Scott's Guitar Blog

Making a Repro 1959 0-15 Martin Bridge

This lovely little 1959 Martin 0-15 had a very badly broken front half to its original Brazillian rosewood bridge.  Forward pressure on the saddle caused the wood in front of the saddle to break clean off, in a jagged way.  Trying to glue this would never have been strong enough to hold, so I had to do what I don't like to do, that is, to replace an original part.

First, the original bridge is carefully removed.  I then found a nice piece of Brazilian rosewood in my shop, and double-stick taped the old bridge to it, using it as an index for drilling the new bridge-pin holes.  I also used this as the opportunity to trace the exact footprint on the new blank.  The new piece is then trimmed to size on the bandsaw, and profiled to shape on a variety of sanding belts and spindles.  The original bridge needed to be replicated precisely in all measurements so that the neck angle and tone would remain true.  This new bridge even weighed the same to within 0.5 grams as the original, with the same tap tone! The worse thing you can do is change a guitar's voice with a repair (unless it's for the better).

After counter-sinking the new pin holes, the new bridge is glued to the body, then a fixture is used to route in the 3/32" wide saddle slot.  Waiting until the bridge is on the guitar allows me to carefully measure the scale length/slot location for correct intonation.  I use a powerful Fordom Flex-shaft tool in a special sliding jig to do this. Hand polishing and lightly aging the new bridge by gently sanding the impression of use to its edges completes the job!

Please visit my website www.customguitars.com for more on guitar repair and restoration, as well as custom building!

Guitarmaking Binding/flush-cutting Fixture!

This is one of my favorite fixtures...it is a very cool device that allows me to route the overhang of tops and backs on the rim, then route in a perfect binding channel.  There is a powerful laminate trimmer mounted on the vertical column, that rides up and down on a bearing guided slide mechanism. This trimmer holds the bits that flush-cut, and cut the channels.  It rests on the top/back of the guitar using a nylon guide which only rides on the 1/2" outer edge of the body.  The body is turned slowly on an adjustable platform until one complete pass is made for both the top and the back.

By indexing only the outer edge, the router remains perfectly vertical, maintaining a dead perfect route for the binding, despite the arching in the top and back.  (A standard router hand-held, using a base on the top or back surface would pitch with the guitar's arch, and cause the binding channel to deviate in width and depth.)

It is also safer, as you are on the opposite side of the guitar body from the spinning bit!  My binding has never been so perfectly  laid into the channel, and due to a wide array of bearing guides, I no longer need to spend precious time scraping binding level....it goes in perfectly every time.

These photos show only the guitar back overhang being trimmed away with a flush-cutter bit.
It is a quilted mahogany body with maple and ebony center-strip.

Please visit my website for more on custom designed and built guitars!