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4.1.5 Bridge: standard bridge sizes and their purpose

4.1.5   concept

The bridge is the distance between the near edges of the middle and ring finger holes on a drilled ball — the strip of material, or land area, that holds the two finger holes apart. It's one of the smallest measurements on a spec sheet, but it's a fixed industry standard, and Spectre Cloud defaults it for you.

📏 The 1/4" Industry Standard

The bridge is a constant. The industry standard is 1/4", and that is the value Spectre Cloud suggests by default for fingertip fitting.

The reason is the warranty. Ball manufacturers will not warrant a ball that cracks if the bridge was drilled narrower than 1/4" — below that width, the land area between the finger holes is too thin to reliably survive repeated impact. Drilling to the 1/4" standard keeps the ball within warranty and protects both you and the bowler.

  • ✅ 1/4" is the industry-standard bridge and Spectre Cloud's default suggestion.
  • ✅ Staying at or above 1/4" keeps the manufacturer's crack warranty intact.
  • ❌ A bridge narrower than 1/4" risks cracking the land area — and voids the warranty if it does.

🛠️ Autofill Bridge in Spectre Cloud

When Autofill Bridge (2.6.5) is enabled, Spectre Cloud pre-populates the bridge field with the standard 1/4" value automatically — you don't need to enter it on a routine drill. The fitter only intervenes when a specific, deliberate reason calls for a different value.

🖥️ Bridge on the Spec Sheet

The bridge field sits in the insert and finger hole section of the spec sheet.

  • ✅ It's shown in whatever unit and format your account uses — fractional or decimal, per your display settings.
  • ✅ The autofilled value can be overridden by typing a different measurement directly.
  • ✅ A manually entered bridge is saved to the sheet's history and is visible when the sheet is reviewed or cloned.
  • ✅ When cloning a spec sheet, the bridge carries forward — confirm it's still appropriate for the new ball before saving.
  • 4.1.4 — Pitch terminology: Forward, Reverse, Lateral, Zero
  • 4.1.3 — Grip type definitions: Fingertip vs. Conventional
  • 4.1.2 — Span types: Full Span, Cut to Cut, Outer to Cut, Hole to Hole
  • 2.6.5 — Autofill Bridge: applies the standard 1/4" bridge
  • 9.x — Tips & Troubleshooting: narrow bridge and land area considerations

Tip: Treat 1/4" as the floor, not just the default. It's the value Spectre suggests, the value the widest range of balls and bowlers work with, and the line manufacturers draw for their crack warranty. Only go narrower for a specific, documented fitting reason — and know you're giving up the warranty if you do.

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