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I admit I don’t understand all there is to understand about bridge plate function, but why don’t we use ebony bridge plates? Is it too dense ? Doesn’t transfer vibration readily enough?
Thanks for insight


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Crack city. It probably would add to the damping. But who knows it might turn out to be the best sounding guitar ever!

Macassar ebony would behave more like Rosewood and less prone to cracking.
New username, same ole Pat Macaluso!

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Pat

Yeah, cracks easy, but also very heavy.

Heavier than I'd prefer to use. The increased mass (if you use similar thickness to maple/rosewood) would in theory decrease responsiveness, and likely decrease treble. This will of course be if you keep everything else the same. Maybe you go with a walnut bridge and an ebony bridge plate and come out with a similar total mass added to the top. So many delicious recipes.

My go to is Maple, as its hard/strong enough, but a little lower mass.

This is not definitive, but a good reference for comparing relative mass:

Maple 0.6 – 0.75 (10^3 kg/m^3)
EI Rosewood 0.90 (10^3 kg/m^3)
Ebony 1.1 – 1.3 (10^3 kg/m^3)

https://cedarstripkayak.wordpress.com/lumber-selection/162-2/

I would stick with tried and true materials EIR or eastern hard rock maple alternatives would be honey locust or osage orange.

I used to use spruce with a hefty hardwood ball end plate, but a few years before I quit I switched to some BRW. I had some backs that were pretty wormy in spots, so they were pretty useless as backs. The finished instruments sounded better than spruce BP's. The last 12 I built used a ladder style BP that spanned the area and I used BRW. I wish I would have used it from the beginning. Never cared about weight, probably would have tried AFB too since I was making all my bridges in AFB.

Ebony is kinda dull sounding when dropped on a saw table, I much prefer AFB. You probably all think that's nutz, but then none of you build 12 strings with .156-.187" tops either. Probably think that's nutz too...

Haans, African Blackwood?

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Pat

Yup...

It really depends on what kind of a guitar you are after, the shape and size of the body and how you build it, (light or heavy guitar, live or dead back, light or heavy top braces, light or heavy bridge.

An example of what I mean is I build my tops relatively light and strong by using carbon fiber in the braces and a stiff, fairly thin top. So, I feel I need some mass at the bridge plate/Bridge. I either use a hard maple bridge plate (light) coupled with a 32-40g bridge or sometimes a heavier mad rosewood bridge plate coupled with a lighter bridge.

Other than that if the bridge plate is going to be prone to cracking then it probably is not a good choice. (although cracking can be minimized by grain orientation in some woods)

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust