The "moustache" bridge, with a fretwire saddle, appears on early Stauffer and Martin "Stauffer Style" guitars.

 



While the pin style bridge is generally associated with steel string guitars, you can see that Martin used pin style bridges with gut strings close to 100 years before introducing steet string guitars.


A number of early Martin and Martin & Coupa guitars, such as this one, have the "badge" or "shield" style bridge, in either ebony or ivory, here seen with an added ivory pendant.  Some ivory versions have a fretwire saddle similar to those on the Stauffer "moustache" bridges.

 




Many early Martin and Martin & Coupa guitars have a pyramid "tie" style bridge, such as those seen on early guitars from Spain.

Early versions, such as on this Martin & Coupa, are ebony with an ivory saddle:

 




This Spanish style Martin, probably slightly later, has an ivory version of the tie style pyramid bridge.


The ivory tie style pyramid bridge is 25/32" x 5 29/32". The ebony tie style pyramid bridge above is a quite differently proportioned 29/32" x 1 27/32"

 





The earliest pin style pyramid bridge is only a slight step away from the "tie style" pyramid, with a similar "lipped" or scooped back.



 

 

 
This scooped back ivory pin bridge on this very early Hudson Street Martin is likely a replacement, but the decorative ivory and pearl pendants are most likely original from c. 1837.  It's entirely possible, however, that this guitar did originally have a pyramid bridge.
 
 
 




The vestigal "lipped" or "scooped back", however, was only produced for a very short time.

I have an early spruce lined style 27 with the round back pyramid bridge. My early style 28 with checkerboard binding and early hybrid X-bracing has a pyramid bridge which is even longer than the style 34 mentioned above, but appears to be original, certainly very early, which has a round back as well. And the shark tooth rosette style 23 has a round back pyramid bridge as well.


I see that the lipped bridges I have are 27/32" x 5 27/32". Most of the early round back pyramids are 7/8" x 5 7/8".

 
My "sharks tooth" 23, with a 7/8" x 5 27/32" pyramid, might have been transitional.  


I have style 24 Martins with both fan and X-bracing with the lipped or scooped back bridges.

I wonder if it might have only been used on certain style guitars.


While the measurements, such as the body width, of somewhat later Martins can vary considerably from one example to the next, the measurements of early Martins are extremely precise.


These are later round back pyramid bridges in ivory, which appear until about 1919:







 
 
 

 
 





The ebony pyramid bridge was used until 1930, though it has been revived for models such as the new version of the Ditson 111.


This 2 1/2 - 17 is from 1889:






As you can see, many pyramid bridges made until just after the turn of the century were finished, and not bare wood.



This pyramid bridge is on an early 1930 OM-28.


Since Martin switched from a long saddle to a short saddle in 1965, most people think the long "through-cut" saddle pre-dated the short drop in saddle, but as you can see, all of the earlier Martin bridges had short saddles.  Martin switched to the glued-in long saddle in the late teens, and actually switched back to the short saddle in 1965.

If you look carefully at the photograph of the ivory saddle above, you can see that the saddle is notched, with the exposed part of the saddle extending further than the shorter "drop in" portion.





Here is an excellent reproduction pyramid bridge on the revived Martin Ditson Style111:
 
 






During the boom years of the Hawaiian craze, as Martin was struggling to keep up with demand, Martin purchased "Chicago Style" bridges supplied by Lyon & Healy.








Less expensive Martins had a rectangular bridge in the 1920's with plain wings rather than the more expensive pyramids.  


1926 00-18






Martin revived this bridge for the "New York" models of the 1960's.





In 1930, Martin developed the "belly" bridge to withstand greater tension from heavier steel strings.  Martin had a number of unsold instruments with serial numbers dating to 1929, due to the depression, which were still unfinished, or "in the white" in 1930.  Martin fitted these with belly bridges before they left the factory, and also asked dealers to return unsold guitars, which they retrofitted with belly bridges.  


Among the first of the Martins to have the belly bridge were the 18 style tenor guitars.



1931 0-18T Tenor guitar.






The belly bridges served Martin well as players moved toward the larger Dreadnaught guitars with heavier strings.



1944 Martin D-18








Martin revived the tie style bridge for it's later classical guitars such as the 000-28C of the 1960's



1962 000-28C

Notes:

a) Pyramid bridges should have a curved slope on the inside portion of the pyramid. Bad copies have four straight edges. The saddles were not slanted until ( ), and they were also drop in for 80 years until 1919. The through saddle didn't start until 1919 (1920?) and lasted until about 1968 when they went back to the drop-in style. I have seen a 1920 0-28 with a drop in saddle.

b) Size:
1. Size 1 and larger from all years have bridges 6" long
2. Size 2 and 2 1/2 Martins have bridges 5 7/8" to 5 3/4" long. At least until the 1890s.
I see that the lipped bridges I have are 27/32" x 5 27/32". Most of the early round back pyramids are 7/8" x 5 7/8".


PYRAMID BRIDGE LENGTH
The earliest pyramid bridges, at least going back to the 1850's, are 5 7/8" long.
From the mid 1890's through the 1930 OM, they are 6" long.
Some from the 1870's to the 1890's are 5 3/4" long.

PYRAMID BRIDGE WIDTH
Most before 1900 are roughly 7/8" wide. Some from the 1840s or 1850s are 13/16" wide.
Most after 1900 are 1" wide.
I have one from 1926 that is 15/16" wide.

PYRAMID BRIDGE WINGS
The average length of the wings on most pyramid bridges is roughly 1 3/8"
During the 1880's and 1890's, however, there is more variation, as much as from 1 1/4" to 1 1/2"

On the earlier 7/8" wide bridges, the wings have a very long, narrow, elegant appearance, with a gentle curve to the inside angles of the pyramids, that looks nothing at all like the harsh angles found on many of the bad copies.

I found no difference between the dimensions of ivory and ebony bridges from the same period.

It's interesting that the earlier years have more consistency in length than the middle years. Some time ago I did a survey of the body dimensions of my early guitars, and I found the earliest years to be precise, while the middle years had much more variation.

This 1885 0-34 bridge is the longest and narrowest of the lot, 6" long, 7/8" wide, with 1 1/2" long wings:

vintagemartin.com


To See Robert Corwin's Classic Photography of Folk and Roots Musicians, visit:

robertcorwin.com

For Information on Photography for
Exhibition, Publication, CD's, Promotion, Web Pages, Tour Books,
to Purchase Photographic Prints, or

If You Have Questions or Suggestions About This Web Site or Vintage Martin Guitars:
 
e-mail: Robert Corwin

entire site copyright ©1998 through 2009 Robert Corwin/Photo-Arts. All rights reserved.