Official Luthiers Forum!

I know myself well enough to know to keep things simple, so here's what I've come up with...

it starts here, with the pinhole jig.I used a piece of scrap ply in my saddle slot touring jig. I kept going until the slot went all the way through the piece, then glued a saddle halfway in the slot, leaving it to stick out about 3mm.the jig slips into the saddleslot, so when you drill the holes, the relationship between the holes and the slot is a constant.the back of the locating jig has a piece of scrap ply that has been cut with the fret slotting jig using a regular tablesaw blade. This fits nicely on the frets and helps assure you don't use the wrong scaled jig. We use four scales regularly, so we have four jigs.the other end of the jig has a piece of saddle sanded to 3mm height glued on. Bear in mind that this is reverse engineered from a guitar with the bridge in the right spot already. Just leave the saddle you want to attach to the jig sticking proud of the bridge, lay the locator jig in place, and glue it on with CA.then just put the bridge on the end of the jig, align it, and tape off where the bridge rests.

Easy Peezy, way better than using strings to align it like I used to.

I made something similar, but glued a block of hardwood at the other end which dropped into the nut slot.

B

_________________
My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Not a bad thought...

Do you have a center finder jig? I have two of them. I just scribed a line where the 14th fret is and the front of my bridge goes based on the scale length. Perfect every time and always on center of the neck

_________________
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

I don't. How do you line up the side to side for the string lines? That's what I like about this is that the bridge is located true front and back and side to side...

I have something very similar, but I didn't use the jig holes to drill the bridge holes. I need to incorporate that. What/where did you get the metal guides in the "dummy bridge" templatey thing? Maybe they are at the stewmac/lmii if I look around?

I've seen several variations of the KMG Bridge Setter but its difficult if not impossible to match the ease of use (build-in clamp straps) precision, centering/alignment features, adjust-ability and versatility (works with most any bridge) without the use of CNC equipment.

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Absolutely brilliant! I'm going to make four of them.

This is of course my own knockoff of the Larrivee jigs. About as simple as you can get.

Mike, they are just drill guide bushings from McMaster-Carr, 5/32". Anything bigger and they won't get close enough together. Laid out with the Stewmac ruler. Once I got around to making them, after about 15 years and 100 or so guitars, bridge fit was a breeze. I am amazed at how much effort I go to sometimes to avoid the work of making jigs:)

Yep jigs are our friends! As for the Bridge Setter it was conceived back in the late 1970's when I was stringing up a classical commission that I needed to deliver to my co-worker that was moving to CA and wanted to take the instrument with him. Talk about a major blunder -- using the ruler, string, tape method I had placed the bridge "exactly' one inch off location! And there you have the mother of invention, for me the bridge setter became a necessity.

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Yep. About the only mistake you can make with this is to put the rectangular bridge with the pins on the soundhole side, which I've actually done once. And which is why I switched to HHG for bridges...

Here is a similar one I made that hooks over the nut slot. I am wondering why the bushings on the jig - are the pin holes not yet drilled in the bridge blank but the saddle slot is cut? I drill the two outer pin holes for installation, and the other four later. Nothing here is original, so thanks everyone.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/9538938989/in/album-72157635130471994/

The jig is 1/2 the thickness of the saddle short so the saddle ends up with its center in the proper place.

Ed

The saddle slot is routed first. Then, the jig with the drill guide bushings is used to start the bridge pin holes, not all the way through. This ensures that the holes are exactly right every time, and in the exact same relationship to the saddle slot. That way, the pins and the saddle get correctly located at the same time.