Bridge pin spacing

[Ron Nossaman]

> What's the narrowest distance between front and back row bridge pins
> that one can safely use and why?
> 
> David Love


I don't know what the practical limit is, but you see them down to 
about 10mm at the section breaks where they tried to maintain a log 
progression across the break with a minimal dogleg in the bridge (I 
have one in the shop, but I can't get to it to measure at the 
moment). As can also be seen in those situations, the closer the pin 
row spacing, the harder it is to control the offset angle 
accurately. The usual range seems to be between 15 and 18mm in the 
treble, depending on what you usually work on. Spacing typically 
gets wider as you go down scale. I don't know of any mechanical 
reason for this other than, as the bridge angle decreases relative 
to the string angle, less wood needs removed in notching with the 
wider pin row. Since bridge stiffness in the tenor isn't typically a 
problem (except at the low end, where it ends), I think it may have 
originally been done for speed and ease of production by the hand 
notchers.

Ron N