Making long bridges

[Ron Nossaman]

>As I ponder the laminated versus solid root choice, can you comment on the
>type of wood/grain angle/method of drying and preparing a solid root to get
>it stable?
>
>Thanks.
>
>David Love

Hard maple or beech, well cured as Terry said. I don't really think grain 
angle is all that critical, at least it didn't seem to be to the people who 
made the old bridges I have out in the shop. Mostly nominally quarter cut, 
but some nearly flat. I would rough cut bridge sections from the plank to 
see how the stuff curls before I flattened it, joined it, and cut to 
finished size. Whatever you do, it's still a piece of wood, and will never 
be stable in a continually changing environment. Laminating improves that 
stability and predictability, but it still isn't entirely stable either, 
and takes more work to produce. If you want a super stable root, you can do 
vertical cross plies, but that's probably overkill.

Then there's the possibility of modifying and re-using the original root, 
if it's solid enough. How close is your scale revision to the original 
speaking lengths?

Ron N