Bert, I'm trying to resist the temptation! :-) But if I can, it might be an idea to pass the problem along to someone else. I've emailed Elderly, but no reply so far, so if they don't come back to me this week then I'll have to ring them.

Bob, there's some play with the cone and well, but not much - maybe 1mm or so at most. This isn't enough to correct the problem. I've no idea why they use a 2-piece bridge, but maybe it's just that bit cheaper. The biscuit just looks like normal wood painted black as well, not anything decent like maple.

It would likely cost more than the value of the instrument to ship it back to the US for repairs though, so if I can wangle a new Quarterman cone, biscuit and bridge out of them and do the repairs myself, then I'd be perfectly happy. :-)

BTW Rolf, Elderly (www.elderly.com) have a fair selection of replacement bits in their catalogue.

Graham.