Official Luthiers Forum!

What is the general consensus on stringing up our guitars before or after finish?
This is something I`m wondering about after Hesh mentioned that he doesn`t string up until after finish.
Pros, cons, opinions, please.
Coe

_________________
Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

My take on it is that there might be a hidden "surprise" be it good or bad if you wait to string up afterwards.
On one hand, it could be a real thrill to hear your creation in its entirety, and on the other there may be a disappointment of one sort or another.

_________________
Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

I string it up after, because I don't glue on the bridge until after the finish.
For those that string it up before, what do you do about the bridge??????

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

I string them up before finish, as it allows me to make any last minute changes to the soundboard graduation (etc) I might deem necessary. I am making classicals though.

_________________
Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

I got impatient with my classical and strung it up after finishing the FP body coats. Wish I hadnt as working around the bridge with the glaze coats is a pain. next time Ill leave the bridge off untill the finish is...er finished.

The only problem I see with stringin' er up before finishing is that you may just never finish it you may just play the heck out of it and "I'll get to it" is all to easy to say.

That would be the pure sound of the guitar, unfinished would probably sound better than having the finish on it (minutly if the finish is done right), but you do want some protection right.

I'd say go for it, just make sure you do finish it at some point, otherwise you'll be scraping and dingin' it up for sure.

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

On my first, I had it strung up before I even had the bindings on. I glued the bridge on with Tite-bond only along the back edge. There was a strip of only about 1/4" that was glued. The lower notes were weak, so I thinned down the top around the lower bout and it sounded much better. Before finishing, I heated the bridge with a clothes iron, came off easy with no damage.

On #2, I did the finish first.

_________________
now known around here as Pat Foster
_________________
http://www.patfosterguitars.com

[QUOTE=Hesh1956] You can buy special bolts with holes in the center for the string to pass through. These two bolts replace pins 1 and 6 and also hold the bridge on while checking things out. I think that Stew-Mac and/or LMI sell them. I have some but have never used them.

With the bridge bolted on and the addition of Stew-Mac's intonator you can nail the intonation before determining the final bridge position. Pretty slick.[/QUOTE]

Well - not quite. You have to drill through the two outer bridge pin holes to use the bolts so if you get the wrong bridge position you would have to plug and re-drill these holes.

_________________
Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

[QUOTE=kiwigeo] I got impatient with my classical and strung it up after finishing the FP body coats. Wish I hadnt as working around the bridge with the glaze coats is a pain. next time Ill leave the bridge off untill the finish is...er finished.[/QUOTE]
I know exactly what you mean. By the time I decided to go ahead with the body coats, I had pulled the bridge up twice to get it right, and there wasn`t gonna be a third time.
I think I do remember something being said that you need to learn how to replace bridges anyway, so why not string up before. Cumpiano maybe?

_________________
Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Well a background in repairs is quite helpful, and you should know how to remove a bridge cleanly. But you should also know how to french polish around one.


I've made changes to my guitars after they were strung up on occasion that have been very helpful to the finished product. Thats enough for me to endure having to polish around the thing.

For classicals, its tradition.

_________________
Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

i've put the bridge on before finish so far because I danish oil, but I'm waiting for a spraygun and some lacquer to arrive in the post so I'll have to change the error of my ways!!!

_________________
My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick