Making bridges

[Dr. Jabsco]

Hello, well I used the search function as per litchfields request and came up with nodda. so here goes

Is it a safe idea to try and make my own bass bridge? Im thinking about buying up some of thoes IPE blocks and making a two part string thru bridge. it seems easy enough, and for the saddles i have some brass over here that i can shap and use in junction with the IPE.

if you all think its a good idea, then I will draw up some plans for it tonight, and see if i can post them up here.

(ps, im also making my own knobs, it will add a nice touch)

[Hotrock]

i THINK THAT (GODDAM CAPS LOCK) there was a thread a looooooooooong time ago about making knobs.

As for the bridge - I dunno. Sorry I'm about as much help as a fart in a space suit.

[Jehle]

If you can shape the brass, what's to prevent normal wear from the strings from wearing it out.

I think that there is a material that you can shape, it's made for making knife blades, and you fire it in a kiln when you are done. The firing process hardens it and whatever shape it's in, it's tougher than nails.

I'll have to ask my father in law about this again, he's the one that told me about this. He has a collection of knives that he made from scratch, chrome plating, carved handles and all. I was shocked when I learned that he actually shaped the blades from raw material as well.

[Hotrock]

It's called carbonising. Much the same as case hardening I think. Should be done in a carbon rich atmosphere. Dunno if it works for brass though.

[soapbarstrat]

A "hard tail" strat base-plate with tele type saddles is not too hard to make. The hardest part is drilling all the screw-holes in the round saddles all straight. I don't have any close-up pics of the two I made. I made them out of junk scrap for my "surrogate " guitar body. one is a bass bridge. I made two big round steel tele-style saddles for it.

[jefm]

Ceramics or clay....if glazed and fired it should be pretty hard...most people can handle it too

[frank falbo]

I've made my own bridges before. If you can get some nice saddles off a different bridge it's easier. Also unless it's a tune-o-matic style you'll have to drill and tap each saddle for individual height adjustment. Then when you're all done, it's still brass so it will tarnish without a finish. But there is brass lacquer and epoxy style finishes that work well. Yes, the brass can wear out, but I even prefer an all wood bridge on some basses, like what Carl Thompson does. I've used cocobolo, ebony, and rosewood. Also consider using all wood saddles, but drilling a hole in the middle to inlay a piece of steel (or other alloy) rod. Then shape it to cradle the string. That way your saddles would have the look and tone of wood with a hardened steel pivot point for a sharper attack and long wear. That would work on a tune-o-matic style as well, with or without adjustable saddles.

[Curtis P]

you can carbonise it with a carbonising flame from an oxy-acetylene torch, when its heated red hot, immediatly put it in oil, its goes completly HARD, this is what we do when we build punches and chisels in metal shop

you will melt the brass before you carborise it, use something else, regular steel, carborise it (using technique above) and then paint it black, or you can polish it back, but it will have lost most of its hardness

Hope this helps

Curtis

[Dr. Jabsco]

I kinnda like what frank falbo was talking about.

The IPE is probley strong enough to not wear out that quickly, and if it does, ill just make new saddles

yes, im doing a tune-o-matic style bridge, but a little bit different. I will get to work on thoes drawings after I mess around here a little bit.

and I have a high power metal grinder in my shop, I could use that to shape out an inlay for the saddle.

im also gonna check out carl thompsons basses, see what he does

thanks for hte replys

[feylya]

you can carbonise it with a carbonising flame from an oxy-acetylene torch, when its heated red hot, immediatly put it in oil, its goes completly HARD,

That will not work unless you use high carbon steel. The "carbonising" flame of an Oxy-actylene torch will NOT add carbon to the steel. You can get pots of carbon to dip the red hot steel into and the proceed with Curtis' procedure.

[Dr. Jabsco]

well, ive decided to use wood anyways. And I have the design drawn out, and its on my computer but i dont konw how to get the bitmap file onto here. Im going to search for some picture hosting tourtial and see if i can get it up.

[Dr. Jabsco]

ok, I tried fullserve, photobucket, and image shack, and none of them would work. Image shack wouldnot accept a bmp file. so how do i change it?

[feylya]

Ms Paint - File - Save As - Save As Type: Jpeg

Save. Upload.

[Dr. Jabsco]

tried that wont work

[Curtis P]

you can carbonise it with a carbonising flame from an oxy-acetylene torch, when its heated red hot, immediatly put it in oil, its goes completly HARD,

That will not work unless you use high carbon steel. The "carbonising" flame of an Oxy-actylene torch will NOT add carbon to the steel. You can get pots of carbon to dip the red hot steel into and the proceed with Curtis' procedure.

oops, my bad i was positive it worked for all steel, but i do use high carbon steel in punches and chisels

Sorry for my mistake

Curtis

[Dr. Jabsco]

its ok curtis. I dont know what the hell any of that means anyway

[Curtis P]

haha, no worries dude

check out this thread

Myka Guitars built his own bridge in this thread, 6th page i believe, its worth checking out, plus its cram packed with pics and info!

Curtis

[Curtis P]

its pretty simple to understand, if you have used torches before

you take a carborising flame, and you go over the work until it is red hot, then you take away the flame and dunk your work into a pail of oil, stand back, i have seen the oil catch on fire before, and its hard to get out, if your using a carbon rich steel, then it will go insanely hard, i have made a punch (on a lathe, needle point) hardened the tip, and punched through sheet metal for fun, the tip was needle point and it didnt bend, break, or go blunt,

but I would use Myka's way, and that is a a very beautiful guitar he has built

Curtis

[kenneth_b]

You can heat the steel in an electric kiln, if you want. The flame is not adding carbon or anything. Heat the steel until it becomes non-magnetic, checking with one of those shirt pocket - pen shaped - magnets. The quenching oil should be heated to 180 degrees or so, if we're talking about simple steels here. Hold the steel with tongs and keep it moving in the oil. And have a lid handy in case you have a fire. Then you need to temper the hardend steel, which you can do in your kitchen oven (if your family won't mind the stink of the burning oil). Before tempering, it will be brittle as hell.

You can buy air hardening steel, which hardens without the oil quench...A2, A6, etc.

I'd suggest using 1095 or 0-1, which you can buy all over the place. Starret sells nice stock, as do the knife making supply houses: Janz, Texas knife Maker Supply, etc.

I think gun-bluing would be a kick-ass finish for guitar hardware.

[KeithHowell]

What oil is recommended?

My father, who is a blacksmith by trade, says that in the old days the best oil he used was whale oil!

Keith

[Hotrock]

Before tempering, it will be brittle as hell.

Marsenitic, some might say

[Devon Headen]

I use used motor oil. I'm also experimenting with waste oil burners for a furnace, so the oil is getting harder to come by . How brittle the metal gets depends on the carbon content, too. I only had mild steel for my punches when I started, so I annealed the back and hardened the front with no tempering. Hasn't broken on me yet, and it has had its fair share of beating.