Bridge Placement?

clayton56

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 16, 2009
Messages
573
Reaction score
40
I've noticed that traditional sopranos have the bridge way down near the bottom of the soundboard. Does that compromise the tone somehow? I've been eyeing a Kanile'a that is designed to put the bridge more to the middle of the soundboard instead of the bottom. Is that a big deal, or can they compensate for that with bracing?
 
Seems to me that scale length dictates bridge placement. It's body size variations that have the bridge end up in different spots. The scale length is determined by the neck length and fret spacing. Given those dimensions, there's only one spot the bridge can be to get proper intonation. (You luthier out there please correct me if I'm wrong on this....)
 
You're pretty close.

Scale length is the distance between the nut and the bridge's saddle, and that determines how the frets are spaced.

Neck length is pretty much up to the wants/needs/whims of whoever's designing it. The traditional soprano design puts the 12th fret at the edge of the body, but there's no reason someone couldn't build a longer neck and shorter body that makes more frets accessible. (Well, there is one reason: the distance between the frets eventually gets too small to be playable.)

--Mark
 
Well...my Kanile'a soprano is BY FAR the most beautiful sounding soprano I've played - and I've had several. It is richer and clearer than the others and plays louder. I don't know if it's because the bridge is a bit higher on the soundboard than others (the neck meets at the 14th fret instead of the 12th which is much more common on other sopranos). Mine is NOT a super soprano (long neck) - it's their standard soprano build. It is beautiful...
 
Top Bottom