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A friend brought me a Gibson Hummingbird Pro that has never had a bridge and asked me to install one. Well, not being able to find one ready made that I was happy with, I decided to do what real luthiers do and make my own. It took me a while, as I spent a lot of time researching and practicing on scrap wood, but I thinks it's going to work. We'll see.

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Mike Fields

That's clean


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VERY nice.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Well done!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

IT looks pro to me.

Looks like you may have been a machinist at a time in your past!
Mike

Looks great!


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Could have fooled me that it was your first! Looks like it's ready to go!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Nice work!


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Thanks for the encouragement, guys. We beginners need that occasionally. I don't have a woodworking nor machining background, but I am blessed with a very high mechanical aptitude. All my friends and family bring me their broken stuff to fix, so I do have a lot of experience making things work.

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Mike Fields

It's official . . . I don't know what I'm doing.

After gluing on the bridge and clamping it over-night, here's what I have. With a straightedge on the frets, it hits the front of the 3/8" tall bridge about 1/16" below the top of the bridge. Before gluing, it would lay just on top of the bridge. The bridge was flat on top, but now has a slight curve and yes, I did sand the bottom of the bridge to match the curve of the guitar top. Also, I don't remember the top having as much curve to it as it does now. But here's what really concerns me: with the neck straight, the fingerboard extension (beyond 14th fret) rises visibly. With a straightedge across all frets, there's a gap at the 12th fret of .006". I put a hygrometer inside the guitar and sealed the sound hole with tape. After a couple of hours, it read 53%. Any ideas, guys? Thanks.

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Mike Fields

One thing that came to mind after my last post and studying the picture is that maybe I screwed down the wing portions of the clamping caul too tight. I wanted to make sure the wings wouldn't stick up, so I got them pretty snug. Maybe I bent the bridge?

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Mike Fields

Was there a clamping caul between the bridge plate and the clamps? If not, would that cause things to flex? Just a guess, I use a caul but I don't know if not using one could cause this.

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No, I'm afraid I didn't have a caul to use underneath the bridge plate, although I did tape a small block of wood to the center clamp and the other two have plastic feet 7/8" in diameter.

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Mike Fields

Let's see what some of the more experienced folks have to say. I'm new to all of this as well.

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Photobucket stinks. Here's the picture again.

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Mike Fields

Just curious how thick the bridge is.


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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

3/8".

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Mike Fields

Before you worry too much about the issues you have noticed, try stringing up the guitar. This will give you a much clearer picture of which problems you will have to figure out how to solve and which will turn out to be not much problem after all.
The fingerboard rising after the 14th fret is (sadly) quite normal and most acoustic guitar players don't seem to care. If the guitar is playable in the lower frets it would be better to let the guitar be strung up for ideally a few years before attacking this problem as all the wood on a new guitar takes time to warp to its final shape. Find out how annoying the high frets turn out to be by putting on strings and playing it. File (sand) the heck out of those high frets as temporary first aid while you ponder thinning the fretboard, or a neck reset.
Your bridge is a bit on the thick side, so if you find that the action is too high even when the saddle is barely above the wood, take off some of the wood. Or you might decide to take the bridge off and reglue it with a strong caul inside the guitar which keeps the clamps from bending the guitar top and bridge. But you can't know what is neccesary until you try playing the thing.

That is exactly what happened. The same thing happened to me the first time I used that clamp and did not have a stiff caul inside.

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Pat

I'm not a fan of this gizmo. Without a rigid inside caul, tightening the wing screws will distort the bridge (and top). Add a rigid caul, and over-tightening the wing screws will reduce or eliminate clamping pressure in the center of the bridge (where it matters most).

With experience, and a sense of touch, it should work just fine. But three clamps (center, wing, wing), and a caul is nearly fool proof.

I agree, you need a VERY rigid clamp in the center to prevent the wing clamps from relieving pressure in the center with that device. Something like a deep throat welding c-clamp. I had the clamp shown and it was not rigid enough. I tried it on a few guitars but abandoned it quickly going back to individual clamps in the center and wings. A fitted caul is mandatory I would think.

Looks like you may learn the art of bridge removal, that is not a bad thing at all and it is a beautiful bridge. BTW how deep is the saddle slot? It looks a little shallow in the picture.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

[quote=BTW how deep is the saddle slot? It looks a little shallow in the picture.[/quote]

7/32".

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Mike Fields

7/32".[/quote]

That's perfect.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I agree with Terrence and Eric above, I also abandoned the SM Bridge Clamping Caul and went back to 3 normal clamps, after a couple of mishaps. I'm sure it can work beautifully with the right inside caul etc, but I prefer 3 Klemmensias, much more fool proof (a good idea in my case). I use a wooden, kerfed inside caul, it will conform to the any curvature of the bridge / top with no added stress.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin