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j45 replacement bridge


thingthatisdone

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Ebony is very brittle along the grain and splits easily. Also shrinks badly if not properly seasoned and I have seen that, alone, pop a new bridge off! My personal view is that it should be rosewood, period. Keep it as it was designed to be. Concerned about your crack though. If it cracked along the grain through the saddle slot, maybe saddle was too tight, or slot way too loose allowing saddle to tip over. If it cracked through the line of the pegs, did the pegs fit OK? Are you having to press them in too hard to get them to seat? Do the peg slots need opening up (my preferred alternative is to slot the bridge (see Bryan Kimseys site). Is humidity OK? Too low over a long period could crack the bridge, but then the rest of the box would be really suffering too. Bottom line - don't just replace, understand what's happened. Have the work done by someone who knows their business, and check out work they have done - there are implications for intonation, playability, tone, appearance, longevity, ease of future repairs and value. Its a pretty fundamental component! Good luck with it.

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thx for the responses! but how do you think ebony will change the tonal characteristics? for what effect would a manufacturer prefer ebony over rosewood?

 

Cosmetic reasons, perhaps to match other parts of the guitar. Also, although it can still crack, ebony is a harder wood than rosewood. Although they would both hurt if you're getting hit on the head with a chunk of either. :-k

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Ebony bridges are usually fitted to instruments with Rosewood backs and sides (like my OM-35 for instance) and rosewood ,typically to hog or other instruments. So its difficult to be sure about any changes, I think. It is likely you will notice very little difference - but this is by no means certain. In my experience, for instance, some guitars react with greater changes when pin materials are changed than others do. I have just weighed two quite similar bridges and find that the weight difference is not as great as I would have expected. In these examples the Ebony is somewhat more dense and might result in more sustain and, perhaps (this is gut feeling) a tonal shift towards the bass. If you want to pursue I would ask this question over at the UMGF in the Log Cabin. There's a whole bunch of very knowledgeable folk hang out there. Its as friendly a place as here IMO!

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I have a 1981 Martin M-38 and on that model they chose an odd combination of an ebony board and rosewood bridge. I can't explain why, but I was led to believe they tried both ebony and rosewood bridges on that model prior to putting them out and the rosewood simply made it sound better. Now if the body depth had been more, or if it were a different scale, maybe the results would have been different.

 

Ebony is pretty, but speaking from a luthier standpoint, it's unforgiving. It may be durable but one little tick of the knife and you have a mess.

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