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I'm positive using a router to take off the finish is ok, but I can do it with a razor blade in about 15 minutes. Some things are ok by hand. But, I can see how this would work. As with many things Todd suggests, I usually come around to his way of seeing things, eventually. What slows me down is my belief in my current abilities.

I appreciate this information on the router method of removing finish, though I too am currently doing it by hand. I'm using the method Bob Gleason describes on his site (Thanks, Bob!). It's here: http://www.pegasusguitars.com/lacquer_r ... foot1.html

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Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

I know I'm a little bit late to the game here, but I wanted to show a few pictures of my rig. It's not terribly different than the others, but here it is, nonetheless. As I mentioned earlier, radiused the base in my radius dish. I radius the bridge before I route the ledge, which gives consistent ledge depth. The roller guide is a standard Bosch item and I also use it with my Williams binding jig. Easily adjustable. Anyway, here are some pics. And just for fun, one of a Mad Rose bridge going on a 12 fret OM, if I can ever get the finish completed. (I know, Todd. If it has 12 frets, it's not an OM. But it's an OM shape and it joins the body at the 12th.)

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sweat the small stuff.

Has anyone had any problems with flying bridges when using this method? It seems illogical at first glance, since glued joints are most likely to fail at the edges. Adding an intentional stress riser there in the interest of a good neat job seems counterintuitive. I suppose in practical terms it may be a non issue.

I dont think this is really a worse stress riser, which is generated by
a sharp notch or abrupt change in cross section. The abrupt stop of
the glue bond at the vertical edge of the bridge would, I believe, be
a greater stress riser than the edge of the bond under the routed bridge,
where some glue squeezes into the routed area. And there are a lot of
guitars out there done with this method. The Luthier community would
be aware if a lot of these were failing...

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain