Hi everybody,
I recently got thinking about how much does bridge matter and whether it can influence the sound. I know that Meinl uses this plastic thing which is not attached to the shells themselves but maybe if the bridge is wooden and properly touching both shells, it may alter the sound a bit?
The thing is that I started to like the looks of the bongo when the two drums are very close together with almost no gap. One of my friends told me that this used to be the way that bongos were made in the 70' but today it's different. Of course I mean with traditional rims as with comfort rims, that may look a bit weird.
So I thought that I can make a new bridge and try to minimise the gap on my Matador bongos. As I currently don't use any stand, I don't care if the new bridge would be suitable for the stand or not. I didn't even care how it will look as it is not that visible and if it closes the gap, I'm fine with anything.
With no woodworking skills I made two small blocks from beech wood (one for each bolt), made the sides where the drums are connected somehow oblique so that it fits and tried it on. After a few iterations, I macerated it (is this the word for changing the color of the wood?) and put a layer of some lacquer on top. It does not look perfect but it fits and minimises the gap as I intended to
. Also it may have lowered the weight by a few grams as the bridge has less mass now
When I started playing I noticed something weird - the bongo was louder than before. It was like it added overtones or something. I even felt somehow hollowed out feel when hitting it. Maybe the new bridge is so poorly made that it is vibrating when it should not be. No idea what to think about it but my intention was purely visual, I was not trying to change the sound. Am I crazy? Still not sure if I like this (maybe imagined) sound change that I am hearing but I can always switch to the original bridge