C.F. Martin used many bridge designs on his guitars. Here we trace
the evolution of bridges used by Martin and his descendants through the
years.
The "moustache" bridge, with a fretwire saddle, appears on
early Stauffer and Martin "Stauffer Style" guitars.

While the pin style bridge is generally associated with steel string
guitars, you can see that Martin used pin style bridges with gut
strings close to 100 years before introducing steet string
guitars.
A number of early Martin, Martin & Coupa, and Martin &
Schatz guitars, such as this one, have the "badge" or "shield" style
bridge, in either ebony or ivory, here seen with an added
"flower" or pendant. Some ivory versions have a fretwire saddle
similar to those on the Stauffer "moustache" bridges. Some have
a simple "drop in" ivory saddle such as this.

This Martin & Coupa has an ebony version with an ivory pendant.

Many early Martin and Martin & Coupa guitars have a pyramid "tie"
style bridge, such as those seen on early guitars from Spain.
Early versions, such as on this Martin & Coupa, are ebony with a
wide ivory saddle which curves up to form a clean edge:

This Spanish style Martin, probably slightly later, has an ivory
version of the tie style pyramid bridge, still with a wide curved
ivory saddle.
The ivory tie style pyramid bridge is 25/32" x 5 29/32". The ebony tie
style pyramid bridge above is a quite differently proportioned 29/32"
x 1 27/32"

The earliest pin style pyramid bridge is only a slight step away
from the "tie style" pyramid, with a similar "lipped" or scooped back,
and the first notched "drop in" saddles.
As you can see from this example, the early pyramid bridges were paper
thin.

This scooped back ivory pin bridge on this very early Hudson Street
Martin is likely a replacement, but the decorative ivory and pearl
pendants are most likely original from c. 1837. It's entirely
possible, however, that this guitar did originally have a pyramid
bridge.

The vestigal "lipped" or "scooped back", however, was only produced
for a very short time.
I have an early spruce lined style 27 with the round back pyramid
bridge. My early style 28 with checkerboard binding and early hybrid
X-bracing has a pyramid bridge which is even longer than the style 34
mentioned above, but appears to be original, certainly very early,
which has a round back as well. And the shark tooth rosette style 23
has a round back pyramid bridge as well.
I see that the lipped bridges I have are 27/32" x 5 27/32". Most
of the early round back pyramids are 7/8" x 5 7/8".
My "sharks tooth" 23, with a 7/8" x 5 27/32" pyramid, might have been
transitional.
I have style 24 Martins with both fan and X-bracing with the lipped or
scooped back bridges.
I wonder if it might have only been used on certain style guitars.
While the measurements, such as the body width, of somewhat later
Martins can vary considerably from one example to the next, the
measurements of early Martins are extremely precise.
These are later round back pyramid bridges in ivory, which appear
until about 1919 with a notched drop in saddle:

If you look carefully, in this photo you can see the center portion of
the drop in saddle which fits into the bridge, while the a short
portion of the saddle at either end fits over the bridge.

It is also clear from these photos that the saddle is parallel to the
front edge of the bridge, with no compensation. The saddles are
generally 1/8" from the front of the bridge.
This 2 1/2 - 17 is from 1889:

As you can see, many pyramid bridges made until just after the turn of
the century were finished, and not bare wood.
Since Martin switched from a long saddle to a short saddle in 1965,
most people assume that the long "through-cut" saddle pre-dated the
short drop-in saddle. But as you can see, even earlier Martin
bridges had short saddles before the long saddle appeared.
If you look carefully at the photograph of the ivory saddle above, you
can see that the saddle is notched, with the exposed part of the
saddle extending further than the shorter "drop-in" portion.
The new edition of Longworth, page 38, states that the notched saddles
are "typical of pre-1910 Martins" while also saying "by the 1920's the
saddle slot was open on both ends".
From what I've observed, by 1916 you start to see some saddles with a
long visible top portion that extends to the ends, but that are still
notched. The long through-cut saddles appear soon after.
The first of the through-cut saddles may have been on bridges
purchased by Martin from Chicago in 1916.
Martin switched back to the short saddle in 1965.
During the boom years of the Hawaiian craze, as Martin was struggling
to keep up with demand, the company purchased "Chicago Style"
bridges supplied by Lyon & Healy, with flat, raised
wings, and a long, through-cut saddle.
In 1920 Martin used some streaked ebony for bridges, which I assume
is Macassar ebony.
1920 Martin/Ditson 1-21
At first I thought these bridges might have been added by Ditson, as
Martin did ship some guitars "in the white", and some Ditsons do
have
Chicago Style bridges which could have been added by Ditson.
...until I found this standard
Martin 0-18 from the same year with the same color ebony:
1920 Martin 0-18
The ebony pyramid bridge was used until 1930, though it has been
revived for models such as the new version of the Ditson 111.
This pyramid bridge is on an early 1930 OM-28.

