Since the mid-1990’s, Mike Replogle has provided the traditional #14 spider bridge to luthiers and manufacturers including Scheerhorn, Beard, Weber and others. The Replogle Spider bridge is a modern incarnation of the best of the traditional spider but without the imperfections of the past.
Why the Offset Spider?
The Replogle #15 Spider is designed with a saddle slot that is offset 1/4″ from the center to allow for intonation adjustment. The offset can be oriented either forward (decreasing the scale length) or backward (increasing the scale length), depending on the adjustment required for intonation purposes.
The need for the offset spider is not uncommon, especially on vintage instruments. There is a long-standing difficulty of precisely placing the resonator sound well in the exact position for proper intonation during initial body production. Many vintage resonator guitars were unintentionally built with the string scale slightly long or slightly short, resulting in intonation problems with the finished guitar.
This intonation problem was so pervasive in vintage Dobro manufacturing that the Dopyera brothers created a special “offset spider” to compensate for the disparity. “We used the offset spider regularly in Dobro production at OMI”, says Mike Replogle, former manager of the Dobro Division of Gibson Guitar.
“It wasn’t uncommon to have a new Dobro reach Final Assembly in Production that was impossible to intonate. But using the Offset Spider design, we were able to complete setting up the Dobro with satisfactory intonation.”
The Offset Spider gives the luthier the option to shift the saddle location either ¼” longer, or ¼” shorter, thus addressing many intonation issues on vintage resos.
Applying this offset intonation feature to the already-improved Replogle spider design, the Replogle 15 Offset Spider provides an option to help correct stubborn reso intonation problems. “The offset spider was a clever solution by the Dopyeras, giving us a little flexibility to modify the scale length and intonation of an already-built instrument,” says Replogle “and every luthier should have access to one for that ‘impossible-to-intonate’ instrument”.
Replogle’s highly refined cast aluminum spiders are hand arched… each leg of the spider is hand-adjusted and leveled so the resonator guitar will sound its best. Arching the spider and then leveling the bottoms of the feet helps optimize and even-out the spider legs’ contact on the resonator cone, to bring out the best tone and volume while eliminating buzzing. “Arching and leveling is no small task, and a great benefit not found on other spiders,” says Replogle.
Each spider is 9-1/4″ diameter, with a 1/8″-wide saddle slot, and off-center drilled for the cone tension screw (not included). Note that with the offset saddle slot feature, the saddle does not need to be cut into two pieces for installation.
Replogle Spiders Specs:
- Standard Spider Bridge Dimensions, fits original Dobro and most other brands
- Diameter approx 9.25″
Nut slot approx 1/8″ - Drilled with off-center hole for resonator tension screw (not included)
- All Replogle spiders are arched and leveled
- Replogle Spiders are made entirely in the USA.