Order Bridges

Click on sound file below to hear Rock Bartley playing the Old Countertop Hard Maple bridge on his Osage Orange banjo that he built. The banjo has an Osage Orange neck and resonator. It sports a Sloan 20 hole ring on a mahogany 3-ply rim.

Click on sound file below to hear Doug Knecht playing the Old Countertop Hard Maple bridge on his Davis/Yates banjo. The banjo has a Davis neck with Yates rim/ring and mahogany resonator.

Old Countertop Hard Maple

My buddy, Rock Bartley, has sent me some more of the old counter hard maple
that he found in his shop. Just like the other countertop wood he sent me, it is some amazing tone wood for banjo bridges! It just simply has it all, tone wise.
The picture to the left shows it sitting on Rock's Osage Orange banjo that he built.
I don't have a lot of this wood to make bridges from, so it won't last long.

Price: $25.00 + $4.00 shipping in lower 48 .....$14.00 shipping to Canada.. shipping to all other countries @ $18.00.

I offer sizes: 1/2'', 9/16", 5/8'',.656", 11/16'', 3/4", or custom height
Your choice of spacing: Standard, Crowe, or a spacing of your specifications. I offer radius tops as well.

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Old Shop Hard Maple #2

My friend, Mr. Bob Lindsey, also sent me this old shop maple several weeks ago. Not sure of the age of this wood, but it has been in his shop for around the same time period as the #1 maple. This maple is from a different tree than #1 and has a very different tone. It has a nice balance across the strings and is very similar to the Old Gym Floor bridge wood. It also has nice note separation as well.

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Click on sound file below to hear the Old Cutting Board Hard Maple on my RB-OO style mahogany banjo.

Old Cutting Board Hard Maple

I've had this wood in my shop for the past 10 years. I re-visited making a few bridges from it of late and was very surprised how great this old maple sounds. It's very similar to the 1941 gym floor wood. It's very balanced in tone and has a nice clear high end. I guess my ear has gotten better in the past 10 years and I just didn't realize what I had in this wood. Some of this wood has a darker color than other pieces, much like the old countertop wood.

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Click on sound files below to hear the Table Leg Hard Maple bridge on my RB-OO Kalamazoo/Sullivan conversion.

Click on sound file below to hear the Table Leg Hard Maple bridge on my style 3 copy Memphis Belle no hole/Cox 2-ply rim

Table Leg Hard Maple

I got two large hard maple tables from a local Dillard's clearance store at the Asheville Outlet Mall. My wife works there and the manager was going to throw them in the dumpster. I was able to salvage them and boy! I'm glad I did! This is excellent sounding hard maple. It is nice and bright with just the right sustain. Very responsive and volume to spare. The tables are around 25 to 30 years old. Sound files coming soon.

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Click on sound file below to hear the Table Top Hard Maple bridge on Royce Burt's TB-11 conversion

Table Top Hard Maple

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Click on sound file below to hear the Old Gym Floor Hard Maple on my mahogany banjo with Memphis Belle no hole ring.

Old Gym Floor Hard Maple

This Old Gym Floor Hard Maple was discovered and given to me by
my good friend Kirk Barker from Suches, GA.. Kirk and Barry Abernathy drove up one day and brought me some of this maple flooring that came out of a school gym around the area he lives. It is some great sounding bridge wood. Very much like the Select Maple but a little more volume. This wood is around 60 to 70 years old.

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Click on sound files below to hear the Birdseye Hard Maple, with African Blackwood top, on my mahogany banjo with Memphis Belle no hole ring.

Click on sound file below to hear Jason Johnson play the Birdseye Hard Maple.

Birdseye Hard Maple

This Birdseye Hard Maple comes from a new exotic wood supplier
here in Western North Carolina. You will find some birdseye markings in the grain of these bridges. I hand pick close grain 2" x 2" x 18" blocks. I've tried African Blackwood as well as Gabon Ebony for top wood and both sound great on this wood. This is one of the closest in tone to the old flooring wood that I've come across.

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The short sound file "John Henry" is Roasted Red Maple with a Katalox top
The "Hide Head Blues" sound file is Roasted Red Maple with Ebony top.

Click on sound file below to hear Royce Burt playing his TB-1 conversion and Bowtie with the Roasted Red Maple bridge

*New* Roasted Red Maple

This *New* second batch of Roasted Red Maple has some beautiful markings on the quarter sawn back side. The grain lines are nice and straight and are closer than my last batch. This wood is a little darker. Just like the last batch, this wood has excellent tone like most Red Maple. Nice sustain with a richness to the notes. Excellent 4th string as well.

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click sound files below to hear Chris Elliott play the Red Maple Bridge

Click sound file below to hear the Red Maple Bridge on my curly maple banjo with TN20 tone ring.

Red Maple

Red Maple Bridges are made from the finest red maple selections. The tone is very clear, open, with good volume and sustain. A great choice for melodic style players as well as Bluegrass Scruggs style players.

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Click sound files below to hear Tim Purcell play the Ambrosia Red Maple Bridge

New Ambrosia Red Maple

Ambrosia Maple is simply Maple wood that was infested with the Ambrosia beetle. Don't let that turn you away!! It has turned out to be some of the best bridge wood I've come across. It is very much like the regular Red Maple I have except for the color variations from the beetle infestation. This new Ambrosia Maple has quite a bit of dis-coloration through out the wood. I stay away from the beetle bore holes but you may see some coloration in some places on these bridges. It has volume to spare and very balanced all over the fingerboard. It produces a nice 4th string bass tone too.

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Click sound file below to here the *New* Select Hard Maple played on my RB-OO Kalamazoo/Sullivan conversion

Click sound file below to hear the "New" Select Hard Maple played by Doug Knecht

NEW Select Hard Maple

**Just in** New Select Hard Maple! This new select hard maple is the best new hard maple I've come across to date. This maple comes from a local exotic wood supply house. It has great note separation and with just the right balance of sustain. I have two varieties of Select Hard Maple. One comes from outside North Carolina and the other comes from within a 30 mile radius of Asheville, North Carolina. Both are very similar in tone.

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New Black Locust

Black Locust has become difficult to find locally. This current Black Locust came from my back wooded lot that I cut down about 20 years ago. It looks and sounds identical to the last batch I just ran out of. It is a favorite of many open back, clawhammer players. The hard dense wood tends to give a nice quick decay with great volume and note separation.

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4 String Bridges

4 string bridges available in your wood choice as well as your choice of height and string spacing. Email me your specifications...purcellbridges@gmail.com

4 string tenor regular style. Works with Mike's Tenor Mute.

Price: $25.00 + $4.00 shipping in lower 48 .....$14.00 shipping to Canada.. shipping to all other countries @ $18.00.

I offer sizes: 1/2'', 9/16", 5/8'',.656", 11/16'', 3/4", or custom height
Your choice of spacing of your specifications. I offer radius tops as well.

​Old Countertop Hard Maple

Old Cutting Board Hard Maple

Table Leg Hard Maple

Table Top Hard Maple

click sound files below to hear Chris Elliott play the Red Maple Bridge

Click sound file below to hear the Red Maple Bridge on my curly maple banjo with TN20 tone ring.

Red Maple

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*New* Ambrosia Red Maple

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*NEW* Select Hard Maple

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*New* Black Locust

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4 String Bridges

4 string bridges available in your wood choice as well as your choice of height and string spacing. Email me your specifications...purcellbridges@gmail.com

Old Countertop Hard Maple

New Ambrosia Red Maple

NEW Select Hard Maple

New Black Locust