Here is an excellent reproduction pyramid bridge on the revived Martin
Ditson Style111:

Less expensive Martins had a rectangular bridge in the 1920's with
plain wings rather than the more expensive pyramids.
1926 00-18

On the Style 18 the plain wing rectangular bridge replaced the pyramid
in 1926.
On the Stye 21 the plain wing rectangular bridge replaced the pyramid
in 1929.
The pyramid bridge from the mid 1920's to early 1930 has a perfectly
straight saddle exactly 1/8" from the front of the bridge. The center
of the pin holes are 3/8" from the back of the saddle. The footprint
of the bridge is exactly 6"x1". The center portion is 3 1/4" wide. The
tops of the pyramids are 9/32" tall and 1/2" in from the ends of the
bridge. The center of the bridge is exactly 1/4" tall at the front
edge. The thinnest part of the bridge, at the dip between the pyramid
and the center is exactly 1/16" tall, the same as the height of the
"base" of the pyramids. The string spacing is 2 3/8".
The height of the bridges can vary from one example to the next.
My 1926 0-18 has a height of 9/32" at the bass end of the central
portion, 9/32" in the center, an 5/32" at the treble end.
My '29 000-28 is 10/32", 10/32", 9/32". Both have straight
saddles 1/8" back from the front edge.
My early 1930 OM-28 bridge is 9/32" high in the center, 1/32" lower on
the bass end, and 1/16" lower on the treble end.
In 1930, Martin developed the "belly" bridge, with a larger footprint
of exactly 6"x1"and more mass towards the back of the bridge, which
extends to 1 3/8", to withstand greater tension from heavier steel
strings.
The belly bridges built from 1931 to 1933 have a compensated saddle
placed 1/8" from the font on the treble side, and 3/16" on the bass
side.
Sometime in the mid 1930's, Martin moved the bass end of the saddle
back again to 1/4" from the front of the bridge on belly bridge
guitars.
The straight rectangular bridges remained at about 3/16" however.
While all Martin guitars built in 1929 were made with
rectangular or pyramid bridges, a number of Martins from before 1930
can be seen with original looking belly bridges, which is the cause of
some confusion.
Due to slow sales from the depression era economy, Martin
still had a number of unsold instruments with serial numbers
stamped in 1929 remaining in their factory for another two or three
years, many of which were still unfinished,
without bridge attached, or "in the white". Martin fitted these
with belly bridges before they left the factory, and additionally
asked dealers to return unsold guitars which they retrofitted with
belly bridges to ensure that they were
strong enough to hold steel strings.
Among the first of the Martins to have the belly bridge were the 18
style tenor guitars.
1931 0-18T Tenor guitar.

The belly bridges served Martin well as players moved toward the
larger Dreadnaught guitars with heavier strings.
1944 Martin D-18

Martin Style 28 and higher models have always had ebony fingerboards
and bridges, while lower models began with ebony bridges.
The Style 18 Dreadnaughts kept their ebony fingerboards and bridges
until switching to rosewood in 1947.
On the smaller models, most Style 18 Martins switched to rosewood
fingerboards and bridges in 1935, but for that year only. After
1935, most Style 18 fingerboards and bridges were made of ebony once
again until the switch to rosewood in 1940.
1962 Martin 000-18

The OM-45 DeLuxe was the only catalogued Martin ever offered with an
inlaid bridge, though these were common on many Chicago guitars.
1930 Martin OM-45 DeLuxe

While the Style 21 had moved to the belly bridge in 1930, Martin
revived the old style plain wing rectangular bridge for the "New York"
Style 21 models of the 1960's.
Martin continued to use genuine ivory for it's saddles through the
1960's.
1964 Martin 00-21NY

In 1965, Martin moved back to belly bridges with short drop in
saddles. Most people, growing up with Martins of the 1960's,
think of this as another new, and perhaps less desirable change, not
realizing that Martin used drop in saddles for most of their
existance, only using through saddles for roughly 50 of their 175
years.
While the "through" saddles were glued in, the "drop in" saddles are
not, allowing one to swap out saddles easily. I know one highly
regarded luthier who prefers replacing vintage through saddles with
drop in saddles to allow player/owners to change to different height
saddles to compensate for the changes in geometry that come with
seasonal changes in hunidity. The drop in saddle slots are
prepared in a way that allows one to extend them later with a
router, if one wishes, to convert the bridge to accept a through
saddle.
Note the original tortoise dot bridge pins, often referred to as "red
dot" pins, which appeared in about 1945 and were in use until 1966.
1965 Martin D-35

Martin revived the tie style bridge for it's later classical guitars
such as the 000-28C of the 1960's, once again with an ivory saddle
with no compensation.
1962 000-28C

