Carving the bridge

My first bridge

You can buy "fitted" bridges. But don't. The feet won't connect fully with your violin, so you will lose a lot of sound. And it will be clunky and thick, further deadening your sound. Buy a bridge blank, instead, and some exacto knives.

A bridge blank comes too tall and you have to taper and shape the feet to fit the curve of your violin, and lower and shape and taper the top edge to fit your strings. I still think my neck/fingerboard is at too low of an angle so I severely carved the bridge shorter (along the pen line) hoping to lower the strings too so I could actually play them, but I am not sure even this is enough. A high bridge sounds more powerful so I don't want to chop off too much.


 You can find lots of beautiful historical bridges to be inspired by, or even copy, at http://www.violinbridges.co.uk/. They even have templates.



There are also measurements available for optimal sound. Get some calipers and do measure -- don't eyeball it, when the experts have already figured out what sounds good. The calipers will come in very handy and they are less than $20 at Harbor Freight or something.

My understanding is that the taller the bridge is, and the less wood it contains (narrow feet, big cutouts), the more resonant it is. The violin will then sound more powerful and bright. Those are good characteristics. If your violin is too bright, perhaps getting to sharpness, you may be able to warm and darken the tone by deadening it, effectively, with a heavier bridge.


 My first bridge carving ended up less than perfect, but a huge improvement. I strung it up before carving it thinner and opening up the holes, and the sound before and after was incomparable. Not to mention that it looks beautiful.

Fitting the bridge -- i.e. shaping the feet -- will be another post. I didn't take any pictures of that process with this first bridge, but soon I will be replacing it and I will document the method I use then (graphite and an exacto knife, not sandpaper).