cacibi Posted June 19, 2004 Report Share Posted June 19, 2004 I'm looking for information/tutorials on how to position the bridge, through-body string holes, etc. on an undrilled telecaster body. I have some books (Make Your Own Electric Guitar, Melvyn Hisock, Guitar Repair Guide, Erlewine, etc.) but apart from general information on the scale measurement, none give details instructions on how to place this hardware. I understand that the bridge needs to be located 25 1/2 inches from the nut, or 12.75 inches from the 12th fret, but where is this measurement too on the bridge. I assume this is about where the saddles should sit but how do you account for staggering of the saddles when the bridge is intonated? Also any tips on how to position the bridge with regard to the neck so that the strings run true over the length of the fingerboard. I've polked around quite a bit online for some tutorials but as I said, haven't come across any detailed info. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pex657 Posted June 19, 2004 Report Share Posted June 19, 2004 i am looking for the same thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MurphC Posted June 19, 2004 Report Share Posted June 19, 2004 I'll need to know this too soon... I'm sure someone has an answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cacibi Posted June 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Glad to know I'm not alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
litchfield Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Jehle justanswered tht Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hy_dro66 Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Basically what you said so far is true. The scale length is not the actual measurement to the bridge saddles. What you want is the high e string saddle to be able to adjust about 1/16" back from the scale length and the low e saddle to adjust about 3/16" or 7/32" back from the scale length. How I center a bridge is by placing some low tac tape on the guitar body so I can easliy mark with a pencil. Next I measure out the scale length and mark the tape. Then to find the centerline I run the straightedge down one side of the fingerboard and mark a line. I repeat that for the other side. Now you can measure the distance between the two lines and find center. Since you used the neck to find center you should be perfect. I left some common sense stuff out like, when you are marking scale length measure at two places so you can make a straight acurate line. Same with finding the center. Measure two spots and find the center both places then you can use a straightedge to connect the dots. When drilling through the body, you can use a drill press or hand drill(need a steady hand) and a template for drilling the holes for the ferrules in the back of the guitar. If you make a template that has six holes in a perfect line then you can have the holes be a little crooked coming through and it won't matter because the ferrules will be straight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cacibi Posted June 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 A lot of good stuff, thanks very much for your reply. I'm guessing the string spacing may vary slightly due to variations in the bridge depending on the manufacturer. Is this correct or is there a universally used spacing for this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cacibi Posted June 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Another question comes to mind, can you use the sides of the neck pocket as guide lines as well? Or perhaps a better question is: is it better to mount the neck first and align the bridge to it, or vice versa? My instinct would be to mount the neck first, then position the bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Mariah Posted June 20, 2004 Report Share Posted June 20, 2004 Mount the neck, then position the bridge. You can move the bridge around to accomadate the neck, but you can't move the neck around to line up with the bridge. Not much, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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