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I have decided that I need to remove the bridge on a previously built OM. The action is not low enough and I can't adjust the truss rod any more. I have lowed the saddle as low as I can... I think that if I remove the bridge and sand off more material underneath, then I can glue it back on and get improved action (I may have to make another saddle...). What is the best way to get the bridge off? I figure that I need heat, so, can I roll up or otherwise use my heat blanket to supply the Heat? Is there a better way?

A couple of things

-A truss rod is really not for adjusting action

-It sounds like what you need, supposing that your bridge is the correct thickness, is a neck reset

Don't pull that bridge untill you determine the correct course of action. Lowering bridges to correct for high action is pretty frowned upon, unless the bridge is too high to begin with.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

You could use a clothes iron to apply heat, or one of those hobby heating irons, or mask the top and use an infrared lamp.

Can you shave material off the top of the bridge, rather than removing it and taking it off the underside?

But Jordan's answer was better.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

It was common practice a while ago to plane the top off of a bridge to avoid resetting a neck. This resulted in a whole bunch of guitars with insufficient string height above the top, and some wimpy sounding previously valuable guitars which now need new bridges AND a neck reset.

We need a little bit more info (ideally an in person inspection) to make any real recommendation.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

What you have decided to do is to cure an ear ache with a foot amputation. No mater how high the action is there is no need to remove the bridge. If your action at the frets is too high but your saddle is at minimal height my guess is the plane of the fretboard is too low in regards to the top of the bridge. Take a 18" or 24" straightedge and lay it on the fretboard at centerline. See where the bottom of the straightedge intersects the bridge. If it is below the top of the bridge then the neck angle is too shallow. Resetting the neck angle is the proper adjustment. That is unless your bridge is well over .380". Ideally you want the plane formed by the frets to be flush-1/16' proud of the top of the bridge. This with proper nut slotting, string /fret clearance and relief should leave with a saddle height at .18-.125 above the bridge height at a standard medium low action. Unless your bridge is unusually tall the error is not the bridge it is the neck.

Yeah that can be a bit self defeetist.....

I agree with the guys and it sounds like it may be time to learn to do a neck reset.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

what is the string height above the body at the front of the bridge? If it's close to 1/2 an inch I wouldn't touch the bridge...

Gee wiz guys,
I understand that purhaps I didn't get the neck angle quite right but it seems like a little off the bottom of the bridge would do it. It seems like removing the bridge to shave a little off the bottom would be less severe and eazier than a neck reset....

The reason we sound so harsh about it is shaving material off the bridge does not solve the source of your problem (too shallow neck angle). If you shave your bridge now, in a few years as your guitar settles in, you will very likely have to do it again. You wont want to reset the neck then either, and you will be tempted to shave the bridge again. Each time the bridge gets thinner and your strings get closer to the top.

I have seen many nice old guitars with wafer thin bridges because the repairperson did not want to bother with a proper neck reset.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

It might be easier to shave the bridge, but that isn't necessarily the best solution, unless it's unusually thick. Like jmanter said, if the strings are about 1/2" above the top (from the top surface to the bottom of the strings, measured at the front of the bridge), and your action isn't right, then the only proper cure is a neck reset. It will need to be done sooner or later, even if you shave the bridge. The sound will suffer if the strings end up too close to the top, regardless of the action. Bite the bullet, screw up the courage, sweat bon-bons, and do the neck reset.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Ok!! Let’s say for ease in repair you are willing to ignore the real issue and solve only the symptom. First shaving the top of the bridge and carefully deepening the saddle slot is the simplest symptom fix with the least structural risk, but in the life of this instrument is very temporary. But like others have said you will be weakening the projection to one degree or another dependent on how much you need to shave down.
If you do not deepen the slot equal to what you remove then you weaken the saddle support and increase the chance of a bridge crack at the saddle slot.

Removing the bridge is just as risky to the top as removing the fretboard extension. You did not say if this was a bolt on M&T neck or Dovetail. If Dovetail then there is a tad more added risk on the neck but if just a bolt on with a glued down fretboard extension then the risk to removing the neck is just equal to removing the bridge.

The right fix is to reset the neck!

Easier now but more complex later when the neck will need to be reset AND the bridge is now the wrong height too, shaved, and needs to be replaced.

We still really need to know what we are dealing with here so some measurements and/or pics would be helpful.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

It's a simple matter of treating the symptom, or treating the problem. A quick fix, or a proper fix.

If it were a case of the neck angle being good and the bridge being too tall (I didn't hear any mention of measurements - bridge height, neck straightness, string height at 12th, etc), then I fail to see the motivation to remove from the bottom of the bridge. When a bridge is shaved (often considered a quick fix / hack-shop repair if a neck reset is needed), it is done from the top, not the bottom.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.