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There is a seller on e bay selling these on e- bay for bridge removal . I have a cracked bridge that needs to be removed from a small guitar .Anyone have experience using these small blankets ?? thanks

We use a 1" x 6" blanket originally purchased from John Hall's Blue Creek Guitars. Even at six inches of length, the last 1/4" to 1/2" or so of a silicone blanket lacks heating elements, so we could probably use a 1 x 7 inch blanket and avoid having to flip things when one or both bridge wings are very well attached. Blankets are sold with 5W, 2.5W, and 1.25W power ratings per square inch from our blanket vendor. With a rheostat-controlled blanket (we use a cheap Harbor Freight router speed control for the smaller repair blankets), it seems that the highest power setting available is desirable, given that the blanket can be throttled by the controller for less output.

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A constellation only takes shape when one maps the whole.
- Beth Brower

I bought one from LMI a long time ago (don't recall the specs) but it works great.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I used a 25w 1x5 LMI at someone else's shop.. Not much power. Too slow. That's what prompted me to come up with the system in the photo.
Soft silicone rubber insulates the backside and dramatically improves contact.
John Hall's 1x6 blanket is 30watts and much better in my opinion.

Pros and cons in any system. These days I mostly use a heat lamp. It's always mounted over my bench for keeping Glue ups warm. Just swing it over and turn it on. You just have to get your heating times dialed in.

The good part about a blanket is, contrary to the photo, you need no heat shield.
You can also always see the finish. Even direct a fan on the top. you can also try a spatula on the joint even as it continues to heat up instead of racing the cooling process.

Omega is our supplier --- never any issues

http://www.omega.com/pptst/SRFR_SRFG.html

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I've been building guitars a few years now but I've been taking things apart since ... What crosses my mind is why nobody has come up with a heated spatula, other than using a torch or hotplate for working between the pieces.

One reason is by the time a hot spatula contacts glue ahead of it, the surfaces must already be apart the thickness of the blade. I think even with a continuous heating of the blade, your mostly heating wood that's behind the place your trying to separate.

I ordered a 1 by 6 for $15 from china off e bay . I only have 1 classical style bridge to do. Thanks to everyone for the pics , info and advice .I appreciate it . There is a sale on at harbor freight today , and I need to get some timers for my 3 other silicone heating blankets, just for insurance . You never know when you can get distracted, I/ve always just pulled the plug on the blankets . But time to play it safe. PS I would rather have a slower heating blanket than a quick one.

The speed is not impatience. The slower the heat up, the greater the chance of heating things you don't want to, bridge plate, braces, finish, etc.

I would say that the heat up time variance between a six inch and a five inch strip at 5 watts per square inch turned on at full power is marginal at best. I believe Omega does offer 10 watts per square inch units.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Good point david I will do a HHG glue up on scrap first and test the silicone heating blanket