Official Luthiers Forum!

What does your jig look like for routing/truing new or existing bridge slots with the bridge on the guitar?

I looked at the jig StewMac has for $141. http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Speci ... g_Jig.html

I figure some of you talented fellows have figured out how to do it cheaper and better. What are some good ideas?

I need to true-up an existing slot in a bridge already on the guitar. I decided to go with a Dremel tool with a StewMac router base for it since I can also use it for some other light duty tasks. Yeah , I know its not the best most powerful tool and heavy-duty set-up, especially compared to a full size router. But I thought it would be adequate to get started with light work like this.

Thanks,
Ed

Hello Ed. There's been a variety of setups described over the years, so have a Google search session and see what you can find. Myself, I built a setup out of aluminum plate (which can be cut easily with carbide saw blades) and several sets of bearing slides I found on ebay. The bearing slides are nice, and new ones from industrial suppliers are hundreds of dollars, but the ebay ones were $20 or so. It's designed to be multiuse so that I can use it for saddle slots, nut slots, and binding routing. I don't have any photos, but next time I'm in the shop, I'll take a few and post them. It uses a small Porter-Cable trimmer router, which I've found to work the best. Stay tuned for pics!

That's a mighty fancy bridge slottin' jig there Todd.

_________________
Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!