cloud bridge dimensions

Darryl Hattenhauer

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Guilders,
Could somebody please tell me the length of a cloud bridge? By length, I mean the line running from treble side to bass side. Measuring along the soundhole edge would probably be easiest. Also, what is the width at the ends? And were these ever made of ebony?
 

hansmoust

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Darryl Hattenhauer said:
Guilders,
Could somebody please tell me the length of a cloud bridge? By length, I mean the line running from treble side to bass side. Measuring along the soundhole edge would probably be easiest. Also, what is the width at the ends? And were these ever made of ebony?

Hello Darryl,

These bridges tend to vary a little bit from one to the next, depending on the period that the guitar was made in. I made a quick photo of two slightly different ones. The one at the top is in ebony with a 'through' saddle, while the other one is a slightly later version in rosewood and it has a 'drop-in' saddle configuration. They're both the same length at 7 inches but the ebony one is slightly narrower at 1 inch and the rosewood one is a tad wider. Most Guild 'cloud' bridges from the '60s were done in rosewood but I've seen a couple of ebony ones over the years.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust

P.S. Oh yes, in case you want to know ......... the bottom one is Brazilian rosewood!


[img:709:413]http://www.guitarchives.nl/fotos/CloudBridge.jpg[/img]
 

hansmoust

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Darryl Hattenhauer said:
Do you know if there are any of these bridges available, whether new old stock, or reproductions?

Well, I do not know what other people have available but I've never seen any for sale. I have a few that I would like to keep for future restorations but the few times I needed one so far I had to make a slightly oversized replica anyway for cosmetic reasons.
Also, these bridges have a very low profile since the original guitars had a different neck set. That's the way they were designed. Very small chance that you could use one on a later guitar; and you also have the different shaped belly of the bridge to deal with. It's not that much work to make a replica though You have my picture above so you can enlarge it to scale and you have your pattern.

Hans
 

hansmoust

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Cloud bridge

Darryl Hattenhauer said:
It's good to know that they were a lower profile, because I was wondering if mine was shaved or something.

What guitar are we talking about Darryl? Can you show me a picture?

Hans
 
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