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I'm building a hybrid bass with a braced acoustic top. I won't actually be using it unplugged, and am really just trying to pick up vibrations from the top through piezos mounted to the bridge plate (which will be pretty thick, for what it's worth). So here's a crazy idea I had. Build an oversized bridge, machine a tune-o-matic to remove some of the mass on the bottom, recess it into the bridge like a saddle, bolt it to the bridge plate, and use normal bridge pins rather than a tailpiece. Sort of like this:



Or this:



It's not exactly something Torres would probably do, but can you think of any reason it wouldn't work? It seems to me that the top would move in much the same way it would with a traditional saddle, because of the bridge pins. And it's basically a hybrid of an archtop bridge and an acoustic bridge, except that the bridge should move more like an acoustic bridge than an archtop bridge, as I understand it.

I can't figure out why nobody's done this, but I'm certain there's a good reason. Anybody?

Thanks in advance!

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David Morris

I am currently considering something very similar for a carved top electric, with a foot ala the old Gretsch Synchomatic "stairstep" bridge and six individual tailpieces.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I'm no expert by far, but do you need to worry about the extra mass affecting the tone?

I think you would if you were doing a pure acoustic build. But my experience with bass piezos is that they sound pretty much the same no matter what you do. The difference between a magnetic sound an a piezo sound is really fairly similar. And hey, piezos pretty much sound like piezos. I'm not planning on an internal microphone or anything. Acoustically, I should get some sort of audible tone from it for unplugged playing, but that's not really the point with this build.

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David Morris

I'm counting on it!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Yeah, God forbid if you came up with some..... (uggg can I saaaaay it ).... "Unique Tone"?.

Can't wait to hear it!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

I think it hasn't been done much on acoustics because it would be pretty ugly. But for an electric it might be just fine. I do kinda think a tailpiece would look better though.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I'm really thinking something more like this...



...with the studs removed, the bottom ground down as much as possible, buried in a Pau Ferro bridge, and a red top with a subtle black burst, gold tuners, and a pickup looking something like this:



It's different, for sure. But I think think it might work.

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David Morris

David, blend those together and bwah!
I think.
Stereo into an ab box.

Thanks Alan. I'm actually planning to keep it all onboard though. I'll use some sort of blender, I'm sure. Stereo A/B is fun too. It's just not what I want to do on this one.

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David Morris