Official Luthiers Forum!

This is an interesting thread, and relates to the one I started in the last day about prepping the top prior to bridge glue up.

I carefully fit my bridge to the top prior to any finishing activity, so that once the spraying, leveling and buffing is done, I can remove the mask and expose fresh spruce in the exactly the same condition as when I fitted the bridge.

My only issue is that ridge of lacquer around the mask that must either be removed completely (at the risk of sharp things coming in contact with beautifully buffed surfaces) or removed mostly and leaving a small outer band of lacquer that must be cleared with some relief in the bridge. I'm leaning now toward the latter, after my last "oops".

For glue up itself, I index my bridge with two 3/16" bolts through the outer peg holes, that were located when I fit the bridge prior to finishing. The bolts go through the top and bridge plate, and through a caul that I make when I glue the bridge plate to the top. Some wing nuts on the bolts allow me to apply pressure, in addition to 3 cam clamps when I do the glue up, centre and both wing areas.