The Crow Hill Firm launched Solo Bodhrán and Acid Synth earlier this 12 months, earlier than rebranding for Season Two. Bridge Guitar is the primary launch for the reason that rebrand.
Bridge Guitar focuses on a specific sound that began in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, round 2010: the rubber bridge sound.
The rubber bridge innovation is credited to Reuben Cox, guitar luthier to the wealthy and well-known. Though should you take heed to any interview with Cox, it’s clear that it’s not all about customized builds for rock stars, and he’s simply as pleased doing a fundamental setup for native musicians.
Changing a typical picket bridge with a rubber bridge removes a lot of the pure maintain, and as a substitute of notes that ring out, you will have a muted, percussive sound.
Regardless of being a very fashionable sound over the past decade or so, it’s a sound that’s both good for a tune otherwise you don’t use it; there’s not a lot in between.
With that in thoughts, Bridge Guitar is a wonderful addition for anybody (like myself) who would by no means personal a devoted rubber bridge guitar.
There are some non permanent workarounds that I’m certain lots of you will have already explored, corresponding to tennis racquet string dampeners and specifically crafted diversifications from music shops.
In these instances, it’s nice that you would be able to adapt any guitar to the rubber bridge sound, however there’s nonetheless an issue for some part-time guitarists. The rubber bridge guitar is sort of unforgiving, and also you should be very exact with every notice in a melodic line, as you’ll be able to’t conceal sloppy enjoying behind maintain and resonance (I’ve tried).
For me, Bridge Guitar is an efficient selection as a result of I can create melodic/arpeggiated hooks that the sound is known for, a lot simpler utilizing my MIDI keyboard.
Bridge Guitar sports activities the newly enhanced Vaults interface, however the controls will probably be acquainted to any earlier Vaults customers.
The Mute dial controls the diploma of dampening, permitting you to make the sound punchier or barely rounder.
The Distance dial lets you transition between mid and much mic positions.
The smaller controls begin with the Mod knob, which is a frequency-shifting refrain impact. If you wish to add pronounced motion to the sound, the Lo-Fi knob introduces all of these classic tape imperfections.
Rounding up the controls, as all the time, are the Echo (ping pong delay) and Splosh (reverb) controls.
It’s a specific sound, however one which’s extremely impactful on the proper time.
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Final Up to date on July 17, 2025 by Tomislav Zlatic.
