When you have a very fine, old mandolin that should not be drilled or altered this bridge and jack will preserve both your instrument and its authentic acoustic tone.  The bridge is made to replicate the non-adjustable bridges of the early Gibsons.  We copy the height and intonation of your original bridge.  The fit of the bridge to your top is done the same way we fit a violin bridge to its top.  Very precisely, and with a slight backward slant to counter the string pull.

         The felt padded jack mount does not require alteration of the mandolin.  The felt is applied with a water base glue so it will never release harmful ethers onto your original finish.  The tightening screws are sleeved with plastic so that they will not scratch.  The whole assembly removes easily so that you can revert to your original bridge as easily as you would change your strings.  The jack is wired so that the heavier braided ground carries all the stress, and the smaller signal wire is firmly soldered with a cushioning bend.  As the wire goes into the bridge it is epoxied within a long tunnel to assure that normal handling will not damage the connections to the delicate piezo inside.

         The piezo pickup is inlayed in the bridge.  The piezo itself is a long thin one cut in our own shop and voiced for maximum richness.  The output is hot enough to never need a pre-amp, and so rich that when it reaches your amp or board you'll be able to easily tweak for exactly the tone you want.

         The one thing that all Wagner piezos have in common is that we strive to get the most natural sound possible from a piezo.  We recognize that piezos are endemically over-bright.  We go after this problem by increasing the ability of the piezo to respond to deeper and deeper tones.  We achieve this by using the largest scale piezos we can fit into a given situation.  We further increase the low end response by "voicing" or thinning the base of the piezo to increase its mechanical flexibility.  This increased flexibility yields direct results in expanding the low end response.

         We have not yet gotten a direct piezo signal to produce the tone of a fine microphone without some sort of EQ'ing.  What we have thus far achieved is a signal so close to natural that a normal P.A. head, a normal acoustic amp, or even an off board pre-amp if you must, will give you the tone you've wished for.  Now we believe you can walk away from the microphone and stop cowering from stage feedback, without sacrificing the natural tone of your mandolin.

         Because each bridge must be fitted to each mandolin, we regret that the work can only be done at our shop.  The choice of woods for both the jack mount and the replicated bridge is very open.  Ebony, rosewood, walnut, maple.  The pictured bridge is rosewood and the jack mount is purple heart.