Archtop Bridge Replacement

[Peace Inky]

Hey all, I am pretty new to this forum, but I have a question which has been on my mind for a great deal of time and I thought that I might find some assistance here…

I was planning on replacing a stock floating archtop bridge, which gave me endless troubles with intonation. It is made of rosewood and has no minute intonation possibilities other than scooting it one way or the other, and because it irritates me tremendously to have it play out of tune I want to get rid of it and replace it with a new bridge that offers my ear some relief.

I have looked endlessly at the possible replacements on many sites, and was quite fond of what I saw on sites like Stewart MacDonald and other parts suppliers. I want to stick with an all-wood bridge if I can and I have seen some compensated all wood archtop bridges out there. Do these really work?

My main concern is correct intonation so I don’t mind using a tune-o-matic style bridge if that is what will get me in tune. So, if I must resort to this then does anyone have any kind of suggestion on what kind of bridge to buy? Has anyone had any experience with this before?

Cost is not of concern to me, I will pay what I must to get good quality, also I don’t have a preference over rosewood or ebony for the material the bridge is made of. The only thing I really want it for it to work good, and maybe come in gold if at all possible

Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

[ron steiger]

Well

Heres my 2cents...

First check the intonation ,,,heres how you do that....if its a 14fret guitar...then use a tool like the one in the photo ...or make one...

the way you use it is..(..from the nut....to the 12fret ........then turn the tool around and from the 12fret to the saddle )should give you the right intonation...

well in your case the bridge because its and arch..top. mark lines with a white pen and file and test the guitar out....when your happy with the sound

then copy the bridge with a piece of ebony and make it your self..all your need is a hand saw ,files, sandpaper,and some good old time.....

[SwedishLuthier]

Most compensated all-wood arch top bridges like this are for use with an wound G-string. If you are going to use that one together witha plain G-string that string will be even worse intonated compared to using a standard straight one. I'd say you are beter off using something like this. When you are adjusting one of these wooden based arch top bridges it is a good idea to build (yes build one they are pretty easy to do yourself using scrap wood) one of these. The stewmac tool is very nice if you are going to do this often but you can do it yourself if you are going to fix a single guitar.

[Peace Inky]

thanks alot, this all looks pretty good.

for ron: i've checked this intonation on my guitar, but because the bridge is straight and without compensation i can only assure that the first and sixth strings are really correctly intonated.

for Swedish: i use heavier strings, round wound 11s and 12s on my baby for jazz, and of course those come with a wound G string, so do ya think i could get away with using the compensated bridge or were you suggesting that i just go with the tune-o-matic, and that tool looks great, i was wondering how i could match the bridges feet, and that offers alot of insight into the set-up of a tool to do just that

[SwedishLuthier]

Most people using wound G-string are satisfied with the result of the compensated wood bridge. If you are picky a TOM is way better. Can't really recomend one over another because at the end it is you that should be happy with the way the guitar plays. Personaly I would try out the wood bridge only because I think that it looks much neater and kind of clean to not have a lot of metal in the bridge.

[restosteve]

hi. i have a 12 string that has a bridge like this. only thing is that it is tipping forward and lifting away from the face of the guitar.

i wan't to replace the bridge but its still pretty firm on the guitar. does anyone have some ideas as to how i can remove it and either replace or re-glue it? the top of the guitar is still pretty good with very little distortion. many thanks

[SwedishLuthier]

This type of bridge (as the one in the links I posted) are usually not glued to the top. They are held in place with string pressure and can be moved back and forth to adjust the intonation. Have you glued this bridge yourself? I'm asking because then you will know what type of glue that where used. If it is hide glue it is quite easy to remove the bridge using hear and moister. Check out StwMacs glue separation knives and I also thing they have some tutorial about that. Having said that I must tell you I have done something similar once and I used too much heat. That resulted in a badly checked/cracked finish. I had to refinish the top completly. If the glue used is epoxy, polyuretane or Cyanoacrylat you cannot use heat to separate the glue. I think that the only way is to cut the bridge away using knives or saws. Then you will have to refinish the top and possibly get a new bridge. Make something like the tool linked to above to adjust the feet of the new bridge/old bridge comming loose.