Banjo Bridges by Bart

About Radiused Banjo Bridges

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It shouldn't come as a big surprise that banjos with radiused necks need radiused bridges - it's the only way to tap into the instrument's full potential. Actually, many players prefer radiused bridges because it offers them increased playability even on straight neck instruments - easier to play simply means better music.

There are two approaches to making a radiused bridge:

Bridge radius - the easy way:

Start with a thick slab of topping wood, in this case ebony, and sand it to the required radius curve. The bridge on the right was made this way. The advantage is that it is easy to make: just trace the appropriate curve and after only a few seconds of sanding - voila, one radiused bridge. The disadvantage is that the closer to the center the topping gets much thicker and the ebony starts imparting its own tonal properties and sound/tone is no longer properly balanced for all strings.

Bridge radius - the proper way:

a much better approach is to radius the bridge wood itself and keep the topping the same thickness all over. Now the properly balanced topping does what it is supposed to do: prevent the strings from slicing into the bridge wood without interfering with the bridge as it  handles sound and tone. Yup, way trickier to make them this way and it does take much longer but there's no arguing with the results: sooooo worth it! Besides, it looks so much better. This is the way I make them - it's all about performance, you shouldn't expect anything less from Banjo Bridges by Bart. Some people refer to this as a double radius. Seeing as the bridge's feet are also radiused, that then might be refered to as a triple radius.

Radiused banjo bridge

This particular bridge has a 14 inch radius and is ideally suitable for the 7/12 compound necks common on Nechville banjos. Not too long ago I had the pleasure of watching someone try one of these on their Nechville, his eyes just about popped out when he played the first few notes and then uttered "how do you get this much sound out of your bridges?" Yup, this design sure supercharges them wonderful Nechvilles.

When ordering radiused bridges the height you specify is the height at the center of the bridge. You need to match the bridge's radius to the neck's radius else the action of the outer strings may be too low or too high.

If you're not too sure about what radius your bridge is then the simplest way is to lay your bridge on the templates to the left to see which one matches your curve. If you don't want to remove the bridge from your banjo you can cut out the templates and hold them against the bridge on the banjo itself. The latter is clumsier as the strings will get in the way. No need to get too scientific, close enough is simply close enough. If you don't have the original bridge, or if you want to match the radius of the bridge to the radius of the fret board then use this same template but now hold it against the wide end of the fret board:

neck radius + 2 = bridge radius

Example: a 10 inch radius neck takes a 12 inch radius bridge. A 7/12 compound radiused neck takes a 14 inch radius bridge.

Unlike other bridges with a flat top and only a radiused topping/crown, I make my radiused bridges as shown in the illustration on the right: the bridge itself is radiused and the crown follows the contour of the radius. Some people refer to this as a double radius - the crown is the same thickness along its entire length to ensure properly balanced sound and tonal properties that let you enjoy your instrument's optimum performance.

You'll notice when the radius gets bigger than 10 inches I skip the uneven numbers as most fingers cannot appreciate that small a change in curve. Of course, if your fingers disagree, you bet I can make any radius you require.

 

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Copyright 2012 Bart Veerman
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