Acoustic Archtop Guitar Bridge

[gypsyjazzer]

I'm a D/B player but I also play guitar.
My Question is: Anybody out there who is knowledgeable about the tonal qualities of woods used for making bridges for an archtop acoustic guitar?. Any preference between rosewood / ebony / maple for tone?

[ikay]

Extract below is from this website - http://www.pantheonguitars.com/tonewoods.htm

[font="Arial"][b]Fretboards and Bridges[/b]

Players of electric guitars with bolt-on necks have long been hip to the fact that neck and fretboard materials can have a significant bearing on tone. Maple necks can impart a bright, poppy tone that can do much to reinforce the top end of a large-bodied guitar, while mahogany necks help push the overall palette into a warmer, more woody tonal range.

Fretboard materials also exert an influence on overall tone, although they probably act more as icing on the cake than as a layer of the cake itself. Brazilian rosewood fretboards and their denser rainforrest counterparts add sparkle and ring, and Indian rosewood fretboards can help fatten up the midrange. Wenge, a dense, dark-colored African hardwood unrelated to the rosewoods, has tonal properties remarkably similar to those of Brazilian rosewood.

Ebony, the traditional fingerboard material found on violins, classical guitars, and high-end steel strings, has the lowest velocity of sound of all the woods commonly used in lutherie and has definite damping characteristics. This may not prove to be much of a problem for large-bodied guitars made out of red spruce or Brazilian rosewood, but it may be something to consider when designing smaller guitars, particularly those using some of the less resonant woods for tops and backs.

[b]Bridge materials, like fretboards, cannot make or break an instrument, but they serve to enhance or edit the tonal contributions of other materials found on the guitar. The woods discussed above-ebony, Brazilian rosewood, and Indian rosewood-contribute similar tonal qualities when they are used as bridge materials as when they are used for fretboards.[/b][/font]

[gypsyjazzer]

Thanks 'ikay' for sending the info--much appreciated.