Epiphone Emperor Regent Bridge

[Mark Lee]

What are your oppinion on a rosewood bridge versus a compensated aluminium bridge (not the adjustable Tuneomatic style) for an Emperor Regent? I've heard various opinions about them on acoustic archtops ranging from "they kill the acoustic tone"to "they make it sound like an orchestra". My Emperor Regent is my workhorse guitar, and I play it acoustically about as often as I play it plugged in. It has a very pleasing archtopesque acoustic tone, but I play a lot of rockabilly and the rosewood bridge dosnt help achieve that jangly tone, it seems more suited to jazz.

Now for some physics. In my understanding, metal should be a better transmitter of sound (denser, less elastic equals a better energy transmitter) while wood should be inferior (softer, and hence more elastic, and less dense, like a shock absorber).

[Red 333]

There's a discussion about this very subject over in the Gibson Acoustic forum under Saddles and Sound. While the whole thing has some good info, someone experiments by swapping bridges, including an aluminimun one, in a post towards the end of the thread.

 

In a nut shell, the conclusion is that harder material theoretically will transfer sound better, especially high frequencies. However, it may transfer sound too well for the design and construction of a particular guitar. On some guitars, a bridge with a harder material may cause the guitar to produce high frequencies that overwhelm the others. On the other hand, other guitars respond quite well with the introduction of the additional high frequency energy transmitted via the bridge. So...it depends.

 

For instance, I have a Casino with a bone nut with metal saddles, and one with a corrian nut and saddles. Now, most will tell you that bone and metal (being harder) is better than nylon, and I think they are preferable in many applications. On the Casino, however, I prefer the corrian combo. It alters the attack/decay and attenuates the treble in away that I like.

 

On the other hand, I swapped out the rosewood bridge for a TOM on my standard Broadway (which is constructed similarly to your Emperor), and I like the change it made to he amplified tone, but I was looking for a sharper attack and more focused sound when amplified.

 

I don't want to sound like this answer is cop out, but unless you get a large number of replies from people who have swapped their rosewood bridge for an aluminumn one on their Emperor, and unless all the posters reach the same conclusion, you're going to have to try it yourself and see what you think. I think it's safe to say the aluminumn is going to give you more of that jangle you want. The question remains will it be enough, too much, or just right.

 

You seem to like the acoustic sound as it is now; be prepared for it to change, too, if you swap the bridge.

 

Good luck, and let us know what happens.

 

Red 333

[TWANG]

+1 on red.

 

TWANG