Screwed it up pretty good yesterday.
I was drilling for the ground wire between the bridge and the control cavity, and went trhough the back. I had plotted it out pretty well on paper, so I'm guessing the drill bit flexed in the hole and took a turn downward.
I probably could have patched it, but I never would have been happy with it.
Thought about doing an inlay, but who inlays the back of a guitar?
People who screw up the back, that's who.
So what is something that is commonly seen on the back of a guitar?
A control cover
So I routed it for a battery compartment cover
There won't actually be a battery, or even a cavity, so it is just a dummy cover, but it is much more appropriate than an inlay.
Why, you ask?
Have a look under the cover:
Dummy Cover
And who knows, maybe someday I will want to install a preamp.
Anyhoo.. I also got more work done on the bridge:
bottom
It is basically two pieces of wood. The first ( top pic ) is the main body which holds the saddles, and in which the strings are anchored.
The second ( link ) is a cap that covers the heads of the allen bolts, thus holding them captive, eliminating the need for springs.
The four big holes along the bottom of the cap are just for the screws that hold it to the main body.
The eight holes above them are for inserting an allen key to adjust the saddles. ( intonation )
Above that, recessed into the main body, are the holes for the strings. Next step is to put a thin copper plate in there with a ground wire soldered to it, which will go down thru a hole in the bottom of the bridge, into the hole I srewed up earlier.
The whole unit is height adjustable via 4 bolts, here is a cross section , front to back, showing how this works:
detail
The bridge is height adjustable, as a whole unit, basically suspended between the two pairs of bolts in stepped holes. The ones in the back hold it down, while the ones in the front hold it up, as the strings attempt to torque the whole thing forward. The tapered backs of the flathead bolds and the round tops of the roundhead bolts engaged in the ledge created by the stepped holes allow it to pivot.
In addition the front of the bridge bears against the wall of the cavity in the body it is recessed into.
Edit: changed extra pics to links