Bridge plate wood selection

[ken cierp]

I've leaned toward Rosewood -- seems logical to me because the best xylophones are made with Rosewood keys. Lot of really old prized guitars have Rosewood BPs. To save weight I make the Rosewood plates a bit thinner then Maple plates. I suppose a well trained dog could actually hear the difference?

[Kevin in California]

I have used both, and I've used Macauaba scrap, which truely gave me the best sound.
I used Madagascar Rosewood sold as a bridge plate that chipped out when I drilled the pin holes.
Personally I like the maple the best.

Kevin

[Tom West]

My choices are Maple, Honduran Rosewood,and Padauk.
Tom

[Robert Hosmer]

I wonder why maple was/is so frequently used?
Is it simply because it's so easily accessible and affordable while still getting the job done? Or is there some other "quality" that may make it preferred?

Speaking of rosewoods, I have some African blackwood leftover from a previous project. Was intending to process some into headplates.
Now that we're talking about alternative bridge plate material, I wonder.....
Might be a little on the heavy side, though!


Rob

[Ken Hundley]

Make it thinner then?

[TonyinNYC]

Somogyi uses a thinner bridge plate than most people, which is why he makes it so much bigger. I think anyway. He never talks to me so I can't verify this.

[Rienk Ayers]

Somogyi uses a thinner bridge plate than most people, which is why he makes it so much bigger. I think anyway. He never talks to me so I can't verify this.

The last time Ervin was over at my place, he mentioned it was thinner because he is trying to get as much movement out of the air-pump as possible, and this is a piece of the guitar that can detrimentally affect the sound if it is too bulky. Having it too thick impedes the smooth motion of the top, whereas going thinner (even if larger) has less effect - since stiffness is a an exponential function of thickness.



BTW, Somogyi has only visited me via YouTube posts, and I made up the rest myself - but it actually makes sense from a physics perspective.