Bridge repair

[Dominic]

Hey, since a few people at work have found out I was into guitars I have been asked to fix a few. Mostly they have not been worth the effort. The other day I was asked to tune a toy guitar for someone’s son. Guitar tech to a 4 year old.

But today our librarian bough in an old Epiphone that looks quite good.

I have no idea what the model number means but it seems quite good. Solid maple B&S, bound RW fingerboard, ebony bridge pins. Any info or sources anyone has would be great.

Anyway, you can see in the pic what needs fixing. What you can't see, and what I need suggestions on how to fix, is that despite the front of the bridge being separated from the back, it was kept tuned to pitch and played and the strings have gouged grooves in the top and pulled the top and bridge plate up in a sharp ridge along the line of the pins cracking the bit between the holes. To keep it tuned the owner has pushed the bridge pins in further and further and this has probably helped split the bridge.

As it seems a half decent guitar I don't want to stuff this up so I want to circle it for a bit and any suggestions how to proceed would be great.
Cheers
Dom

[Kim]

Dom,

That is an original BRW bridge with inlay, it does need saving. Go steady with heat and a damp pallet knife, get it off and reglue that sucker back together with HHG, then reglue to the top after clean up with same.

Tell the parents to get a Yamaha for the boy and Ebay the Kalamazoo. Regardless of anything else, this guitar is worth the effort for it's desirability as a collector, especially in AU. A good player must be worth 500 bucks even if it is MIJ.

http://www.guitar-museum.com/guitar-103 ... age-Guitar

I must add here that one desirable feature of this particular 1970's guitar is that the amount of refraction in both top and back could only be the result of quite harsh runout in the wood, this would tend to indicate that this is a solid wood guitar. Could be that the sides are ply but unlikely given the rest of the components.

Cheers

Kim

[Allen]

I saw a tutorial done by David Collins recently where he removed a bridge with a heat lamp directly over the bridge. He protected the top with a layer of card board, and then some alfoil to reflect heat off the top. So only the bridge was exposed. I believe he said the bridge released in a very short amount of time. I've never taken a bridge off with either method, so I'll leave it to the experts on which method is best.

Once that bridge is off, the rest of the repair looks like it's fairly straight forward, as Kim described.

[Taffy Evans]

Hi Dom
Yep I'd do as kim suggests to keep it all origanal. However I'd check to see what made it let go in the first place. Eg: any broken braces in the top and/or has the top got a big upward bow that the bridge could not match.
You will need a good radius match of bridge and top for a long lasting repair.
Just a thought

[graham mcdonald]

A couple of 60-75W reflector lamps in a frame that will sit them 100-150mm above the bridge will heat the bridge up enough to get it off. Protect the rest of the soundboard with thick cardboard faced with aluminium foil. Use a ground down pallet knife or and old butter knife to get the bridge off. Be careful with that runout and only use the pallette in the direction of the runout, otherwise it is all too easy for a sliver to rip out past the perimeter of the bridge. That is, in opposite directions on each side of the bridge

I would make a new bridge, rather than try to repair that one. I would not trust regluing a spilt along the grain across the bridge pin holes, and it looks like there is a chunk missing around the 2nd and 3rd strings. It looks a little as though someone has tried to reglue it once before., (though that could just be the photo) and trying to repair a previous glue job is dodgy. Certainly glue to old bridge back together and put it in the the case, but I don't really see that as a particularly valuable guitar and a new bridge will be much safer.

It would also be worth checking the neck angle, before embarking on the bridge, as it would be annoying to make and fit a new bridge and then discover than the action was so high as to make it unplayable and then have to explain to the owners why it is going to cost a lot more money

cheers

graham

[Dominic]

Thanks guys. I think Graham has a good point re neck angle. On close inspection I noticed that there is no room to lower the saddle on the bridge anymore without the strings touching wood. So perhaps this guitar has more issues than I am prepared to deal with. I'll do a bit more scoping and work out what to do.
thanks
Dom

[graham mcdonald]

Dom,

If you want to bring it over I am quite happy to have a look at it. I am away this weekend, but an evening next week would be fine

cheers

graham

[kiwigeo]

Oh goodie..a neck reset! Make sure we have some pics...this would be a great tutorial.

[Dominic]

Cheers Graham, that would be great. But after a gruelling 6 months working to the 24/7 Kevin timetable I have managed to get a week off at the snow snowboarding next week. The week after that would great if you are around.

[kiwigeo]

Dom mate youve just turned down a summons from the Ghost Who Walks......do you realise what youve just done man?????

Now that guitar wont be the only thing getting a neck reset

[graham mcdonald]

Not a problem, don't break anything, trees, legs etc

Martin, I would be very careful going outside at night, and watch for very short people...

cheers

graham

[kiwigeo]

Sh*t..look who our newest member is

[matthew]

whoa ... i didn't even know they HAD underpants in Gladstone!

[Allen]

Wish I had thought of that.

[kiwigeo]

Seen around Gladstone...a remarkable likeness if you ask me...

[graham mcdonald]

You are all very cruel and heartless, not to say tactless and without appreciation of the finer things in life, like 1940s Phantom comics.

I shall go off and have a short sulk

(exits left, hurumphing...)

[kiwigeo]

Come on Graham.....come on everybody.........time for a biiiiig group hug!!!


:bh

[Dominic]

Gee, this thread took a curious turn after I went to the snow.

Anyway, the snow was great. Beautiful weather every day. Like this.



Nothing really broken but plenty of aches.


So Graham, or GWW, i am available to hobble over to your place with my broken bridge guitar.

Cheers
Dom

[BC]

The above guitar came to me through Better Music, Canberra.
The old bridge couldn't be saved so this is what was done.
The lower section of the old bridge with inlay was cut off and the egde planed . A new bridge with the same distance from bridge pins to saddle was found, planed on the edge and was mated to the lower old section.
The original pin holes in the body, except for the 6th string pin, were filled with hardwood tapered dowels and new holes were drilled and reamed once the bridge was attached.
Titebond with a small amount of dye was used to join the two pieces using a similar method to that used to join the two halves of backs and tops. The grain was "dressed" with a graining pen and then sprayed with three coats of matt nitro lacquer. Once the lacquer had cured it was given a polish using 0000 steel wool and then with swirl remover.
The whole bridge was made oversize and and edge of about 2mm scraped around the outside to fit over the original finish.

Unfortunately the neck has a warp and twist and the neck shows signs of being reglued at the heel by someone who didn't know what geometry was all about thus the neck is at slightly the wrong angle and the fingerboard has a nice hump in it. This could all be fixed by removing the frets, redressing the fingerboard and refret an expensive job.
the guitar is playing well but the action is high from about the 7th fret.