More marketing magic?

[Nick]

Currently doing a refinish on a Breedlove 12 string, it was only available locally in Satin and the customer wants a gloss finish. They attempted to 'polish' off the satin and achieved a certain degree of success but botched it in a couple of spots hence me refinishing it .
I thought it would give me a good opportunity to see how they approached bracing their twelve stringers and was shocked to find, what I know as a "bridge doctor" fitted as standard. I went to the Breedlove website and found their description of the same device "the Breedlove Bridge Truss for additional sustain, balance, and clarity,"
My understanding or thought processes of these things is that they would completely kill the long Dipole and suppress most, if not all, of the monopole!
Any body got any thoughts as to the virtues of these devices? I know they're good for an irretrievable bridge/top that's bellied but personally wouldn't rate them for anything else positive.

[Ormsby Guitars]

I've fitted maybe 60 bridge doctors. Half were fixes where a neck reset was not economical and the top was quite bowed. Half where clients loving the new sound and bringing other guitars in to have them fitted.

Getting the tension right makes a big difference. Every guitars has a different requirement.

[ozwood]

My two Bob,s

One would think that all that extra mass hanging off the bridge is counter too all we accoustic builders strive to acheive , sure if a choice between throwing away a cheap guitar or saving it with a bridge doctor.... fair enough, if it's an expensive Guitar , best shout it a new top.

But to take a new guitar or a one with out issues and add all that extra weight to the bridge as well as a device that inhibits mobility just for the hell of it ........

Maybe Trevor or Jeff ( those with an engineers way of explaining things) can expand on all the reasons it's not a good idea.

All I know is that it's best to keep the mass of the bridge and infact the whole top down as much as possible and not to do anything that inhibits mobility, that seems to do the opposite.

Cheers,

[Kamusur]

Well stated Paul, and i agree wholeheartedly but we now need those experts to explain it to us.

Steve

[charangohabsburg]

I went to the Breedlove website and found their description of the same device "the Breedlove Bridge Truss for additional sustain, balance, and clarity,"

Sustain: stands here for ecological sustainability, that is you don't have to dispose of the guitar as soon as you had to if it had no bridge doctor

Balance: less headstock-heavy

Clarity: the top shows no deformation, hence no uneven light-reflections can be observed. Unsing a satin finish enhances clarity even more.

Stewmac states that the BD would enhance volume, which of course refers to the volume of by the box enclosed air, for not allowing the top to deform.

Talking of sound, my guess is that installing a bridge doctor will not make a big difference on other than great guitars.

[Nick]

Half where clients loving the new sound and bringing other guitars in to have them fitted.

Hmmmm interesting observation, what sort of 'quality' guitar were they to begin with Perry? I'm not berating brands just wondering if the more 'budget' models do actually benefit from a bridge doctor by somehow focusing the sound, suppressing any errant overtones but would have to be carefully setup as you've pointed out.
I'm definitely in the same camp as Paul with regards to these things so it's interesting to hear of people wanting them retro fitted to non problematic guitars, just wonder if they're hearing something they want hear or have convinced themselves it's better rather than a more measurable difference?
I'd be interested to hear Trevor or Jeff's views too!
Perhaps Breedlove have adopted them as a cheap insurance against any possible future bellying or bridge separation (they are fabricated in Korea, Q A is carried out back in the States) especially as they use a pinless bridge design?

[DarwinStrings]

I checked the site out too to see what the prices were like and they have 6 12s models from $600 up to $5300, all the models up to one at $4000 have the bridge truss thing and the only one that doesn't list it in the specs is the one at $5300, not sure why they didn't put it in their top of the line model.

Jim

[lauburu]

Have fitted 2 bridge doctors to guitars whose tops had bellied. Both solid spruce top, Asian-made brands. To my ears, they sounded appreciably better after the bridge doctor had been fitted.
Miguel

[Ormsby Guitars]

Most new installations were brands less than $1000, with a majority of them being around that $500-700 range I'd imagine (I charge $280 to fit, so the real cheap stuff was not worth it). The retro fits to guitars that weren't 'broken' covered all values right up to a handful of brand new, one being a $4500 Taylor.

The deal was, if you don't like it ill remove it and inlay a pearl dot, rosewood, ebony, etc in the bridge and put it back to stock. All up they take an hour to fit with a setup, and I never had anyone come back to have one removed. Not a bad hour when they cost $21 plus strings.

I actually just checked my purchases. I've ordered 93 of them and have one left so that's 92 fitted, not 60.

[kiwigeo]

Is the improvement in sound not due to a similar process that goes on with a sound post in a violin??

[Dennis Leahy]

Would it be fair to say, that the "improvement" in sound is noticeable mostly in trebles, less in mids, and that the Bridge Doctor" diminishes bass?

That's my logical guess.

Dennis