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...or how I saved $95...

...or how to give Chris Paulick nightmares

So I needed to drill bridge pin holes, and the $95 at LMI for the jig are a bit steep for me. I tried to mark the 6 holes and drill "freehand", but that didn't work out quite so well. I greatly admire Chris Paulick and others here on the forum - every time I see a jig made by them, I think it's a work of Art. But I'm not like that when it comes to jigs So here's my solution made from scrapwood.

Thin a piece of plywood to 0.45" and saw it into 5 small pieces (5 x 0.45" = 2.25" string spacing)

Align them like this with the bridge blank along a fence with an end block and drill the first hole:



Take one spacer out at a time and drill another hole



and voila...



Ok...the jig ain't pretty

but it cost me basically $0.00 and it get's the job done

cheers, Christian

P.S. I'm willing to make a batch of spacers and sell a set of 5 for $50 in the classified section...now that's a deal folks...half the price of the LMI jig

Now that's a jig even I can build. I like it!

George :-)

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George :-)

thats a really simple, really smart jig. good work and thanks for sharing!

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sweat the small stuff.

That's great! And a good thing too because it looks like times are a little tough. If you like I can probably find something around the shop that might work better than plywood for a bridge.

Cheers,
Danny

You're not taking into account the string diameter. I believe the goal is to have the same spacing between the strings, not the hole centers.

That's exactly how I do mine. Different blocks for different spacings.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Yup, that's how I make mine, too.

For the nut, yes, for the bridge, not necessary.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

that's a very good idea !
thanks for sharing

I use that technique too. Learned it from Tony Karol who posted it here several years ago. Works great.
TJK

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

brilliant in its simplicity.
i don't graduate at the bridge either, so equal blocks would work great for me.
phil

Great simple idea. As noted above you could graduate the spacers by sanding down and marking the blocks. Shouldnt be to hard.

Me, too- thanks again to Tony and also to Christian.
It's a great technique to use whenever you have a 'stepping' situation for drilling or cutting.

John

I kind of expected that I'm not the only one doing it that way...it's just too simple. I have searched quite a bit about bridge drill jigs and didn't find anything except the LMI jig, which also uses equal string spacing. But compensating for string gauge should really be quite simple.

Danny - I was thinking of staining the plywood bridge black, so no one would notice. I have the theory that plywood as a bridge material will make the fundamental sound more shadowy while the overtones will sound more flamboyant. Combined with fossilized T-Rex bone bridge pins, the sound will be have a thundering punch and a roaring sparkle.

Christian

I don't recall reading, in the book I've used, anything about taking into account the string diameter. I might have slept through that class. I've used the SM string spacing ruler for my two builds. Does anyone know if if it takes that into account?

Christain I actually have some rosewood plywood that I've been packing around for about 20 years and would be happy to send you a hunk. Never have to worry about the bridge splitting.

Danny

Christian: Nice jig ...!!! I don't worry about equal spacing of strings at the bridge..just work on centers.But by golly just might try it for the next one. Things are so simple ..When someone else thinks of it....!!! Congrats again.
Tom

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

You could have put some shellac on the blocks and wood burned in the #s and sanded the edges.
Sometimes less is more. Now let's see your 12 string jig.

Danny - have you ever tried rosewood ply for a bridge? The reason why I took the birch-ply was to not screw up one of my bridge blanks on the first try-out. I learned that lesson when I built my saddle-slot routing jig. Although nothing should have gone wrong...it did, and I screwed up a beautiful macassar ebony bridge blank. Lesson learned But I actually have quite a number of bridge blanks at home, and should I run out, a visit to our friend Gary will solve that problem.

Chris - The beauty is that I only need another spacer with a thickness of 0.1" (or whatever the spacing between a pair of strings in a 12-string is). Then I'll just re-set the fence about 0.5" and can drill a 2nd row of bridge pin holes.

Filippo - I wouldn't be surprised

Christian

Just messin' with you Dude. I know what the ply was for. G.C. Hardwoods had a lot of great bridge material when I was there. Trouble was it was all buried and really hard to get at. He had a lift of Macassar ebony when I was there. It had 4 or 5 lifts on top of it. We collect skinny little back and side sets of cool wood, he collects lifts. It's quite a sight!

Cheers

Great Idea!! I use the SM string spacing rule as well and will use it to lay out the blocks for a couple of bridge pin spacings that I use.

Christian-
Good idea.
Sometimes the glue lines in plywood can be tough on router bits. If your bridge shaping sequence involves routing, you might want to consider using some (cheaper) hardwood for the setup/trials. I usually have something in the beech/maple/cherry/walnut line around the shop (or in the scrap bin) that I can mill at the same time as the 'good stuff'. You do end up with a box full of guitar parts in 'unusual' woods after a while....

Cheers
John