Bridge tuning

ayer

Violin #16 pleases me up to E6. I assume that, on the upper half of the E string, the bridge and soundpost are most important to bring out the bridge hill response.

So, I could do maybe 400 different combinations of bridges and soundpost settings. But clearly violin makers must have a more efficient way to optimize the sound and response.

Here is my current plan:

1. Make three bridges with resonances of about 3600 Hz, 3100 Hz and 2600 Hz.  To measure these frequencies, I will use Joe Curtin's method in which the bridge is clamped in a vice. You flick the bridge corner and record the response.

2. With each of the 3 bridges, I will move the soundpost to maybe 5 different positions and record the bridge tap response, looking for the bridge hill.

3. Which ever bridge works best, I will then make 3 more bridges with frequencies closer to the winner of the first round.

I am confident there is a better way, which I am sure Mnetters will reveal, in the fullness of time.

Suggestions are solicited.  Thanks

mamaya

You can also tune between 260 - 400 Hz with another technique. I haven't tried that yet so I don't know how in detail. Be careful not to carve too much on the underside between the feets. It will rapidly change the sonority of the violin, my experience is that bad things happen att ~2 KHz.

peg

You can do a similar thing with those DeJacques bridges with the adjustable feet. Make different height, weight, and stiffness combinations. They fit on any violin and save a lot of time for getting an idea of what works for a particular violin.

chin

I'll just throw in my experiences and tests.



-I tried testing the effects of mass and flexibility predicted in Woodhouse's paper on the bridge/body hill, and didn't see them.



-For "tuning" a bridge, I also didn't see or hear much effect until it got extremely flexible, then the high end died off.  I was not able to enhance the high end by any tuning.



-The only adjustment-like thing I do is adjust the weight of the upper part of the bridge; thinner = more "unmuted".  It can be taken too far.



-I have quantitative data (which I can't locate right now) that shows increased high frequency response over time, particularly in the first few weeks and months.  So I wouldn't fret too much about the high end for a while.



Soundpost I'm not much of an expert; if the E string sounds too hard, I'll move it back (South), too mushy and I'll move it closer to the bridge.