum foil.

[MikeEdgerton]

You guys act like this is an unusual occurrence....

[GVD]

Well if the price of aluminum was as high back in the day as it is now maybe old Lloyd would have used foil too instead of making the whole brdge out of aluminum.



GVD

[danb]

Aluminum was still a somewhat new and fairly exotic material back in the 20s.

It's an interesting segeue here- I've used an aluminum saddle (one original '21 a model, one replica loar saddle in AL). I can't really hear much of a difference using them, with the usual disclaimers that it's pretty hard to remember the before & after at that level of detail, or catch it on a mike

[billkilpatrick]

Aluminum was still a somewhat new and fairly exotic material back in the 20s.

It's an interesting segeue here- I've used an aluminum saddle (one original '21 a model, one replica loar saddle in AL). I can't really hear much of a difference using them, with the usual disclaimers that it's pretty hard to remember the before & after at that level of detail, or catch it on a mike

up there where you are, isn't it "aluminium?"

[mandotool]

I suspect the bridge/mandolin top connection is not quite perfect on any mandolin...
Whats described here may be as follows....
There is a technique for precisely matching 2 mating surfaces using a liquid adhesive or resin that fills the gap and then hardens.
It's called "potting" and is commonly used in electronics an precision mechanical applications...
In this case the mandolin top is protected by a barrier material (Aluminum foil) ,which is burnished onto the top.....The bridge is then fitted,tuned and intonated .. afterword a thin liquid CA type glue is applied to and fills any gaps between the bridge base and the burnished aluminum foil which exactly conforms to the top now under load..
and It accomplishes this without actually gluing the bridge to the top..

By the way...this is pure conjecture on my part...I don't actually know the mandolin in question...But the bridge to top fit issue is one that i have never been completely satisfied with..The idea of sanding a bridge base to exactly conform to a top under load is not an exact a science as far as i have ever seen in my 30 yrs of fussing with mandolins...
..I've considered trying such a thing over the years but haven't yet...my right hand technique is at the top of my list at the moment...
but I would encourage any one to keep after it..
Best Regards..TQ

[Mr. Loar]

Let me understand this right, he glued foil under the bridge feet or on the soundboard under the strings near the bridge... Is the foils shaped like anything? A cone? or is it just the size of the bridge (with maybe some extra sitting out)?

Jamie

It was an oval piece of glue on aluminum that was cut about 1 inch around the bridge. The bridge sat in the middle of this oval cut out.

[mandolooter]

well I got a whole roll....

[Gutbucket]

Maybe he wanted a poor man's resophonic.

[allenhopkins]

Hey, I gotcha beat: I own a Merrill bowlback, made in the 1890's by the Aluminum Musical Instrument Co., and the whole bowl's engraved aluminum!

Here's a Mugwumps article about the unreliable Mr. Merrill and his aluminum instruments.

Also own an aluminum bass fiddle, probably a Pfretzschner, though it's unlabeled.

[danb]

up there where you are, isn't it "aluminium?"

Allegedly. I'm still just a 'sconsin boy though.

[MikeEdgerton]

By the way, into the early part of the last century aluminum was a precious metal. It didn't become a disposable until the advent of cheap electric power.

[Bertram Henze]

Aluminium (or aluminum, whatever) is a rather soft metal, comparable in hardness to most bridge materials. Hardly any sound reflection to be expected here. Therefore, "reflection" can only mean reflection of light so everybody is forced to look his way...

I have two 1-inch long strips of approx. 0.03" thick aluminium tin under my OM bridge, forming two singular "feet" to elevate action and volume (refer to Red Henry's 2feet-bridge experiments). But the OP's story seems to cover a different concept.

Bertram

[Red Henry]

It's difficult to believe that any material between the bridge and the mandolin top would not be a barrier to some of the sound-- if very thin, though, like aluminum foil, the effect might be minimal. If the player or listener was already used to the wood-to-metal-to-wood transmission barriers of a conventional mandolin bridge, there might not be too much sound difference to notice!

Red

[earthsave]

If you have a compensated bridge, you are translating vibration of the metal string, through the wood bridge top, through the threaded posts and adjustment wheels, down to the bottom portion of the bridge onto the top.

Not really wood to wood.

[Tim2723]

Maybe it's just a mojo thing, like rattlesnake tails.

[JGWoods]

I agree with Mandroid- did you check his hat?