Anyone for B cup?

[Janito]

I have been aware of Mr Edward Campbell's process for fitting bridge feet, but only recently did I come across his mechanistic explanation in the 1992 VSA Journal (XII, #1).

Very briefly, the reasoning behind the practice relates to the assertion that the bridge rocks towards the fingerboard multiple times during a bow stroke and this causes repeated cycles of downward pressure on the top plate by the front edge of the bridge foot. For each violin, there is then an appropriate amount of rocking-compression motion relative to other bridge movements.

So...

1. Is bridge foot cupping/hollowing a common practice?

2. Is it equally 'beneficial' for small (violins) and larger bridges (celli)?

3. If hollowing of the bridge feet benefits tone, does this mean that increasing the longitidinal rocking of the bridge with an elastic tail-cord enhances the effect? Or, is the opposite correct?

4. Would a rounded bridge foot (in the north-south direction) neutalise the effect of tailgut properties because there is little or no compression cycling of the top plate?

ps - some may consider this to be a feeble attempt to resurrect another tailcord discussion - not so.

[Janito]

I found this short discussion in the MN archive:

http://www.maestronet.com/foru...%20bridge%20AND%20foot

and it is touched-on in this longer thread:

http://www.maestronet.com/forums/messagevi...ng%20AND%20tool

-----------------------

I have tried 4 different ways of getting the second thread to hyperlink properly - no joy! If you are interested you will have to copy-and-paste the old-fashioned way.

[Guest]

Am not sure if I do it out of superstition now, or that it really

does help/improve energy transfer, but after I fit the feet to my

satisfaction, the foot is hollowed a bit...in a long oval shape

with a max depth of about 1mm...

Keep in mind that this comes from a very amateur maker.....so keep

that big o' grain of salt handy.

Best of luck,

E.

[Collin]

I hollow bridge feet east to west, then moisten the feet before stringing it. This way, the tips are under stress so that the pressure is more even across the foot.

Could you go into more detail about how hollowing N to S would make the N to S vibration of the bridge more prominently transferred to the instrument?

[Janito]

The hollowing I am referring to is performed in the east-west direction as shown in Erich_Zann's drawing.

In my original post as #4, I was referring to a rounded bridge foot where the convexity also runs east-west.