Ebony vs. Rosewood floating bridge

[mr. beaumont]

See, totally not weird.

[neatomic]

obscure release on the german mps label...& reissues were from japan...

a sample

cheers

ps- i've seen that online q&a...cool

pss- he's got a very dark tone on that record...sounds like a humbucker..but also a darker amp...sure he didn't bring his precious gibson ga50 amp over

[jbucklin]

I know he we was still using that amp in '69 when the recording was made. But like you I have reasoned that he probably left it at home. Maybe he recorded his guitar direct? I've always wanted to record an archtop running into a vintage Neve preamp.

[Dennis D]

So basically, your 175 sounds like the 175 tone that jazz guitarists all over the world love and chase?

That's my opinion of 175's - - proven to me after having bought an L-4.

Bottom line, 175's sound like that, and you're going to be hard pressed to get any other sound out of them.

And once you tire of that sound - and you may - - you don't have a lot of options.

[jbucklin]

Part of my problem is probably due to now having two archtops with solid spruce tops, like your L-4. 175 sounds kind of dead after playing those. I love the guitar though and will definitely keep it, especially for those situations where I need to crank the volume and not have howling feedback.

[lawson-stone]

Maybe try D'Addario Chrome flat wounds?

[Dennis D]

Part of my problem is probably due to now having two archtops with solid spruce tops, like your L-4. 175 sounds kind of dead after playing those.

I agree completely !

[jbucklin]

Maybe try D'Addario Chrome flat wounds?

That's what I used for years and still do from time to time. I do like the TIs, but to me they lose the incredible tone they have when first putting them on after just a couple of days. I ended up ordering a set of DR .011 Legends, which are stainless steel. I'll report on them once I get them.

[Herbie]

This is an old topic but I just asked the same question from myself and finally installed the ebony bridge I found somewhere from my drawer instead of the stock rosewood bridge of my ES175 VOS.

I strummed the first chords and said: 'wow'! The difference was clear. I thought that ebony would have been closer to a brass bridge, treblier or so but no.

The rosewood bridge had been cold, dead and harsh. Ebony one is warm and musical!

Maybe the brass bolts inside the rosewood bridge has something to do with this.

Strings are TI Swings .013.

[sgosnell]

IMO the difference between ebony and rosewood, as far as tone goes, is minimal, if there is any. What does make a difference is how the bridge foot fits the top of the guitar. That makes a big difference. Also, the weight of the bridge has an effect. It can be hard to predict everything, because everything is interconnected.

[icr]

If the rosewood one was not dyed black, you may see a difference.

[Herbie]

IMO the difference between ebony and rosewood, as far as tone goes, is minimal, if there is any. What does make a difference is how the bridge foot fits the top of the guitar. That makes a big difference. Also, the weight of the bridge has an effect. It can be hard to predict everything, because everything is interconnected.

Well...I've been weighing bridges for Les Pauls. They can be 10g lighter or heavier, being around 60g or so. With them I can tell the difference if the bridge I play with is cast or milled brass.

But these... makes me wonder.

So I had to test. Here is the ebony one:



Let's say it is 7g (!).

And now the rosewood bridge:



It is... let's say 7g!

So these leaves me doubting a bit the theory of Yours.

My ears say definitely that in my guitar, with these same strings, with this same bridge base, the ebony one is audibly different from rosewood one. Better to my ears, warmer, more musical. Specially when played with an amp.

So there is only one possibility for the difference: the species of wood.

Maybe the situation is different with Your guitar, and that's ok, of course.

Is this scientific enough – for jazz?