Bridge plate for pinless bridges

[lamanoditrento]

Hey all,
I've been including bridge plates on my pinless bridge builds more out of habit more than anything else and was starting to wonder if I am doing the right thing My original thoughts were that you change the neutral axis and prevent cold creep by keeping it, but lately I've been thinking about the effect of mass on the soundboard... But then again, I use a bridge patch on my nylons to reduce the print through and waviness...

I keep going back and forth on this in my head on this. My current conclusion is that the stiffness around the bridge area should be keep and pinless means I can use softer lighter wood to achieve the same goal.

What do you think? Let me know your 1.6 yen

[Bruce McC]

Hi Trent, for my 1.6 Yens worth, try 1.5mm Birch plywood (aircraft/modelling ply).
It has worked for me in eliminating waviness in the top of my latest nylon string.

[Allen]

I've been using a Carbon Fibre bridge plate in all my ukuleles as per David Hurds recommondations in his book going on now for about 12 years. At 0.8mm thick it weight is bugger all and extremely stiff.