{"id":44,"date":"2011-01-27T08:11:10","date_gmt":"2011-01-27T15:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koentoppguitars.com\/blog\/?p=44"},"modified":"2015-03-14T10:09:43","modified_gmt":"2015-03-14T17:09:43","slug":"the-archtop-bridge-feet-or-no-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koentoppguitars.com\/blog\/the-archtop-bridge-feet-or-no-feet\/","title":{"rendered":"The Archtop Bridge: Feet or no feet"},"content":{"rendered":"

I often get asked “What is the difference between an archtop bridge with a full base and a bridge that has two individual feet?” \u00a0It is impossible to say that one bridge is better than the other.\u00a0 After defining how each bridge works we can see that under the right condition they can both be good solutions.\u00a0 Many well known guitar makers choose one or the other with wonderful results. They tend to pick a bridge design that works well and compliments their guitar design. For the everyday player finding or choosing a bridge can be\u00a0a complicated choice.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Archtop<\/a><\/dt>\n
Close-up of Koentopp Chicagoan Archtop Guitar Bridge” bridge<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

The bridge is one of the most important parts of the guitar.\u00a0 It is responsible for transmitting all of the strings energy into the body of the guitar.\u00a0 Only five percent of the strings energy is transmitted into audible sound so any negative influence greatly affects the voice of your guitar.\u00a0 Extra weight or a bad fit between the base of the bridge and the top surface will result in a great loss of volume and resonance.<\/p>\n

The bridge function on a violin and cello is similar to that of a guitar, it has a tremendous affect on tone, playability, and response.\u00a0 Carving a new bridge can transform a bad sounding instrument into one that works very well.\u00a0 This task is an art; you are in control of refining and bringing the voice of an instrument to a good place.\u00a0\u00a0 Some controlling factors that are usually altered are the thickness of the base, the thickness of the top of the bridge, the size and shape of the inner openings, and the width of the feet.\u00a0 Although violins and cellos are considered to be more specific instruments, the same aspects apply to the guitar and are therefore just as important.<\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/a><\/dt>\n
Amati archtop hand cut “cello style” bridge<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

I feel that I get more response out of the guitar when I carve a bridge with two feet.\u00a0 With a strong well-designed arch between the feet the bridge has the same strength as the full-footed bridge but with half of the mass.\u00a0 This guitar is easier to set in motion with the lateral vibrations of the strings and top.\u00a0 With less mass the bridge is more efficient at transferring energy instead of absorbing it.<\/p>\n

D\u2019Aquisto, Benedetto, and countless other wonderful guitar makers have had great success with the full footprint bridge.\u00a0 Having the whole surface planted makes the bridge stiffer.\u00a0 The same result happens with the voice of the instrument.\u00a0 Jazz guitar players sometimes want a stiffer and faster response that is quick and short.\u00a0 This bridge design complemented their guitars in a balanced and successful way.<\/p>\n

One could use either of these two bridges to bring a guitar\u2019s voice into focus.\u00a0 For instance, if I had a guitar that was too lively and a bit scattered I might consider putting on a full footprint bridge to calm things down.\u00a0 One could do the opposite to make a dull sounding guitar a little more vibrant.\u00a0 Remember though, that the fit between the bottom of the bridge feet and the top of the guitar is probably the most crucial factor in transmitting energy from the bridge into the body of the guitar.<\/p>\n

The guitar works as a complete system and every thing that exists on the instrument must have purpose.\u00a0\u00a0 Neither of these bridges is better than the other.\u00a0 The truth in making an efficient working bridge is its design and fit to the guitar to transfer the most amount of energy with the minimal amount of absorption.\u00a0 Each bridge has a different resulting characteristic and they supply a maker with another palette of sound manipulation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I often get asked “What is the difference between an archtop bridge with a full base and a bridge that has two individual feet?” \u00a0It is impossible to say that one bridge is better than the other.\u00a0 After defining how each bridge works we can see that under the right condition they can both be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koentoppguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koentoppguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koentoppguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koentoppguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koentoppguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/koentoppguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1275,"href":"https:\/\/koentoppguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions\/1275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koentoppguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koentoppguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koentoppguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koentoppguitars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}