How to Prepare a Guitar

Chapter 2 – Prepared Guitar Techniques

2.2 - Weaved flying bridge

It is also possible to weave an object, like for instance a spoon or a screw, through the string field. The weaved flying bridge technique is the most often used technique at prepared piano’s, since the piano has choirs of strings and this is the most handy trick to alter the strings in this instrument. This leads to an almost similar 3^rd bridge sound, but slightly different because the vibration pattern is not the same. The weaved flying bridge is causing a very low humming tone in it’s multitone. This tone is actually lower than any tone of the string individually would generate if the bridge is not added. It is even lower than a bass guitar. It’s really deep. The sounds with a weaved flying bridge are very similar to those of large church bells or Tibetian singing bowls, when hit instead of bowed.

I’m working on this field of research for my own interest, but it’s quiet in depth to briefly explain and I have only done some very little measurements to identify the exact tone combination of the multitone.

Bradfords Pencilina functions with weaved bridges, but because he uses quiet heavy objects for these bridges his sound comes more close to a fixed 3^rd bridge. The lesser the weight of the flying bridge the closer it comes to vibration patterns in drum fields.

There exists an experimental instrument called the Tritare that is employed with Y-shaped strings. Those strings generate equal patterns like the weaved flying bridge technique. The tone of a weaved flying bridge is in theory closely related to Chladni patterns and the cymatic images of Hans Jenny as well as vibration modes in drums and other percussive field like objects like for instance a plate of steel. When the weaved flying bridge is closer to the nut or the body bridge the sound becomes more like normal strings ending up to a sound closely to a banjo. Not very strange since a banjo is a string field attached to a drum field and not to a fixed solid ground. In the middle of the string field the sound is at his darkest optimum, with the lowest possible hum, like mentioned, close to the sound of a church bell. The technique is quiet beautiful sounding in my opinion, but also pretty limited, because you only have one main sound and a few alternate sounds when you hit it on different positions on the string field. But since all strings have become one vibrating field together, they all sound more or less the same strangely enough. The tonal deviation is comparable with hitting a drum in the centre or at the ring.

When you want to try out working with a weaved flying bridge I suggest to just work on trial and error, tune all strings in octave relations and place the bridge on 1/2, 1/3 or 1/4 to keep it as logical as possible for yourselves. It’s a fun technique with great results, but it is also a technique that can be difficult to replicate.

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