Stradivarius Baroque Guitar Bridge

[Ken Nagy]

I'm building a small Stradivari guitar, about the size of his form MM.E.901.5 Mine is a little smaller because I drew it up to make a 1/2 scale guitar for my grandsons a couple years ago. I just put a "normal" 5 string bridge on that one. This one I want to make real. Thin, light, responsive. I have a plan on a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper with the bridge drawn out. It's hard to see even under a magnifier! I know it has a triangle design under it for tying the spaced courses, but I haven't been able to find any good pictures of one to know what is going on.
I have the head glued on the neck, so as far as I'm concerned the hard part is done!
Does anyone have a picture, or a drawing?

I finished my first real guitar at Christmas, a maple/curly redwood archtop that plays really nice with heavy nylon strings. Before that I made less than a dozen violins and violas. I have some experience, but not much with guitar bridges. I did just make one out of cherry for the archtop, because with the switch to nylon, the g was placed about 4 mm too short! But that's a whole different thing.

Ken

[Marshall Dixon]

Don't know if this will help or not.

https://emuseum.nmmusd.org/objects/7192 ... 439&idx=16

The Guild of American Lutherie has a plan here. Not the model number you mention but 901.6:

https://luth.org/instrument-plans/guita ... tar-plans/

[Ken Nagy]

Those photos are quite nice, but I can't figure the bridge out from them. That tiny guitar plan is what I have, printed out on a standard sheet of paper. Printed out that small, it is really hard to make out anything. I'd buy something like the cool plans of Voboam guitars from The Dutch Luthier; they seem like cool projects, but I'll probably never make that tiny Strad. But those Voboam plans won't tell me anything about the Stradivarius bridge.
I read that it allowed some adjustment of the height of the strings, and maybe the scale length; but I don't know how obsessed they were with perfect tuning. Part of the thing is quick decay, and a jingly sound. I think. I work in sketches; this is what I'm thinking. Is it anything like reality?

[Alan Carruth]

The bridge on those guitars is more or less like the tieblock on a classical guitar. Often the upper surface slopes down a bit toward the front, and the front side may be under cut. This gives a somewhat more defined string height off the top. It's amazing that they don't come unglued more often than they do. Using top wood that has no run out really helps with that. Also, some makers tooth the bottom of the bridge, which is a big mistake.

[Marshall Dixon]

Hi Ken,

I'm afraid I've reached the limit of my helpfulness on the subject. You might try getting in touch with member Jo Duseppo, who is an expert in historical instruments. Here is the website or maybe a personal message from this forum.

Best wishes on this project. Hope you post some pictures when you're done.

https://www.dusepo.co.uk/

[Marshall Dixon]

Those photos are quite nice, but I can't figure the bridge out from them...

I work in sketches; this is what I'm thinking. Is it anything like reality?

20200421_090841.jpeg

No, on the reality issue.

I just pulled American Lutherie #122 off the shelf and read the article referred to by the plans. Written by Jan van Cappelle, who builds under the JAVACA label. Very interesting and informative regarding the multiple scales used and the very different tunings of the era that could vary from city to city. There is a picture of a bridge on page 134 that should satisfy your needs. $14 plus shipping.

Alternatively you could look for JAVACA online. I gave a quick look but didn't find as good a picture of the bridge as in the article.

https://luth.org/journal/american-luthe ... mmer-2015/

[Alain Lambert]

This site has good picture of the bridge.
Not same model but the bridge look similar
http://www.sinier-de-ridder.com/restaur ... i_eng.html

[Ken Nagy]

No, on the reality issue.

I just pulled American Lutherie #122 off the shelf and read the article referred to by the plans. Written by Jan van Cappelle, who builds under the JAVACA label. Very interesting and informative regarding the multiple scales used and the very different tunings of the era that could vary from city to city. There is a picture of a bridge on page 134 that should satisfy your needs. $14 plus shipping.

Alternatively you could look for JAVACA online. I gave a quick look but didn't find as good a picture of the bridge as in the article.

https://luth.org/journal/american-luthe ... mmer-2015/

Ahh, the Dutch Luthier guy. Yeah, I've read a lot of his stuff. His blog is pretty good. Another good blog is http://schreinerlutesandguitars.blogspot.com/2012/

I found a piece of Padauk big enough to make 12 pegs and a bridge, but the wood doesn't match anything else on the guitar. I have an idea to make a really old vihuela, and have a big board of Padauk, so decided to leave that for that project, so I cut a piece of cherry, and sliced it up for 10 pegs and a bridge. Got it almost done, and wondered if the cherry would work. I would think so.
Wouldn't it?

Anyway, here's what I ended up with. Still needs to be finished, and finished.

[Marshall Dixon]

...wondered if the cherry would work. I would think so.
Wouldn't it?

I don't see why not. I think the properties of the individual piece of wood are more important. Things light weight and runout. Unless you were trying to make a reproduction of a particular instrument.

I use what wood I have on hand if it fits the bill. Otherwise it becomes a birdhouse. And since I heat with wood nothing gets wasted.

[Marshall Dixon]

I had van Chappell's article sitting out and took another look before returning it to the bookshelf.

What hit me like a ton of bricks is that these bridges provide virtually NO cross grain stiffness. That would make sense with a narrow body and a ladder braced top.

PS my above post should read "Things LIKE weight."

[Gilbert Fredrickson]

Cherry is fine. Died Pearwood was popular with that crowd. Your bridge looks great.

[Ken Nagy]

PS my above post should read "Things LIKE weight."

Even so, both words work. The other guitar I made, a 16 inch arch top strung.with nylons is 1666 grams, heavier than I expected, but the heavy birdseye and padauk neck balances it nicely.