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1970's Harmony Monterey Mandolin
Q: A friend gave
me a 1970's Harmony Monterey Mandolin. I need an original
replacement bridge, could I get one from you and if so how much.
I live in Muskogee OK. Ted
A: What you need is a bridge
that fits. Bridges come pre cut as "blanks." The
feet don't fit the top of the mandolin and the string grooves are
not cut. Any bridge that will adjust to the right height will
be fine.
The fit of the feet is critical. There is more
weight per square inch on a woman's high heel shoe than on
the foundation of the Empire State Building. The whole bottom of
each bridge foot should be in contact with the top. If it
doesn't fit, all the weight of the strings is concentrated on the
spots where the bridge does touch the top. The top can be
dented, deformed or cracked. In other words, finding an "original
replacement bridge" would not mean that it would fit your mandolin.
If we had the old bridge or even some pieces of it,
we could make an exact copy of it. If we had another Monterey
to look at we could make you a copy of that bridge.
This copy would cost $200. Commercially available bridge blanks
are about $20 and cost about $40 to fit. The coolest thing
going is a solid (nonadjustable) maple bridge for $150. The
ebony wood and the metal adjustment wheels on a traditional bridge
don't carry vibrations to the top as well as solid maple.
A solid bridge will improve your bass and power.
A Harmony Monterey is not a major collectors find
and being in pristine original condition does not improve it's value
much. The Monterey was the most expensive mandolin that Harmony
made but, because of all the metal and plastic decorations on it
it was always the worst sounding mandolin that they made.
But I speak from memory of the 1970s market and I am not up to date
with the current vagaries of the Harmony collectors market so who
knows? It might be worth a fortune, in which case you will
either have to find an original bridge and get it fit to your mandolin
or have an exact copy made.
Steve Mason
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