Bridge design vs. soundboard

J

Jupu

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I was talking to a local luthier, and I was wondering why he had designed a slotted bridge for his ukes. I suggested a tie-bar style, so that I could fit a Kna UK-1 pick-up on it. He said the slot style can be designed so slim and as such less surface and mass hindering the vibrations of the soundboard.

He was not really sure as to what was the total result on the tone. The volume most likely is less, but can the sound be better in some other regard or more suitable for some kind of playing..? With smaller soundboards (sopranos etc) the difference is of course bigger.

Anyone have a view on this?
 
Maybe someone who has or has played a Kamaka HF-2 and HF-2D can chime in. The standard Kamaka concert uses a slotted bridge and the deluxe uses a tie bar. That would probably be the closest to a comparison, but I doubt the standard non deluxe model sounds worlds better than the deluxe.
 
I had a standard slot style bridge on a Kamaka HF-2A (the centennial edition.) I personally dislike slot bridges and discovered that Kamaka would build me a HF-2 with a tie-bar bridge. When it arrived I did compare the two pretty closely before ultimately deciding to sell the HF-2A (slot) and keeping the new one (tie-bar.) The two instruments were extremely similar in tone and volume. Maybe not indistinguishable, but very very close.
 
Cluze said:
I had a standard slot style bridge on a Kamaka HF-2A (the centennial edition.) I personally dislike slot bridges and discovered that Kamaka would build me a HF-2 with a tie-bar bridge. When it arrived I did compare the two pretty closely before ultimately deciding to sell the HF-2A (slot) and keeping the new one (tie-bar.) The two instruments were extremely similar in tone and volume. Maybe not indistinguishable, but very very close.
Click to expand...

Interesting, thanks for the insight!
 
I had a similar discussion with my luthier. I'm about to commission a concert and want a tie bar bridge on it instead of the typical slotted bridge he puts on concerts. He said he could do that on a concert but not on a soprano, so I'm guessing the soprano soundboard has to have a smaller bridge in order to not dampen the sound too much. Then again, there are examples of sopranos with tie bar bridges. KoAlohas for example, and the tie bar bridge definitely doesn't affect the sound of my soprano KoAloha. Although to be fair, the lower bout on the KoAloha is wider than those more traditional looking sopranos, but then Pono sopranos for example have a tie bar bridge and a fairly narrow lower bout. Go figure...
 
Dohle said:
I had a similar discussion with my luthier. I'm about to commission a concert and want a tie bar bridge on it instead of the typical slotted bridge he puts on concerts. He said he could do that on a concert but not on a soprano, so I'm guessing the soprano soundboard has to have a smaller bridge in order to not dampen the sound too much. Then again, there are examples of sopranos with tie bar bridges. KoAlohas for example, and the tie bar bridge definitely doesn't affect the sound of my soprano KoAloha. Although to be fair, the lower bout on the KoAloha is wider than those more traditional looking sopranos, but then Pono sopranos for example have a tie bar bridge and a fairly narrow lower bout. Go figure...
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's interesting... Maybe it isn't merely a factor of the mass/surface area of the bridge, and the high-end brands have figured out the complexities. If you are of the opinion that it doesn't kill the volume either. And luthiers and others who haven't really figured all of it, want to make smaller bridges, just in case?
 
Good question to pose in the luthier forum.
 
I currently have five tenors with a mix of tir, slot and string thru body. Although they have different woods and shapes, other than stringing preference, I’d be surprised if I could tell the difference on two of same uke.

Initially, my first two ukes were tie. Then came slot. Finally string thru. I like all three. I’d say equally. Slot is so easy and on my largest body tenor. Tie bar is easy but for quick string changes ( I ,Ike to experiment] I added the tie block which work great. Finally my TT has string thru and I really like it.

So to each is own, as to what you like. I doubt I personally could tell difference in bridge type as it affect sound. Interesting topic.....
 
This has been a very educational thread. I had to google all the bridge variations because I didn't know which bridges I had. All my ukuleles (custom, Kamaka, and all my lesser former ukes) had tie-bars and didn't know anything else. Interesting.
 
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