Notes:
a) Pyramid bridges should have a curved slope on the inside portion
of the pyramid. Bad copies have four straight edges. The saddles
were not slanted until ( ), and they were also drop in for 80 years
until 1919. The through saddle didn't start until 1919 (1920?) and
lasted until about 1968 when they went back to the drop-in style. I
have seen a 1920 0-28 with a drop in saddle.
b) Size:
1. Size 1 and larger from all years have bridges 6" long
2. Size 2 and 2 1/2 Martins have bridges 5 7/8" to 5 3/4" long. At
least until the 1890s.
I see that the lipped bridges I have are 27/32" x 5 27/32".
Most of the early round back pyramids are 7/8" x 5 7/8".
PYRAMID BRIDGE LENGTH
The earliest pyramid bridges, at least going back to the 1850's, are
5 7/8" long.
From the mid 1890's through the 1930 OM, they are 6" long.
The pyramid bridge from the mid 1920's to early 1930 has a center
portion that is 3 1/4" wide. The tops of the pyramids are
9/32" tall and 9/32" in from the ends of the bridge.
Some from the 1870's to the 1890's are 5 3/4" long.
PYRAMID BRIDGE WIDTH
Most before 1900 are roughly 7/8" wide. Some from the 1840s or 1850s
are 13/16" wide.
Most after 1900 are 1" wide.
I have one from 1926 that is 15/16" wide.
PYRAMID BRIDGE WINGS
The average length of the wings on most pyramid bridges is roughly 1
3/8"
During the 1880's and 1890's, however, there is more variation, as
much as from 1 1/4" to 1 1/2"
On the earlier 7/8" wide bridges, the wings have a very long,
narrow, elegant appearance, with a gentle curve to the inside angles
of the pyramids, that looks nothing at all like the harsh angles
found on many of the bad copies.
I found no difference between the dimensions of ivory and ebony
bridges from the same period.
It's interesting that the earlier years have more consistency in
length than the middle years. Some time ago I did a survey of the
body dimensions of my early guitars, and I found the earliest years
to be precise, while the middle years had much more variation.
This 1885 0-34 bridge is the longest and narrowest of the lot, 6"
long, 7/8" wide, with 1 1/2" long wings:
PYRAMID BRIDGE HEIGHT
From the mid 1920's, the center of the bridge is usually 1/4" tall
at the front edge. The thinnest part of the bridge, at the dip
between the pyramid and the center is exactly 1/4" tall.
The height of the bridges can vary from one example to the
next.
My 1926 0-18 has a height of 9/32" at the bass end of the central
portion, 9/32" in the center, an 5/32" at the treble
end.
My '29 000-28 is 10/32", 10/32", 9/32". Both have straight
saddles 1/8" back from the front edge.
My early 1930 OM-28 bridge is 9/32" high in the center, 1/32" lower
on the bass end, and 1/16" lower on the treble end.
STRING SPACING
The string spacing on 20th century Martins is generally 2 3/8".
On early Martins, it appears that Martin was moving to 2 5/16"
spacing on size 2 guitars, and 2 3/8" spacing on size 1.
(all listed are pre-1867 unless otherwise noted)
Original Stauffer - moustache bridge. 2 5/16"
Hudson Street - replacement ivory pin bridge. 2 5/16"
Early fancy Spanish size 3 - ivory tie bridge. 2 7/16"
Ivory fingerboard Stauffer headstock - replacement ebony pin
bridge. (I've wondered if the original was ivory pin or
tie). New bridge plate. 2 1/4"
Early Spanish Martin & Coupa - ebony tie bridge with ivory
inset 2 9/32"
Koa Martin & Coupa - shield shape bridge, pins in
arc. 2 5/16"
LIGHT DIAMOND BACKSTRIPS/ Spanish foot
Hybrid X 1-28 2 3/8"
LIGHT DIAMOND BACKSTRIPS/ split neck blocks, old marquetry end
2-23 2 1/4"
2-24 2 5/16"
2-24 2 5/16"
2-20 2 5/16
DARK DIAMOND BACKSTRIPS
2-23 2 5/16" (solid block)
2- 21 2 5/16" (split block)
2-20 with herringbone backstrip, old marquetry end 2
5/16
1-26 with zig zag marquetry border 2 3/8"
1-21 with zig zag marquetry rosette 2 5/16"
Early 1-28 with pearl rosette 2 7/16"
Early 2-27 2 5/16"
post '67 2-27 2 5/16"
1890's 2-42 2 5/16"
COMPENSATED SADDLE ANGLES
Early pyramid bridge have straight saddles 1/8" back from the front
edge of the bridge. The center of the pin holes are 3/8" from
the back of the saddle.
The belly bridges built from 1931 to 1933 have a compensated saddle
placed 1/8" from the font on the treble side, and 3/16" on the bass
side.
Sometime in the mid 1930's, Martin moved the bass end of the saddle
back again to 1/4" from the front of the bridge on belly bridge
guitars.
The straight rectangular bridges remained at about 3/16" however.
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