Bass bridges

[Ron Nossaman]

> Can someone state the pro and cons over a curved bass bridge versus a 
> straight bass bridge.  Surely the scale design would be more complicated 
> in a curved bridge situation.
> Thanks,
> James

The curved bridge seems to me to be an attempt to make as many of 
the bass strings as possible, as long as possible with a given rim 
shape. Other than that, it doesn't really affect scale design that 
much. For scaling continuity, it would be nice to be able to make 
the highest monochord about 5% shorter than the lowest bichord, but 
there usually isn't that much room to play with. I normally like to 
go to a straight bridge with redesign, so I can extend the high bass 
out closer to the rim if I want to for better stiffness control.

Ron N