Siminoff and laminated bridges

[Dave Bagwill]

From The Luthier's Handbook:
"Some luthiers laminate their bridges to add strength and to prevent in-grain cracking. Lamination adds great strength to the bridge and permits the entire bridge to be made smaller and lighter than it would be if made of solid unlaminated material. Keeping bridge mass at a minimum is the key for improved amplitude and sustain."

Any comments or experiences with this? It would be a very easy thing to laminate a bridge blank

Edit: just found this pic of a laminated Avalon bridge.

[Lonnie B]

Nice picture Dave. I've never seen a Laminated bridge. But I rescued a 1963 Gretsch acoustic from a dumpster. The Headstock had been broken off but some epoxy made it stronger then ever. However the bridge has a crack all the way across where the bridge pins go. Seeing as the finish is like new except for age cracking I chose to leave the bridge the way it was without replacing it. Going on two years now strung up playable not splitting any more. So I guess leaving it the way it was worked out ok.
Now if the bridge had been a lam bridge I don't think it would have split. You wouldn't even have to use different woods I wouldn't think. Would you?

[John Link]

It seems like, if the saddle rests on the bottom layer of the lams, the sonic result would be the same as a solid bridge. In this case it appears that way. But it also appears that the lams are not parallel to the surface of the top. The shape itself is very elegant. Can you tell us any more about this bridge Dave?

[Dave Bagwill]

After reading Siminoff's article, I googled 'laminated guitar bridge' and found that pic, on an Avalon guitar.

Those that do laminate bridges mainly just layer one type of wood. The Avalon bridge uses a couple of woods mainly for aesthetics.

The pyramid bridge I put on the ladder-braced guitar weighed 23 grams, pretty light, and that was not laminated. When I get a minute I will laminate up some rosewood and see what it weighs.

[ken cierp]

I believe Avalon is George Lowden's original company that he sold off. I like the look of some of the laminated bridgesd I've seen -- I see no down side (except extra labor).

[Kevin in California]

Has a great look. I would imagine it might be more stable then not laminated, but how would you really know.

Kevin

[TonyinNYC]

Trevor Gore uses carbon fiber in his bridges to add strength and keep the weight down. He wrote a book which I have not read, but I believe someone here has. It is supposed to be an excellent book on how to build a responsive guitar. Unlike Somogyi's book that does not give specifics, Trevor's book gives his exact methodology for testing sound boards and bracing them to achieve the same results he gets. Anyway, he does not use ebony or rosewood for his bridges because they are heavy, instead opting for lighter wood reinforced with CF. His bridges don't look laminated, however. Here is a link to his site and info on his bridges.
http://www.goreguitars.com.au/main/page ... idges.html

That bridge in the first post is pretty stunning, but it looks like it was inlayed with the maple rather than laminated.