Maple-Ebony Bridge Upgrade - Not Happy

[Alan Kirk]

I replaced the factory (maple, I believe) bridge on my Tut Taylor Tennessean with one of those Maple-Ebony ones that has a strip of ebony on the top with pre-cut string slots.

After playing my guitar off and on for a day, here’s what I think: with the Ebony bridge, the guitar is louder, has more highs, the string separation is better, but the tone is definitely thinner. It lacks the richness of overtones it had with the old bridge. It sounds more like a Regal now, to me–a stronger, more pronounced fundamental tone but lacking in harmonic richness.

I am using the same strings, and I’ve had a small bit of experience in setting up resophonics, so I’ve been tweaking and nudging, looking for the best combination of all factors: the strings run straight from tailpiece to nut; there’s a good angle of downward string pressure on the bridge; the
bridge slots aren’t pinching the strings; I’ve tweaked the bridge screw. But I just can’t seem to find that harmonic richness that the guitar used to have.

The new bridge is just a wee bit higher than the old bridge. I wonder if that could be a factor in the sound?

I’m wanting to put the old bridge back on, but think I’ll wait another 24 hours, at least, so I can try it out with my pseudo-Old Timey band, the Lemon Pickers, on Sunday night. For sitting around playing solo, though, I really miss that harmonic richness, but maybe the guitar will fit in better with the sound of a band.

Comments? Ideas?

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[Bob Hickish]

Alan
Its not hard to loose your set up !! no mater what you do !! some times its where you
set the cone ,[ rotation ] and another , its your ear ! or just the position of the spider up
down forward or aft , some times I think I should have left well enough alone , BUT!!
as you well know for us steelers that is impassable , there's a better sound somewhere !.
Its our nature to mess around with the tools of the trade to get to the spot that seems to
give us the edge . Hang in there and you will find what you are looking for . BUT you
will get as many opinions as there are reply's to your question .
Your fellow Dobro picker Bob

[Alan Kirk]

I should add that the Ebony bridge does add definition to the lower (in pitch) strings of the guitar–because the low lows are gone. Also, pick noise (bad technique) is more evident.

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[Alan Kirk]

Due to posting difficulties, this topic is continued at: http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/004955.html

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