Acoustic Guitar Bridge

[Chris_G]

Hello,
Here is what I made this morning : an acoustic guitar pyramid bridge, as found on many Martin guitars from the 20's.

Pyramid-Bridge-FC.jpg (26.33 KiB) Viewed 4639 times

I discovered the spreadsheet feature recently and planned to model the bridge fully parametric.
Unfortunatly, I have not been able the model the transition from the pyramid to the central part with existing parametric tools.
So I finally exploded an intermediate model into faces, and made the missing surfaces with python Bezier curves and surfaces.
I then exported it to Blender and used BlenderCAM to create the G-Code.
LinuxCNC was used to control the CNC Mill.

web_IMG_9967.JPG (57.91 KiB) Viewed 4639 times

web_IMG_9973.JPG (66.38 KiB) Viewed 4639 times

Here is the final ebony bridge :

web_IMG_9977.JPG (54.45 KiB) Viewed 4639 times

Many thanks to everybody involved in FC development !
Chris

[quick61]

Nice job. What material is that? Looks like bakelite, but maybe graphite infused derlin? Whatever, it sure did come out nice.

Mark

[Chris_G]

Hi Mark,
This is real wood : african ebony. Widely used in lutherie for bridges and fingerboards.
Heavy ( density around 1 ) and very wear-resistant.
But, like a lot of tropical woods, it is becoming scarce, so some alternative material start to be used here and there.
Chris

[NormandC]

That's a nice project. Did you build that guitar yourself as well, Chris? That may be due to lighting, but the spruce top does not seem to have any lacquer.

O/T: you hadn't posted in a while, Mark. Welcome back.

[Chris_G]

Hi Normand,
This guitar is a work in progress.
The body is almost completed ( just need to add the bindings around the top and back ).
Now, I have to make the neck, the fingerboard and the lacquer.
I should be able to deliver it to my customer by the end of march.
Chris

[NormandC]

So you're a luthier? That's very cool. A few years ago I was very tempted to purchase a luthier's guitar, but to be honest I don't play enough, nor well enough to deserve such a nice instrument. For now I'm content with my Larrivée... Still, I hope to get a Luthier-made guitar one day, I think what you guys do are real works of art.

Last question: is that Engelmann spruce?

[Chris_G]

Well, you almost have a luthier's guitar.
Even though Larrivée guitars grew up to a factory, Jean Larrivée is a true luthier.
And I really like these guitars.
I have made guitars for all sort of guitarists, from experienced ones to almost beginners.
In the end, the skill of the customer doesn't really matters.
What matters is the pleasure the customer gets from the guitar.
This sounds like a marketing sentence, but that's the real truth !
This is not Engelmann spruce, this is european spruce, from the border between France and Switzerland.
I really love this specie, and this is the one I use most often.
But when I had to choose the top, I was balancing between this one and an Engelmann one !
Time to go to bed.
Have a nice day,
Chris

[NormandC]

Well, you almost have a luthier's guitar.
Even though Larrivée guitars grew up to a factory, Jean Larrivée is a true luthier.
And I really like these guitars.

Thanks. It was an "impulse buy". Out of tens of guitars tested in an afternoon, the Larrivée was the best I played so I left with it, even though it was 3 times over my decided "budget" But I've never regretted it and after 10 years owning it, I still find its sound amazing. (It has a Sitka spruce top with East Indian rosewood sides)

Cheers,

Normand