Official Luthiers Forum!

I am working on a d sized, mahogany B/S with sitka spruce top. I am about to brace the top and have a choice of rosewood or maple for the bridgeplate .any suggestions concerns or considerations would be greatly appreciated . thanks Jody

Jody,

This is a topic of considerable discussion among makers. I view this as I do most things that are really not quantifiable (How much does -fill in the blank- affect tone?) Almost every decision you make on the construction of a guitar has some affect on tone. No one has yet been able to identify and quantify those variables. I've had a chance to play a lot of guitars, some really good, a few great ones, most pretty average. Given the opportunity, I inspect everything I can about the ones that I like the most and whose tone I'm going for on a particular instrument and replicate as many construction techniques-materials as I can. Generally speaking I like small maple bridgeplates because every great guitar and most of the really good guitars I've played had small maple bridge plates. Just my $.02.

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Jimmy Caldwell
http://www.caldwellguitars.com

I use maple as well I think it wears better and what is the bridgeplate going to fail from? Wear!

yes.














no.















maybe.














.

neither one

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Reguards,

Ken H

BRW is prettier.........

Maple.

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Sylvan
http://www.wellsguitars.com

It depends...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Thats what the astronaut said after she made the trip from Houston to Orlando.........

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

I agonized over maple vs. rosewood question for years. I finally decided to put an end to my indecision by using both. I now use a laminated bridge plate that is half maple, half Brazilian. problem solved !!!

Mark

You said something very interesting in your post... "I am getting ready to brace my top"

The bridge plate is actually a very large brace. How large or small and how thin you make it and what species of wood could have a large impact on the final sound of your guitar. You also mentioned you are using mahogany back and sides with sitka spruce top. You actually begin voicing your guitar when you choose the species and materials for your guitar. These choices somewhat determine the final sound or tone of your guitar before you even start building. Since I look at the bridge plate as a large brace I choose the species of wood, size, shape etc. for it to compliment the other choices I have already made throughout the building process. With that said, in general, a maple plate will give you a brighter sound and rosewood will give you a bassier sound. This has been my experience.

This is from Martin's website:

"A more serious change occurred on April 9, 1968. On that date the Martin Company began using rosewood instead of maple for the bridge plate, the small piece of reinforcing wood glued to the inside surface of the top, directly under the bridge. Martin also enlarged the bridge plate.

As in the case of heavier braces two decades earlier, the problem of structural stability had been raised. To Martin, a larger, heavier bridge plate seemed to be the answer. If one had to point to a single, indisputable, qualifiable difference between Martin guitars made before and after this period, it would not be in the types of rosewood used in the bodies, the color of the plastics, the shape of the peghead, or any number of other visible components, but rather a seemingly innocuous piece of wood inside the guitar. "

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It's not the miles ahead, it's the stone in your shoe


In Markham,Virginia

Note that repairman Frank Ford advocates running the bridge plate grain parallel to the top grain.

I do like Mr. Blanchard...laminate them, but with the maple layer parallel to the top grain and then the rosewood cross grain. I'm tempted to start then laminating on a small piece of Formica for the string balls to pull up to.

I appreciate all the input! ( Mario , sorry I woke you ! LOL ) at this point I just want to build a decent sounding guitar that will hold up . it's funny because while I was away from my computer i had the notion to laminate the two ! finding now thats not such an original idea, although probably not a bad one .I also thought of simply laminating two layers of rosewood ,criss crossing the grain for strenghth .
I think adding a bit of bottom to a mahogany guitar might not be a bad idea , but I do have one of those martins ( 75 d 28), with the rose wood bridgeplate , and it had to be repaired due to the ball ends of the strings pulling through or compressing the rose wood , causing the string wraps to ride over the saddle.
the rosewood I have for the plate is EIR with a rather wide grain , it seems to me it might increase the chance of one or more of the ball ends falling on a soft spot . thanks again everyone ! Jody

Jody

Personally, I think Indian rosewood is too soft for bridge plates. Harder rosewoods, such as Brazilian or Honduran are a better choice.

Mark

Laminate carbon fiber veneer to what ever you choose and the ball ends will not pull through in your lifetime...

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It's not the miles ahead, it's the stone in your shoe


In Markham,Virginia

Yeah, but you'd better use a woven fabric and back up the plate inside when you drill through or you're going to wind up with lots and lots of shreded CF and a really ratty set of bridge pin holes.

Actually I don't think that CF is the right choice for that particular job. It's main quality is stiffness to weight ratio, not resistance to abrasion. It's really easy to be bowled over by what CF can do...and not pay attention to what it can't do. I've worked a lot with the stuff, and I only use it where all its qualities are right for the job...and that doesn't include resisting wear. A phenolic product like Formica is better for that. If you want to laminate CF into a bridge plate, do it for stiffness, not wear resistance.

I use maple, but then I use a thin bone veneer that the ball ends fit against, a bit like Stew Macs brass plate but from bone. Bone nut, bone saddle, bone pins, bone veneer. If the strings touch it, it's bone.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

With a little luck, we'll all be dead before our bridge plates give out...that's the meaning of a lifetime warranty!

well i guess I am going for the maple , I do have some braz i could use , but I think I will save that for a time of more certainty ! LOL I do appreciate everyone that weighed in here , a few of you suggested small maple bridge plates what do you consider small ? thanks Jody