Branding iron for bridges?

[arglebargle]

Any advice on where to find a good branding iron for your bridges?

You know, so future generations can either mock or admire my skills.

Thanks!

[Andres Sender]

It's here in a past thread somewhere.

[PASEWICZ]

It's here in a past thread somewhere.

Try Sossner.

[Andres Sender]

Okay here it is:

Bridge Stamp thread

Another thread touched on what size to get, and the consensus was 1.5 mm height.

Jerry, what specific model would you order from Sossner?

[arglebargle]

Hooray!!!! The answer!

Now arglebargle is the popular one.

Thanks!

[PASEWICZ]

Okay here it is:

Bridge Stamp thread

Another thread touched on what size to get, and the consensus was 1.5 mm height.

Jerry, what specific model would you order from Sossner?

I had Sossner copy my very expesive french brand. I do not know the model but others have asked for what I ordered and had good results. You are welcome to do the same.

[Melvin Goldsmith]

Hi

I'm sure I'm in a minority but I don't like bridge stamps... Am I alone in this?

I just think a nicely cut bridge looks better without the territorial graffiti. It is nice of course to know who cut a bridge. I pencil my name and date fitted underneath the bridge.

[Jimmy_Hill]

i feel that a well placed tasteful bridge stamp is in order if you actually made the bridge, therfore putting your name on something and backing up your work. my theory on branding and stamping and whatnot is if your proud of your work, let people know who made it, or sometimes(from a story ive heard) a maker only branded his name on the top plate of a violin he would make because he did not want to sell a brand, he wanted to sell the sound, and also its on the top plate to tell luthiers who made it(kind of like a, hey, i made this, thought you should know type of thing)

[Ken Pollard]

I don't put my name on a bridge, just the date underneath where it can't be seen without really looking for it -- dental mirror or removal. Used to crave a branding iron, but it passed. I figger none of my bridges travel that far, I recognize my own cut, at least in this territory, and when I see one later on, I can check how it's holding up after how many years.

As a tangential issue, we used to tease one of the fellow makers in our workshop classes. Asked him for some of his labels, so we could put them in our early instruments. He didn't think that was as funny as we did.

Ken

[Kevin Miller]

One method I've used to stamp bridges on the cheap is to use a toner transfer iron sold as a woodburning accessory. You print your stamp as a mirrored image on a laser printer, then use the iron to reheat the toner and transfer it to the bridge. It takes a bit of practice to get the temperature and timing right - I ended up plugging it into a lamp dimmer to give me temperature control.

The results don't look like a "proper" bridge stamp (it's more like your name is printed on the surface) but it's quite a bit less expensive, and flexible since you can change what your stamp says any time you want. When I used to recut bridges on lots of Yamaha electric violins I used this method to stamp the shop name on them.