Carving the bridge

Pekka had mentioned that the sound of the cello could be improved by thinning out the bridge. The bridge transmit the vibrations of the string to the front and via the sound post to the back. A lighter bridge vibrates more freely and should in theory open up the sound. So that is what I set out to do today. The feet of the bridge were 10.5 mm thick and the top of the bride was 2.6 mm thick. I found some measurements for a 1/2 cello from  www.alangoldblatt.com/specs/Cello.pdf. It specifies the foot thickness as 9.3 mm and the sop thickness as 2.2 mm. So that's what I did. I am sure these are not necessarily the optimal measurements for this bridge and this cello but I do not have the experience to do otherwise. After the modifications to the bridge Elias played a few of the pieces he practices now and I think I can hear the difference. But maybe that is only because I hear what I want to hear. Interesting to see if Elias' teacher notices anything in his next practice.

This was the final thing I knew I needed/wanted to do on the cello. Now I call it officially finished.

Still not sure what to do next. It will be either a 3/4 cello or 4/4 cello. It could be that the time Elias needs a 3/4 cello will be quite short so it might not be worth the trouble to build one that size. On the other hand it would be another practice cello before the "final" 4/4 cello.