One size fits all?
rfbridge
and the various sets of generalised rules on using the chords.In the course
of teaching them fingering I came to realise that there were many players
whose hands were "non standard" in that their fingers were fatter or thinner
than average or whose finger tips were blunter or more tapered thann
average, or the fingers were longer or shorter than others or their hands
were just bigger or smaller than others.
Most of thesedeviations from the "standard hand" gave rise to practical
problems. For example - small tapered fingertips - or just plain small
fingers - tended to fall between the strings when double stopping two
strings with the same fingertip. The possible solution for this was to bring
the strings closer to each other. I therefore made up adjustabe bridges to
give string spacings of 50mm (just about standard), 45mm and 40 mm. The 45mm
spacing was both acceptable to most adults (incluning myself - with normal
hands) and geatly assisted with the double stopping problem. The 40 mm
spread was ideal for a 12 year old with very small hands ans the guitar was
still playable with larger hands. The boy's 14 year old brother is well
suited to the 45mm spresd. In both of the smaller spreads I made the guitars
with narrower ncks to suit the string spreads
For both of these youngsters I also made their guitars with a scale length
of 24".. This gave a softer feel, requiring a little less effort to fret the
strings and gave a shorter guitar needing less stretching to reach the nut
end frets.
On the other hand I have a friend with relatively fat fingers who would
benefit from a string spread of 55mm. However he is just about coping with
some difficulty
It also helps to solve the double stopping problem if the action is as low
as possible on all strings. To this end the bridges were designed to give
not only pre setteabe string spacing but also individual string height
adjustment.
Thes closer string spreads mean that the strings no longer fit the polepiece
centres of the pickups. This is met by sloping the pickups until the strings
pass accurately ober the polepieces.
I can see that for the industry to cater for different string spreads,
different scale lengths and different neck widths and different polepiece
spacngs would present problems. but other industries cope - try one size
fits all for, say the shoes for the family!
One size does not fit all!.
Dick Bridge
Stratovarius
the best fit. An adjustable neck/bridge width is a no-brainer, just use
a turnable drum with string-saddle driving groves or ridges but that
would still need a custom (see easily replacable) neck and similarly
adjustable mikes.