Banjo and Balalaika Bridges by Bartequal opportunity bridges: banjos love themregardless of how many strings they have*** we ship world wide ****** proudly made in Canada *** |
Premium grade balalaika bridges to optimize tonal performance now available. |
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1 - Dark Star - this bridge is specially designed for heavy-on-the-melody playing. Rapid attack, enhanced decay/sustain combined with absolute tonal clarity up and down the neck lets you exploit the "there's gotta be more" capabilities of your banjo and your musical & creative talents. This bridge is ideally suitable for jazz, classical, blues, melodic and anything style wise where melody is paramount. Dark Star is an equal opportunity bridge: both three-finger picking and clawhammer styles are welcome. Oh, and Dark Stars are simply amazing on woodie (wooden tone ring) banjos you'll be thrilled to hear your woodie wake up and come alive. Here's what the "test drivers" had to say about it. $35 - MORE...
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2 - Archie: a lean and mean bridge designed especially for archtop banjos. Although too bright to some [usually older] ears, Archie can sure make your flat top stand out from the crowd as well - try one on an OB250, RK80 or similar, and you'll be scratching your head wondering where all that sound you never knew you had all of a sudden came from. Compressed sustain allows a musician to exploit the full range of tonal dynamics from raw power growl to melodious sweetness that Archie liberates from your banjo. Made from genuine firewood. $35 - MORE... |
3 - Ebony crowned teak for tenor and plectrum (4 string) banjos. Custom designed for Joe Carr (RIP 2014), a pro player, in Texas who had special requirements to optimize his Celtic style playing. Exquisite tonal balance from string to string, no more skinny sounding 1st strings or flabby sounding 4ths. Superb dynamic sound range, notice the custom string slotting - it's included so you need to specify the string gauges you use when ordering.
$30 |
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4 - Radiused bridges: both bridge wood and top are radiused for supurb sound, tone and stunning looks. Available in 9 to 20 inch, radius, is a $10 upgrade option for most of the bridges I make. Of course, you still get to specify height and string spacing. The bridge shown here has the 14 inch radius needed for Nechvilles. MORE . $40 (the radius is a $10 option for most bridges) |
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5 - The finest custom clawhammer bridge anywhere designed by a clawhammer player specifically for clawhammer players. Untopped mystery wood for a superb tone range from plunk to clear as a bell. The 5th string is raised 1/8 inch to give your thumb a teriffic clearance over the head and helps prevent your thumb from making that annoying pffft pffft sound on the head- a low cost alternative to scooping the neck...
$40 |
6 - Mystery wood, ebony crowned - explosive sound, fabulous for 100 mph bluegrass picking. Ideal for any picking style. If you want to sound as Earl, or as Don, you can get, this is the bridge for you.
$30 |
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7 - Same as above, no crown. A smidgen mellower sound, awesome for clawhammer or all out "pre-war" on Mastertone style banjos. Wildwood banjos, or anything with Fyberkin/Elite heads love this one in B weight. The heavier B weight one is also *the* bridge for Ode. The A weight works exceptionally well with nylon strings. $30 |
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8 - Teak, ebony crowned - great volume and superb dynamic range and great tonal clarity. Especially suitable for budget or medium price banjos (not recommended for Stellings).
$30 |
9 - Ebony crowned mystery wood, don't let the only-two legs bother you, a super sounding all-purpose bridge at a budget price. Two legs only have to advantage of muting the banjo head in two spots only compared to the "regular" three spots allowing the head to vibrate more freely.
$25 |
10 - Period bridge for 4 or 5 string banjos. The untopped mystery wood once again does a great job delivering wonderful growl, punch and clarity all the way up and down the neck. The one on this picture has not yet been slotted but rest assured, custom string slotting is included. 5 string bluegrass pickers please note: unless you want to find out how obnoxiously loud your masterclone can get - don't even think about it!!! $20 |
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11A - A compensated bridge for a tenor, or plectrum banjo, really? Yes, definitely - totally custom compensated at that. Just like their five string cousins: some banjos need them, some don't. Depending on the style they play, four string fans use a huge variety of string gauges making guessing at compensation values impossible so custom is the proper way to go. $45 |
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11B - the top view of the model above illustrates the curves as dictated by the intonation offsets for this particular bridge. The bridge shown here also has the tapered ebony crown. Custom slotting for your string gauges included. $45 |
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12A - Two custom compensated (mystery/ebony) bridges to illustrate the different shape curves you could expect. On this picture, despite the extreme compensation values, the difference is barely noticeable but check the top view on the next picture to get a better idea.
This is really what custom compensation is, or should be, all about. If you want to make your intonation problem(s) really go away then generic on-fits-all compensation just doesn't cut it and this is the way to go, your banjo and your ears will definitely appreciate it. Custom compensated bridge: $45 |
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12B - The same two bridges: the sweetspot offsets for the bottom one are much greater than the top one. Actually, the offset values for the top one are about as severe as I've encountered and it goes to show you that it won't look weird. The offset measurements for strings 1 through 5:
Custom compensated bridge: $45 |
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13 - High perfomance bridge for gitjos/banjitar (6 string guitar banjos). Ebony topped mystery wood for an enormous dynamic range lets pro musicians milk the tone to their heart's content. Custom slotting for your string gauges included, be sure to specify your gauges. The model shown here has the optional tapered ebony crown. $30 |
The thing to keep in mind, no matter what new bridge you put on, the sound will always be different than what it was with your old bridge - you'll be real pleased to hear what these bridges will do for your banjo's sound.
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