Luttgutt
Oud Junkie
Posts: 578
Registered: 1-10-2009
Location: Norway
Member Is Offline
Mood: Curious
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Floating bridge
Hi
Wandering why does does floating bridges have tunnel-like "openings", while others don't (they are in contact with the soundboard all the way)!
What differance does it make?
Same about the lenght of the floatingbridge! Some are long, some short! Any differance??
Thanks
The wood might be dead, but the oud is alive.
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Sazi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 786
Registered: 9-17-2007
Location: Behind my oud
Member Is Offline
Mood: مبتهج ; ))
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Ok, last things first(!)
According to Dr. Ali Hassan, he believes a floating bridge should be between 50 and 60 o/o of the width of the soundboard, and with the amazing
results he is getting I'm not inclined to disagree with him, ...but in my own tests I have found that it may depend on the particular oud and the
sound you are after.
For example, on my Laith Fouad Jihad the bridge is quite long and gives a very well-balanced sound, but I put a shorter bridge on it that really opens
up the resonance/reverb of the high notes, as less of the soundboard is under pressure from the bridge and the bridge is further from the small braces
either side.
If you look at Munir Bashir's bridges you can see/hear what I mean. (obviously it's much more complex than that, but you get the idea).
The thickness of the soundboard and its bracing will have a lot to do with it. My most open-sounding oud has no small braces either side of the bridge
and I know Ali doesn't use them either, the idea being to get the most vibration possible in this "soft" area.
The openings in the bridge do a couple of things, they decrease weight, they concentrate the pressure from the strings into smaller areas, driving the
soundboard more efficiently and perhaps allowing the soundboard to vibrate more freely.
By the way, I finally decided that Laith knew best and put back the original bridge, as to balance the new sound I would probably have to start
surgery on the bracing and I don't want to do that...yet.
Dr. Hassan also say's the bridge should be between 16 & 20 Grams in weight and that it can either be long and narrow or short and wide.
It is probably a fine line between a good light bridge and one that is so thin it no longer transfers the vibrations adequately, I guess this is
where years of experience pay off, and you'll just have to experiment for yourself.
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