Bridge Doctor

[ozziebluesman]

Has anyone had any experience with the JLD bridge doctor?

Is it used to prevent a top from rising or as a fix when a top has the misfortune to rise? I had a thought that acoustic guitars built and living here in the tropics could benifit with a system like this installed to stablise the bridge. I understand Breedlove Guitars use the JLD system in all their acoustic's and they are pretty dam nice guitars.

I have read a few reviews on them but it is hard to see how they actually work?

Dose anyone think the system could aide tone and sustain in an acoustic?

Stew Mac have the JLD for $35 so I was going to buy one and then copy it or come up with my own design.

I would appreciate the forums thoughts!

Cheers

Alan

[Kim]

Have not tried one Alan but did stick my head inside a Breedlove guitar and can confirm that this company does indeed use the JLD system as a stock standard on at least some of if not all their guitars.

http://www.breedloveguitars.com/

The guitar I played was only a couple of month old. I say with all honesty that it sounded good, but not exceptional. Just too even across the board to float my boat.

Cheers

Kim

[Dave White]

Alan,

I've had no direct experience installing one but have read a number of Forum posts over the years that say that they control the bridge area stability but there is an impact on the guitars tone. What aspect of the tropics are you trying to control? Is it big swings in humidity - an adjustable neck system would let you adjust for this too. Or if it's constant high humidity making the tops dome up, then you could either build with a dome at high humidity levels or build flat and let the high humidity create a more normal dome.

Kim - interesting. I've played about three or four Breedloves and they were all very bass heavy with thin trebles. I think they make (or made) their tops very thin and this was part of the reason for the JLD system.

[hilo_kawika]

Alan,

I've installed 15-20 of these as home-made versions on my 6- and 8-string tenor ukuleles. See this link for details:

http://www.ukuleles.com/BuildingHowTo/ukuleleBD.html

Installation of such a device allowed me to make tops that would have corresponded to 4-string tenor stiffness and use them for the 6- and 8-string tenors. Because the bridge doctor doesn't allow the bridge to rotate, there is no torquing moment to dish in or bowl the top. Then once you've solved the neck deformation issue by the insertion of a graphite carbon / epoxy composite truss rod below the fret board, the instrument is stable. Customers liked the sounds of these instruments and there have been no repair or deformation issues to date.

I've noticed that other ukulele makers - for example Kamaka ukulele - make the tops proportionately stiffer for the higher number of strings, but then the ukulele sound is extremely "trebley" sounding (almost like a charango), not a feature I favor.

Retro-fitting the bridge doctor on deformed instruments seems to have a mixed history. The "un-deforming" process takes time and the instrument needs to be played a great deal while the process is occurring so as to re-condition it. In the end, not everyone has been happy with the results. But if you're working on some older beloved beater, it's surely worth a try.

aloha,

Dave Hurd

[Ron M.]

Hi Alan,
I installed one in a 1950's Student Grade McKinney Square neck Guitar, and it did nothing to "enhance the volume" imho. It also didn't "flatten the top" either

I'm not saying it doesn't enhance the volume, or flatten the top, I'm just saying i didn't notice any difference on my guitar.

Ron M.

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!

Ron it's valuable to hear your first hand experience.

Looks like I better get building two radius dishes!

Cheers

Alan

[Dennis Leahy]

Have not tried one Alan but did stick my head inside a Breedlove guitar and can confirm that this company does indeed use the JLD system as a stock standard on at least some of if not all their guitars.

http://www.breedloveguitars.com/

The guitar I played was only a couple of month old. I say with all honesty that it sounded good, but not exceptional. Just too even across the board to float my boat.

Cheers

Kim

Hi Kim,

Interesting comment. I typically hear luthiers bragging that their guitars have achieved an "even across the board" range. Of course, I understand if that entire range is muted, or somehow unpleasant, then it could both be even and yet uninspiring.

I'm such a beginner, I rely on my imagination to visualize what is going on with a vibrating top. Oh, and a quick study of Roger Siminoff's book. If I have played a Breedlove with the bridge doctor installed, it was before I knew to look/listen for it. My gut tells me that if Siminoff is correct that a steelstring guitar's bridge has its major movement as a longitudinal rocking of the bridge, then the bridge doctor should kill most of the sustain and impede or alter the timbre drastically. So, when I hear people tell me the opposite, I don't know what to think. Now your comment - that you do not like the sound - is more what I would expect, but the way you expressed it intrigues me.

Dennis

[Kim]

Dennis,

Maybe the word homogenise would better explain what I was hearing, not standing out in any particular area, sounding OK across the board but at the same time not overly good anywhere. Sort of like the JLD was acting as a shock absorber restricting projection a little and keeping everything tight and in order but just too much order for me. No gut rumbling bass, no shimmering highs, no piercing mids, just OK, no cream, but the milk was still milk, but I have always preferred 'true' fresh milk, the stuff with that bit of cream at the neck of the bottle.

How's that compadre.

Cheers

Kim

[Dennis Leahy]

Gracias, amigo. I comprende loud and clear - or is that muted and muddy?

Dennis

[Dave White]

There's currently a thread about them here on the MIMF. I love the quote:

"When this first came out, the consensus was that it would make a bad sounding guitar sound good and make a great sounding guitar sound good."

[hilo_kawika]

I just came upon a YouTube video of one of my ukuleles with a Bridge Doctor (home made) in it being played.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=am0aYMO8nyc

The sound doesn't seem muted or muddy to me...

aloha,

Dave Hurd

[John Maddison]

A lovely looking piece, David! nice sound ...

John M