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The Desert Rose Z Bridge
After two years of research and development, and countless samples, the
Desert Rose Z Bridge is now available to the banjo playing world.
Research was conducted that confirmed important points about banjo
performance related to bridge weight and material density as well as
specific dimensions that are related to sound.
A bridge has a very large effect on the power, tone and playability of
the banjo. It is also the easiest component for the banjo player to
change to search for his or her individual sound. Desert Rose bridges
are designed and built to deliver performance suited for all aspects of
bluegrass banjo, while having a unique sound at the same time. Depending
on set up, they can deliver a wide variety of sound from rich to
piercing.
The Z Bridge Vintage is made of recovered hard maple from trees 300 to
500 years old when cut, and have been sitting in the cold waters of the
Great Lakes for 100 to 200 years, with an ebony top. This centuries old
aging in low oxygen content water has caused changes to the wood at the
cellular level that have a direct effect on the acoustic response
properties of the wood.
The Elite version, is designed using our own PATENT PENDING proprietary
idea utilizing aerospace technology that raises the performance of your
banjo to new levels. The Elite technology has shown positive effects on
power, clarity, note separation and balance on a properly set up banjo.
Specifically addressing the point of playability, each bridge is hand
slotted using gauged slotting files to give the proper size round bottom
slot. In addition each slot is ramped back towards the tailpiece for
optimum playability and sound transfer making it possible to use
shallow slots for best tone.
Setup
It is recommended that you consider it necessary to change the setup of
your banjo anytime you do something as important as changing the bridge.
Because bridges and the woods they are made of vary so much in grain,
weight and density, it is improbable that your banjo will sound its best
without some fine tuning of the setup.
In our experience, the Vintage Elite series perform best with heads
tuned in the G to A# range. A loose head (below G), will not give you
enhanced bass response without possible compromises in performance and
playability. The Vintage Elite series bridges deliver the best balance
of tones, including bass frequencies, without lowering the head tension.
Not lowering the head tension has a benefit to playability in that the
right hand response remains quick and gives you a full range of picking
dynamics that you loose with a loose mushy head.
A further point we have discovered is that the tailpiece should not be
raised excessively. In direct opposition to current fads in banjo setup,
the Desert Rose Vintage Elite series bridges deliver the best
performance with some tension on the tailpiece. We recommend starting
with your tailpiece approximately 5/32 inch off the head to start and
check the sound by playing your banjo. Then raise the tailpiece angle by
no more than 1/16 inch, retune your banjo and play. Continue doing this
systematically until you find the optimum sound for your banjo and
technique of playing.
Please remember that the centuries old recovered wood as well as the
aerospace technology in the Vintage Elite series bridges are new to the
banjo and stereotyped concepts of banjo setup don't necessarily apply to
these bridges.
Failure to take this advice into consideration may lead to less than
optimum banjo performance.
Sincerely, Scott Zimmerman
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