Screw ups

[peter.coombe]

I am sure you have all been there. Working away on your instrument, then - that does not look quite right, wonder what is going on there. After a bit of investigation the red light flashes - Oh NOOOOO!!! How did that happen? Then follows a long string of expletives, and you have to stop and go for a walk. On the walk you remember how it happened and vow never ever ever do that again. What a dumb, dumb thing to do, I am a complete idiot.

That happened to me last friday. I was putting the strings on my first guitar (Carpathian/EIR OM). Many mistakes had been made during it's construction, but they were all minor or fixed or worked around so things were looking up. Only one mistake was visible, and only a Luthier would notice that. It was looking great. Until now! I had even nailed the bolt on neck joint, which was the one thing I was worried about. Dead straight neck, the angle is spot on, and tight neat joint.

So what had happened? Misaligned bridge. Intonation is spot on, but the bridge is 2mm off centre. The bass E string is about 5mm from the edge of the fingerboard and the treble E is right on the edge. AAAAHHHGGGG!!!

Anyway, the work around has been to notch the saddle and enjoy the instrument while I contemplate whether to fix it or move on to the next one and consider it a learning experience. At the moment I am moving on. There is just so much time you can spend fixing problems with the first one, and sooner or later it is better to just move on. There has been many positives with this guitar. Much has been learned, it has a neat clean look, the varnish finish (same as I use on my mandolins) looks great and feels delicious, no sign of any structural issues, and it sounds great. The sound is not far behind my reference guitar (a gorgeous sounding Tim Wright OM), and improving by the day. Might even beat the reference after some time and playing.

However, it BUGS the s*** out of me. I cringe whenever I look at the bridge. AARRRR!! It is the only thing wrong with this guitar.

Over to you lot. Should I fix it? How to fix it?

The way I see it I can
(1) do nothing and a lesson learned (don't ask how it happened).
(2) Lift the bridge, plug the holes and re-drill.
(3) Lift the bridge, replace the bridge plate and redrill.
(4) Misalign the neck to line up with the bridge

I don't like (3), have better things to do. Don't particularly like (4), goes against the grain, the neck is perfectly straight, and I spent time making sure it was perfectly straight. So what is the liklihood of the bridge plate (Rock Maple) splitting if I do (2)? There is also the problem of finish damage -> more time wasted fixing that if I do fix the bridge, and also how to remove the bridge. How do I heat it up to loosen the glue (LMI) without wrecking the finish. I don't have a heating blanket. Currently I am on (1), but a good friend wants to buy the guitar. He is aware of this problem, but is not concerned so long as the intonation is ok (it is), but other people may see this boo boo.

I guess I should be grateful. This problem is far less than some of the other structural issues others have had on their first guitar build. But, what a dumb dumb thing to get wrong, and right at the last minute.

Over to the guitar experts (which I am not, yet). What to do?

Peter

PS - Has anyone tried the new Shertler tuners (Swiss) that Stew Mac recently offered. I am familiar with Shertler pickups, which are first class, so decided to try them. I'm impressed. Very smooth and no slop, love them. Far, far better than the Gotoh's on my reference guitar. Only thing I don't like is the lacquer finish on the Ebony knobs. An oil finish would look so much classier.

[Kim]

No question, I would go with option 2 Peter...once the bridge is back on, noone will ever know if you don't tell and even you will forget about it after a while.

Cheers

Kim

[christian]

Peter it shouldn't be too hard to fix I would go with option 2 as well
I would heat the bridge maybe with lamp, mask around the bridge, carefully ease a thin knife blade under it once you get it started it should come off reasonably easily, take your time, you could dip your blade in thinners to help it along. Hopefully you dont damage the surrounding area and bridge, even if you do make a new bridge slightly bigger to cover it up.
you will feel great after this repair trust me !!!!

all the Best.

Christian.

[Allen]

I'd go with #2 as well.

If you are really worried about getting the bridge off in one piece without destroying the top, then you could shave it down so it's just a wisp of wood left, then heat up. Means making a new bridge, but thats not a big deal.

I'm afraid there isn't much option as far as finish goes unless you decide to go for a slightly oversized bridge to cover up the area that will be exposed. If it's only a couple of millimetres that's not such a bad option and makes my previous suggestion more palatable.

[kiwigeo]

Im completely anal..if there's any sort of defect with an instrument and I know about it then it gets fixed.

Option 2 for me.

[Kamusur]

Ordered some of those tuners weeks ago Peter just waiting for the postie to deliver.

Steve

[peter.coombe]

Thanks guys, you confirmed what I was thinking. I will fix it, just need some time. This guitar was only ever really meant to be a prototype - i.e. make all the mistakes in the first one. Well that did happen, but it sounds much too good to be a prototype so I'd better fix everything 100%.

[Allen]

Hey Peter, you gotta change your signature to add guitars.

[peter.coombe]

Ha, ha, you are right. Now changed.

Well the bridge is off, and the holes have been plugged. Now just need to clean it up and fix the finish damage. Looks ugly at the moment. There was more damage to the Spruce and finish damage than I would like, despite lots of masking tape, and I am not sure I can make it all invisible. In the process I discovered that one of the tuners was not straight. Fixed that, then another tuner looked crooked, fixed that, then another tuner looked crooked. Sigh. Fixed that. I did read somewhere that the best way of learning not to make mistakes is to repair your own mistakes. How true.

Peter