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I have a bridge job on an older Gibson, and need some advice. The bridge was cracked cleanly in two places, as shown by my little pieces of rolled up paper, and as we worked at getting it off, it became clear that just about the only thing holding this poor bridge down was the four bolts- two in the saddle assembly, and two in line with the pins. I had no problem whatsoever sliding my pallet knife under the bridge while it was completely cold, even though there were a couple of areas that were still sticking to the lacquer (which had never been removed.)

I figure I have two options:

1. Glue up the cracked bridge, and stick it back on. This would keep the guitar original, and it would ensure that the bridge would match the fingerboard, both of which are BRW. I don't have any BRW that matches this, but I could either plug the saddle slot with a piece of chocolate-colored BRW, or cocobolo. What would be better? Should I use super glue to fix the cracks, or fish glue? Also, should I plug the little holes that are on either side of the pins, or just glue in the MOP dots that were there to begin with? Does the plug get glued in to support the crack, or does it just get friction-fitted, like a saddle?

2. Make a new bridge out of cocobolo, and wipe it with acetone so that it matches the oxidized color of the BRW original. This would be fairly straight-forward to me, and I would be confident that I could do a good job. If this is the best option, should I install the MOP dots the way they were on the original? Because of the belly in the top behind the bridge, would it be a good idea to give the bridge an extra 1/8" in width behind the pins?

Is there another answer that I haven't even thought of?

Dump all the hardware and just make an all wood bridge.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

make a real bridge

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I'm in favor of keeping vintage instruments original. I'd repair the bridge and glue it back down after reshaping it to fit the dome in the top that likely caused this issue. You can also scrape the laquer under the bridge before fluing it down to make the bond stronger.

No reason the bridge can't be repaired, and if the intonation and action didn't bother you before then I don't see why you should completely replace the bridge.

Also I don't see how that would be the "usual fix" to replace the bridge as most people with vintage instruments care about the value.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Glue up the cracks for the customer and make a new bridge without all the metal parts. Put the original in a bag with all the parts in case the customer wants to some day put it all back together as original. It will sound so much better he will thank you for doing it. I could never figure out why Gibson routed right through the saddle slot, just asking for trouble. I CA glued a similar crack in the saddle area for a good friend quite a while back and it has held well, he wanted it original.

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
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I used to replace these with a bridge with a fixed 1/8" bone saddle, and they do sound better. But in the last few years, adjustable-bridge Gibsons (even those with a rosewood saddle) have achieved collector status. Some people actually like the muffled sound (go figure).
My first course of action is to repair the cracks in the original bridge, using super glue.
Remove all the finish under the bridge and reglue.
Reuse the screws under the pearl dots.
Installing a rosewood insert in place of the adjustable saddle does work somewhat, and it can be glued in with HHG, or left unglued. This insert should have a 1/8" slot for a bone saddle, in keeping with the Gibson style. Nothing looks worse to me than an older Gibson with a Martin style 3/32" saddle.
The problem with the insert is that it leaves you with the decision of whether to remove the adjusting hardware completely. The bridge must be removed to access the brass threaded inserts.
In any case, if it is decided to replace the bridge with a non-adjustable one, all the original adjustable bridge parts should be saved and kept with the guitar. I once had a gallon coffee can full of these parts, but I have reused or sold almost all of them now.

BR bridge blanks are readily available.

No...no ...no!!!! Oversize bridges are an abomination, and rarely needed.
The top bellied because the bridge was loose. Usually, all that is needed is to reglue the bridge, using a flat caul against the bridgeplate. In extreme cases, I will wet the bridgeplate and top, then heat it and press it flat before gluing on the bridge.

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John

An adjustable bridge & saddle has no place on an acoustic guitar, so IMHO it is not now, nor will it ever be a vintage instrument worthy of preservation (at least the adjustable bridge & saddle). Make a new bridge, either copying the original or one from a similiar guitar with a normal bridge & saddle.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

I was simply responding to the notion that the first course of action on any of these guitars was to immediately and routinely remove the old bridge and hardware and replace it with a real bridge and saddle. As you have pointed out, that's not automatically the usual fix. There are other considerations.

That being said, I always give the owner final say, and if they are going to do the job anyway, I'd happily do it to avoid having them take the instrument to hack.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

The guitar belongs to my dad, and I'm doing the work for the fun of it. I never really thought the guitar sounded particularly good, and when I saw the first crack in the bridge, I thought it would be a good time to get everything fixed up at once.

We're not too worried about the value of the guitar. I inquired with Gruhn's to see how old it actually is. It seems as though there is a period of time where the serial numbers were not kept with the level of organization that they should have had, but this particular instrument is most likely from the late '60's. Gruhn's said that it was probably worth something like $1k to $1200. That's ok- Dad only paid 100 bucks for it to begin with.

This bridge is a generous 1/4" tall, and the insert has a rosewood saddle, for what it's worth.

The threaded brass inserts are already out, by the way. It was very easy to get everything apart. Actually, it was kind of scary how easy it was.

I don't really have a good way of getting BRW to match this, unless someone has one on here. Maybe I'll post a WTB ad in the classifieds. All I have are little blanks suitable for pyramid-style bridges, and they are all dark in colour. Would a cocobolo bridge really be that much of a travesty?

So now what is the best course of action? Do the holes for the threaded inserts get plugged with anything, or just covered by the new bridge?

I've seen it done both ways when people bring me guitars to work on that have had the bridges replaced. I think removing the metal from the soundboard lightens the load a little and let's the soundboard respond better. If you plug the holes, don't use a dowel, use this:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Speci ... Saver.html and make spruce plugs from soundboard material and orient the grain correctly and plug the bridge patch. I don't remember the tool being this expensive when I bought mine. There's probably a cheaper way to make plugs though.
Heck, you can just cut them out by hand probably.

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Old growth, shmold growth!