So what happened exactly

[solarbird]

Okay, so, there's this thing called a bridge on most stringed instruments. It's the wooden thing holding up the strings in this picture. On the mandolin, it's not actually attached to anything; it's just held in place by the strings. (I think this is true for I think the entire lute family, but I'm not sure.)

Normally this arrangement is very stable, but it can move, and if it does, you're fucked. So I'm up on stage, and I'm opening the evening (for bonus points, I guess), and I play Stars better than the last open mic if not up to my standards, I'm starting to get some control over the singing-and-playing fear, and they seem to like it. I have some reasonably amusing banter with the crowd, which was fun, and went into Thought You Knew, and in... I think the second verse? I don't even remember how far I got... I touched the bridge while playing, and it made this pink noise and suddenly my mandolin was unplayable. And I had to get off stage, because you can't fix this quickly; basically the two lowest strings were a semitone flat, the upper two strings were a semitone sharp, and the strings in the middle were all just various degrees of wrong. So that's malfunction nr. 1.

Now, the MC said I could come back up after a few other acts, which was great. But to really properly fix this, you need to de-string, reset the bridge, and re-string. I didn't have time to do that (...or so I thought...) so tried to reset the bridge without destringing, which can work, but you don't want to trust it. But this open mic only gives you two songs anyway, so I thought, okay, maybe it'll hold up for one song. Now, what's annoying about this is that I didn't think I had any other options, just because of the time involved - but as my second-time-up kept being delayed until later in the night, it turns out I would've. But at no point was I being told "You have an hour," I was mostly being told "three or four other people, then you."

So eventually I do get back up on stage (three and a half hours later - I opened the thing, I damn near closed it, but somebody else signed up to keep it going) and I have a little more fun banter with the crowd and then I start again... and I don't even get through the chorus when it goes PANG and this time it's loud enough that the sound guy flinches, and this time it's even worse, and I'm just doomed, and the performance gods go HA HA FUXX0R J00 and I get off stage and leave and then pound on the steering wheel of our car for a little while out of frustration. And that was nr. 2. And I was so mad I cried a little before I could drive home and spazzkat says I'm still "steaming" about it.

So now you know.

Comments

[silussa.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

On violins and cellos, the bridges are glued in place (my father built both, a very long time ago). Is there anything gained by having it loose, save ease of construction? (gluing the bridge into place is a major pain)

[solarbird]

The violins I've played with have had loose bridges, not glued. I was under the understanding that this was normal.

Nobody glues mandolin bridges into place as far as I know. In fact, the most common pickup type for mandolin involves swapping out the wooden bridge for one with a microphone embedded.

[silussa.livejournal.com]

Doing some further research, it appears you're mostly correct on violin bridges. Which leaves me wondering why my father did it.

Well, he always was a bit odd.

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Yah, I was going to say, I'd never seen one glued. Though I'm more a woodwind type than string player.

[jeric-synergy.livejournal.com]

Gluing the bridge is NOT an accepted practice.

Fatigue failure mode in wood?

[angharads-house.livejournal.com]

Not having ever seen/heard a mandolin fail quite like that, I wonder whether the body of the mando, under the bridge, is starting to crack from repeated flexure during energetic playing?

Re: Fatigue failure mode in wood?

[solarbird]

What? Seriously, what?

There's no physical evidence of anything of the sort, and remember, the bridge is attached in no way. The finish is a little paler where the bridge usually sits but that's always been true.

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

suxx0r, Dara! I'm so sorry!

[maellenkleth]

oh, yeah, and "sorry" definitely goes in here, too. Is Plan B to carry on with the flute and some songs? (figuring, obviously, that mando repairs that take that long pretty much have to end a set, no matter what)

[solarbird]

Flute music's not what these are about.

[solarbird]

Yeah, it sucked. I was really mad, too.

[mhaolain.livejournal.com]

Well, ding dang it all to blazes, what rotten luck. Thanks for going into detail, by the way.

Is there a reason why the bridge is not connected to anything? But then, if it's usually stable, how would you know when your number is up? Talk about annoying, and embarrassing.

I uh, hope you have better luck on the next run. I'm sending you the mental +1 goodies all the way!

[jeric-synergy.livejournal.com]

Where's this open mic?

[solarbird]

This one was at Soul Food Books in Redmond.

[jeric-synergy.livejournal.com]

That's pretty weird behaviour for a bridge: if the strings are able to move freely in their slots, all the pressure should be towards the belly.

I suspect string binding in the bridge slots. That or either the belly is cracked (oy!) or, VERY very unlikely, the bridge itself.

I always use a #2 or softer pencil in the bridge and nut slots: pencil "lead" is actually graphite, a lubricant, and it helps prevent string binding in those two spots. Just get some in there and the strings will move more easily. (There's probably some schmancy product that does the same function.)

[solarbird]

I have some string binding issues (in the nut, not the bridge), I know how to deal with it, I actually use an 8B pencil because it's the most graphite-heavy lead commonly available.

[jeric-synergy.livejournal.com]

If it's extreme, a file works too.

But if your bridge is moving and MAKING SOUNDS when it does, I'd say you got binding there too.

[solarbird]

I've been improving it slowly by using old strings as low-grade files a little bit when I change the strings out.

But those noises were for dramatic effect. The sharp shift in tone between "in tune" and "zomg" actually does kind of register as a sound to me, but I don't know whether they were heard as sounds to anybody else. But the sound guy did react the second time, so.

[jeric-synergy.livejournal.com]

One way or another, time for the luthier.