2.5itim Posted May 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2016 (edited) @Tekkelenburg There's quite a few advantages to going with aluminum over stainless. Aluminum rings out a bit better than stainless, stainless is nearly 6 times the cost of aluminum, 6061-t6 (which is what I'm using) is plenty strong enough for this, if it's strong enough for an airplane it's strong enough for me, aluminum is much nicer to cut and I don't have to waiste near as much on tooling as if I was running stainless, aluminum can be anodized so I can pretty much make any color bridge I want, I know I could powdercoat stainless but it would be quite hard with the saddles and the tight tolerances I have to hold to fit them in the bridge, aluminum is able to hold an amazing polish i do plan on making some out of brass and bell bronze but I can't see the point on making them out of stainless. Edited May 24, 2016 by 2.5itim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tekkelenburg Posted May 24, 2016 Report Share Posted May 24, 2016 The problem with aluminum is there is all kinds of stuff, ranging from soft to hard etc. I dont know if 6061-t6 is on the harder side of it. Thats why i was wondering about it. Brass sounds like an good option too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2016 Yes I understand that. Metal is kind of my life, I spend 12 hours a day working with it, cutting it, machining it, melting it, welding all kinds of different materials. 6061's main purpose is aircraft and structural applications. It will have no problem at all with standing up to this task. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2016 There are actually quite a few brides in production made out of 6061. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tekkelenburg Posted May 24, 2016 Report Share Posted May 24, 2016 Hmm just seemed like an odd choice to me lol, thanks for explaining! We use 6061 our JSF and Apache parts, specifically radar equipment etc. I am a CNC operator/programmer myself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 24, 2016 Report Share Posted May 24, 2016 I take it that you guys will be subscribers to Abom79's channel on YouTube then? When it comes to choosing metals for bridges and parts, there's all kinds of opinions (many of which are baseless and simply subjective) as to which metal is best for whatever "sound". It's true that they all produce different results, that's for sure. I'm pretty big on brass myself, however the Al A-Style Hipshot bridge on my 5-string '51 P-Bass was an enlightening experience. I should do a piece on that I guess. 31 minutes ago, 2.5itim said: There are actually quite a few brides in production made out of 6061. There's also a lot of them coming from China and Thailand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2016 I will make a bunch out of different types of materials and choose which ones I want to go with by quality, feel and sound. Now that pros has put 6061 in a class of Chinese and Thailand I really want to go throw all of my aluminum in the scrap bin, lol only joking! I do plan on making them out of different materials and I have set up getting a few out to a couple respected builders that I trust there opinion so I will use there guidance in quality, feel and sound also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2016 (edited) In my opinion abm is one of the top bridge manufacturers today and they even offer aluminum as a option, so I guess we will just see how everything goes thru trial. 6061 is only slightly harder than brass and brass is very often used by quality companies so I think that it should be just fine. I think one of my favorites out of the materials I will be trying is going to be bell bronze, it's much harder than aluminum and brass and is used to make bells so we know it's gonna sing. Edited May 24, 2016 by 2.5itim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 24, 2016 Report Share Posted May 24, 2016 I hope you noted that I was riffing off your misspelling, "brides". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 24, 2016 Report Share Posted May 24, 2016 Imports are invariably cast Zamac. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted May 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2016 Haha I see that now! Lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 12 hours ago, 2.5itim said: There are actually quite a few brides in production made out of 6061. 12 hours ago, Prostheta said: There's also a lot of them coming from China and Thailand. There are specialist websites for that kind of thing so I'm led to believe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 The number of "Thai Hieronta" ("Thai massage") popups in Finnish cities is surprising.... Then again, Finns do like massages so I'm sure that this is a perfectly normal thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.