Carving and tuning a (cheap) bridge

My first bridge was a $6 Aubert bridge. I think that's their lowest grade of bridge. I can't say enough good things about it. It was so easy, even for a beginner with exacto knives, to carve. The wood was so dense and even in grain. I got greedy with the carving knife and ruined it, and then I burnt it in a frying pan, so maybe I deserve what I'm suffering with the replacement.

This replacement bridge was a $2 no-name bridge. Ugh. It is so much harder to work with. You can really only cut in one direction and even then you deal with tear-out and splinters. The grain is uneven in the worst places. The pattern is cut off-center. Disgusting. I guess it might be OK to get one of those 10 bridge lots and just practice on them, but I'm sick to death of it and I'm not even finished with one. However, I have to play on Sunday, so I persevere. It's amazing what a deadline will do to your productivity.

I'm using Michael Darnton's chapter on setup, which includes good details on bridge carving:
http://www.darntonviolins.com/violinmagazine/book/setup.pdf

Borman's workbook on bridge carving, which includes measurements on width that seem to be missing from Michael Darnton:
http://www.bormanviolins.com/violinworkbook/vmbridges.asp

And Lars Silen's directions on bridge tuning:
http://www.violinist.com/discussion/response.cfm?ID=25371
(Lars Silen is Swedish so it's really hard to read the articles on his website -- but he gives great directions on English in this discussion.)

Also, I periodically click to this bridge and sigh at the perfection of proportion and grace expressed therein which I may only hope to attain one day.

http://www.violinbridges.co.uk/


Follow Darnton's instructions to fit the feet and to cut the top arch. Thin and bevel but don't mess with with the cutouts yet.

I followed Borman to start off with, and I think I got the bridge backwards. He words it in a pretty confusing way. Also Borman's directions for string level seem too low. At least, they don't allow any room for error. Go with Darnton's if you're a beginner and not sure -- better to leave a little extra and trim it later. You are rather likely to have a ragged edge that needs trimming in some way, anyway.

 Then, set your soundpost and carefully string up the violin and tune it over your new bridge. Do check that the bridge stays straight while you do this, or you will hear a smack that makes you jump up in the air with fright -- the bridge falls over if you let the strings pull it over, and it does it loud and hard and you'll think you broke your violin. Ahem.

Then you get to play it and see what you think. Write down your notes and test it in Audacity if you don't trust your ear. I don't trust my ear.

I didn't like the new sound. The G open string sounded rumbly and gravely -- not singing at all -- and the rest of the notes sounded so...sad. I tried to play Happy Birthday on the E string and it just made me think about how short life on earth is. This is a recurring problem with this violin (or this player). Obviously I am not good at hearing the standard violin words. Is it dry? Warm? Nasal? Golden? Silver? See Darnton's chapter on that for a good chuckle.

My violin just sounds depressed and like it resents me.

However, I'm stubborn. To be continued...