Bridge material

[gadjojazz]

It's the new boy jazz player with a Regal 58 tricone back again.

While setting my instrument up I have made a new bridge insert from what I think must be spruce I had lying around. Action is now fine and it is cut properly but the tone of the strings has gone 'soft'. This leads me to suspect that just like my normal squeeze (Selmer/Maccaferri guitars)
the bridge material and quality of string notch and fit is essential to getting the optimum sound and desired tone.

Now for the questions - maybe to Mr Woodman. What are the usual bridge inserts made from (I suspect boxwood?), what are the acceptable alternatives? has anyone tried a complete bone (or equivalent) insert.
Has anyone tried the violinist's trick of dropping super glue in the notches to harden them up and prevent the thinner strings cutting into soft wood? I have and the tone got better and brighter to my ears.
I have read conflicting advice on the depth of notches. "Too deep or tight and the tone disappears as the string is choked" (Dave King in this month's Guitar mag) to my old books that tell me to deep cut the notch with a slight 'V' to stop the strings jumping out. My gut feeling is DK is correct.

All this is an one-off attempt to get the thing up and running quickly to enable my to start playing the thing. I have left a couple of gaps on my new 'Django' album for this guitar.

Many thanks
BTW pay us 'Django-philes' a visit at www.hotclub.co.uk.

[LouisianaGrey]

I've not tried spruce but I have tried birch in a dobro and didn't like it. Usually the bridge inserts are maple, sometimes with an ebony cap to give more treble (maybe a good idea for jazz styles). Boxwood is another good alternative and sounds much like maple to my ears. American cherry is something else I've used and seems to give more of the trebly quality of an ebony cap.
I usually aim to cut my bridge slots the same as I cut my nut slots - half the depth of the string for the wound strings, full depth for the unwound. They sometimes turn out a little bit deeper but not a lot. I usually shape the bridge so the string is on a narrow edge, so I tend not to do the V slotting thing.

[Deleted]

Re the 'super glue'.
I overcut my nut & the strings were too low for slide, so I mixed baby powder (Johnsons if you need a trade name) with supergue to fill the notches to where I wanted them. The stuff set like concrete ........... then found they were too high!! By which time I'd had enough of the guitar & it's now spare parts (don't worry it was only a Marlin strat copy!). In future I'll probably get some-one with the proper nut files to cut them! ;D ;D

[Michael Messer]

Hi Gadjojazz,

Hey....good to hear rom you!

Dave King & Pete Woodman are absolutely spot on with their advice.

Boxwood was the original bridge material for Tricones. Not too tight or it will choke the sound. Cut the slots as described by Dave & Pete. Bone is okay, but not as good as boxwood or maple. Personally I find ebony capped bridges a bit too bright.

It sounds to me like you are on the right track!

I seem to remember a story (myth, legend, truth or gibberish!) that Oscar Aleman's Tricone was destroyed by the Nazis - do you know anything of that story?

Good luck & keep in touch,

Shine On,
Michael.

[LouisianaGrey]

The superglue is a good bodger's trick for slots that are too deep if you don't want to cut a new nut. You can mix it with talc or baking powder for a white finish. If you don't mind the colour then mixing it with graphite powder (you can scrape the lead from a pencil) will give a more slippery surface that the wound strings will slide over more easily.

[Gadjojazz]

Regarding the Aleman tricone story it was reported that as he fled from occupied France the Germans confiscated both his tricones as they needed to recycle the materials for the war effort. I gather he didn't put up much of a fight.

Thanks for the advice. I am getting seriously into this whole resonator thing and I know it's only a matter of time before I will be searching out an old National.

[marshcat]

Re the "V slotting thing":

I've always had good tone improvement on both tricones and single cones with slots that are v- or u-shaped but with the v or u deeper at the front and with the string contacting the bridge saddle only at the rear, so that the free part of the string is still vibrating over part of the bridge. I think it was Bob Brozman who first explained this to me some years ago.

I once bought a tricone with an iron bridge saddle that had more or less rusted into the aluminium t-piece. Didn't work too well...

[Colin McCubbin]

Stuart,

That was the #2 square neck that I brought over for you I think... I heard through the grapevine that Dave Temple now has it, how is he doing BTW?

[lee holliday]

The style two is in France but with Steve Thorburn who plays with Dave every Thursday in a fantastic little bar in and around Riberac. I was there last year and stayed with Steve for a couple of nights with the tricone although dusty its still resonating into the moonlit sky!

Lee.