Are the carved shapes on the violin bridge there for a reason ?

May 19, 2012 at 10:06 PM · There are some modern bridges being made. Strings magazine did a big report on modern instruments (I can't find the issue at the moment). From what I have heard, the carvings move away certain tones, and are there for a reason. For the same reason the violin shape has not been altered much in 400 years, it is next to perfect.

May 19, 2012 at 10:11 PM · Both the (now) standard shape of the bridge, and its fine trimming at the hands of the luthier, have a considerable influence on the tone. The vibrations (mostly horizontal) of the strings pass through the various "limbs" of the bridge before reaching the top plate of the violin. Important factors are its mass, and its distribution, mainly governed by its thicknesses, as well as the stiffnesses of the limbs, modified by trimming the "heart" and "ears" (or "kidneys"!) and the "beam" across the feet.

I have two bridges for my viola: one from London, and one set up by my present luthier in Paris, which is more cut away, giving a slightly duller but more nasal tone (like many French vowels..)

Bridges in Stradivari's time were quite different from ours, and the various designs over the centuries are the result of trial and error consolidating into tradition!

May 20, 2012 at 12:12 AM · Incidentally, you don't find corresponding fine slits cut in a cello bridge. Presumably this is because the cello bridge is dealing with a completely different range of frequencies and resonances and doesn't need to filter anything out, or at any rate not in that way. Note that the cello bridge is significantly taller in proportion to its width than is a violin bridge.

May 21, 2012 at 12:02 AM · I have experimented with a radically different design or two, which proved to me that much of the conventional wisdom about bridge shapes is incorrect. I also found that there is little desire among players for anything different and that it is not worth my time to make them, so I reverted to what is cheap and readily available.

My theory is that the current design evolved as bridge making became a separate commercial enterprise rather than being done by the violin maker. Couldn't be too simple or anybody could do it.