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ollieken Super Member
Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 281 Location: New Brunswick Canada
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Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 11:34 am Post subject: Seal Bridge |
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Any Benefit in sealing the bridge The reason I ask is I was out playing at a camp site & it was damp & cool in the building raining heavy outside .
For a few day`s the fiddle was kind of clamy not bright like it was I took a little scraping off the bridge just a dusting & it was back to normal I have done this before .
Can the bridge swell a bit from moisture & make it dull ?
Or do you think My head swelled & i cant hear ? Any ideas Ken |
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MANFIO Super Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 458 Location: Sao Paulo
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ollieken Super Member
Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 281 Location: New Brunswick Canada
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Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 9:34 pm Post subject: Bridge |
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Manfio Thank you for the reply |
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Jack H. Super Member
Joined: 24 Mar 2007 Posts: 346 Location: Israel
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 10:08 am Post subject: |
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only thing I do to my bridges is to put them in strong sun for a quick tan.
Plenty of strong sun here! |
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byacey Member
Joined: 29 Mar 2008 Posts: 105 Location: Edmonton, Alberta
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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Just about anything you put on a bridge will increase the mass, and possibly soften the maple, depending on how it penetrates into the wood and what it is you're trying to seal it with. Mass on a bridge usually isn't a positive thing as it saps energy from the strings rather than the energy being transferred to the body of the instrument. Make a bridge from any other wood and you'll likely be disappointed.
Maple probably by fluke or natural / empirical selection has about the highest stiffness (or rigidity) to weight ratio of any hardwoods. The rigidity transfers vibration well, and the low mass dampens the string motion as little as possible; an near ideal situation. Applying just about anything will have a negative effect on one or both of these qualities.
I have often thought the ideal violin bridge would have zero weight and the hardness of rock allowing full transfer of the string energy to the top of the violin. So far I have been unsuccessful in finding this magic wood. |
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Tim McTigue Member
Joined: 31 Mar 2007 Posts: 30 Location: Ontario, Canada
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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byacey wrote: | I have often thought the ideal violin bridge would have zero weight and the hardness of rock allowing full transfer of the string energy to the top of the violin. So far I have been unsuccessful in finding this magic wood. |
You're right, and it's called Unknownium. Unfortunately, it's just about impossible to get, and very expensive. It's only found in the seventh quadrant of Zorox, on the planet Xanthum, which is exceedingly difficult to get to - nobody has managed it so far. This particular material is only known through theory, but one day it's sure to be found... _________________ Tim
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byacey Member
Joined: 29 Mar 2008 Posts: 105 Location: Edmonton, Alberta
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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Is Xanthum also where Xanthanum Gum comes from? |
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Dave Chandler Super Member
Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Posts: 691 Location: Mt Mitchell in North Carolina
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:50 pm Post subject: bridge seal |
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Byacey, sounds like a project, making a bridge out of aluminum stock, or perhaps carbon fiber.
Henry Strobel's book calls for sealing the bridge with a bit of thin shellac (I think that's what I read, maybe it was a thin varnish) and I've done that a couple different times, and don't really notice the difference, perhaps it doesn't sink in that deeply to have an impact). I think his reasoning is likely to control its response to humidity changes as you go from one event to another, or even one room to another, and it would seem the mass would change somewhat as it absorbed or released moisture.
So, question. Is the effect of sealing the bridge more/less important than exposing raw wood to the different humidity levels of different venues?
Speaking of mass, I have been going through a lot of bridges lately, trying different trimming and thinning, and find that the most common mistake I make, is in thinning the center of the bridge too much, suddenly the sound becomes terrible. If I put a gob of masking tape on the center of the bridge, suddenly the sound is back, so I start again with a new blank. I've got a small drawer full of failed bridge trimming experiments, but I'm learning what to trim, and how much through trial and error. And, my best investment lately has been a string lifter. _________________ Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill
"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo |
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byacey Member
Joined: 29 Mar 2008 Posts: 105 Location: Edmonton, Alberta
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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I've done the same thing. Good thing bridge blanks aren't horribly expensive. As you gain experience you learn when not to push your luck trying to wring that last bit of something out of the instrument. I'm also of the opinion even using a bridge jack it takes a few days for the violin to start speaking properly after disturbed in this way.
I've made bridges from plexiglass, lexan and a number of hardwoods, cocobolo the most beautiful, but dead as a doornail; just too much weight. Aluminum suffers the same problem and I'm sure carbon fibre has a high weight to mass ratio too. Whoever arbitrarily chose maple in ancient times either really lucked out with their choice, or somebody did a lot of experimenting back in those days. |
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