What is your ideal wood for an archtop bridge and how does it affect the overall sound?
Many players, myself included, complain that they have to compromise with the intonation when it comes to a floating or movable bridge. A tune-o-matic bridge or even a compensated bridge will usually remedy the intonation problem. How much do they alter the overall sound quality of the instrument and in what way? With rare exceptions, ebony is the only wood I use for bridges because it is tough and very hard. It not only wears well over the years, but transmits the strings’ vibration to the top with minimal loss of energy. Where compensation is concerned, many players – and even builders for that matter – don’t understand that the guitar is built on a “tempered” scale, meaning, that it is actually mathematically impossible to achieve perfect intonation. But, we use compensating factors at the bridge and at the nut to improve these discrepancies, and most players and listeners cannot perceive the very, very slight “off” notes that remain, to an exceptionally sensitive ear however, a dev
