Official Luthiers Forum!

I would leave it alone for now. Let it settle in. You might find in a week or
two you will want to lower the action. Considering the 2x the action for
saddle lowering you might be just fine

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

let it settle in. a 1/4 inch of saddle is the usual upper limit, and with only 1/2"above the top this is nt bad at all. once it settles a bit you may have to lower the saddle a bit.

Does this mean that your bridge is only 9/32"? That's a really low bridge. I
consider .325"-.350" as an ideal height, and .375" as acceptable. When I see
a bridge down towards 1/4" I usually suspect it to have been shaved.

It sounds like your neck set is perfect for a .350" bridge with a .150" saddle,
which is exactly what I would be shooting for to begin with.

I would pull the bridge and make a new one.

David Collins38957.9172337963

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

When I see a bridge down towards 1/4" I usually suspect it to have been shaved

Old Gibson bridges were exactly 1/4"(.250") thick, as are many of mine. It's perhaps the ideal bridge thickness, in fact....

I ususally thin the bridge to its required hieght, just a couple hairs below the lie of the frets, before gluing it on. As with Mario, mine end up between 1/4 and 5/16, and then show about 1/8 of saddle with action set at 75-95 thou. Sounds good to me.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Man, 1/4" is way too short for me, and I would consider 5/16" to be the
lowest I would typically go. Martin bridges have always been from just
over 5/16"- 3/8", although I've seen some recent ones at .400". Gibson
never used anything that thin in thier golden years. The thin bridges
gradually started appearing from the 50's through to the seventies, just
about parallel with the overall quality control drop of thier acoustics.
There may be a few earlier mustache bridges that are exceptions, but not
the great flat tops of the 30's and 40's.

In any case, making a new bridge and replacing the old one would take
me about two hours hands on time, so it seemed like the easiest way (as
well as an improvement in my opinion). Resetting the neck to drop the
angle would be quite extreme for this, and would take a lot more time
either in touchup for shims or possibly having to move the saddle slot
back. Leveling a little out of the frets is certainly another option. David Collins38958.5008564815

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

The 1/4" Gibson bridges I've seen are all from the 30's and 40's....

Not arguing, just stating what I've seen and measured...

Must be all the 2nd's that Gibson shipped off to Canada.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

[QUOTE=David Collins] Must be all the 2nd's that Gibson shipped off to Canada.

[/QUOTE]

ROFLOL.... I believe Mario may have met his match on this one...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

whatever....

Thats some sweet EIrw veneer you got there ... makes a cool bridge huh !!!! heck you go that thin, you might as well just paint it on

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Todd
funny picture, thanks Im old and
boring and I need a laugh sometimes.

Tom

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http://www.moriciguitar.com

I cant claim to have invented it, but the first time I thought of doing was before I had heard anyone say thats a way to remove a bridge if you dont care to save it. I had heated them off before, and thought well its easy enough to skim route the top down so that the centre area is easier to get the heat into to release - probably based somewhat on the the slot routing fixture that Sm sells - you can see how that kind of idea would work.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

i'm not sure of gibson's methods, but i would be surprized if they were much different than martin's, i.e., bridges were made in various thicknesses, and final selection was made based upon what suited the neck set of the particular guitar. thus you could look at several instruments from a production run and they could have bridges of varying thickness.

[QUOTE=ToddStock] You mean Gibson was shipping some that were not seconds? [/QUOTE]

HA!

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

Seconds are the good ones .. those are the ones that went thru the factory a SECOND time. What did you think they were, like 2nd quality or something ???

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Looks great Todd .. the toner is sweet ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Todd, it looks great! How does she sound?

I just posted a couple of pics of my L-00 that has one of Shane's lower grade tops on it in another thread. I love the lutz! Mine's not strung up yet though.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Todd, that's a mighty fine looking instrument! Looking forward to the "glamour" shots.

Looking great Todd, glad everything worked out well for you, you sure help others very often so consider the help you've received as a returned favor my friend!

Serge

[QUOTE=ToddStock]Any more shots of the small-body hanging next to the dread? Looks like an O?
[/QUOTE]

I'll see if I can get out to the shop in the next day or two and take a couple of pics of it for you Todd. I am not sure of the size as it was copied from one that a friend gave me, an old junker that is painted with flowers or something all over the top.

I just liked the shape and decided to see if I could get a bluesy kinda guitar out of it. Still need to make the neck.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars