RonMay

You're right. I also got that from RSW videos. He said that every file is not straigt. So, I looked and yup. I already radius the ends. When I looked at the StewMac product it showed it rounded and it made sense so as not to catch the edge of the fret. Sorry for the poor picture. The camera on my phone has a mind of it's own sometimes. This was a good reminder for me. Had I not already done it, I easily could have missed that little detail. Thanks. @Bizman62.

I am making a "file handle" for the bastard file. I've cut it down and I will mount this wood handle to it for leveling the frets when that time comes. I'm still working on it, but I have finished the "hand hold". I sanded it down and put an instant coffee stain then I sprayed clear coat on it. ( 6 or 7 coats) I even filed and sanded a thumb slot for grip and comfort . I'll attach the file to the bottom of it. This is what it looked like before. StewMac sells this size for $50. Mine cost me $7.50. (the wood was free from Lowe's ) Ron

Yep, @Bizman62 . It seemed to work like a charm. I had some squeeze out on the back as well as the front, so I'm pretty confident the brace is fixed for another 50 yrs. I have used a lot of what I learned from the RSW videos. I also saw him using an artist brush to kind of work it into the gap, plus, working the brace a little up and down to kind of "pump' the glue around. I'm making progress, all be it slowly, but it's getting done. Ron

I used a clamp to the outside so that the gluing braces I made out of bamboo would not push up the guitar at the corner and create another problem, like I need any more. Then I dry fit the bamboo to make the plan of how to get them in and how to get the glue in would work. I was using the endoscope to see what I was doing. I wet a brush with water and went along the crack to help the glue flow in there, then proceeded to apply the glue from the bottle to kind of "force" it in. I braced it up with the bamboo and did a little clean up with a damp artist brush. Now it's wait and see if it worked. *note to self, do not knock on wood for luck* Ron

Thanks @Bizman62. you're absolutely right. Those are great tips and pretty much what I'll do. Have you had any experience with the man made ivory called "Tusq" ? Randy Schartiger, did the drop test using a bone vs. tusq and then a demonstration playing both. The drop test starts about 4:15 or so. But just to get a bridge placed and glued I think I'll take your advise and use a cheap bone saddle for intonation and positioning and figure out a final saddle later. I know about the stink. I worked on a ranch and I usually got the smokey end of the calf during branding and burnt bone also smells very similar to that. Thanks again amigo, you've always been a big help and I appreciate it. Ron

The ordered bridges have arrived a little early today. This is the "top loaded or pass through" bridge. I'm leaning towards the ovation style. I don't want to drill holes and that could be just one more variance that could go wrong. I've been looking online for a saddle all afternoon and my mind is blown mush right about now. The saddle has to fit the slot snugly on all all sides plus not be too short or too tall with out having to do a lot of sanding work to make it fit, and there are a kazillion saddles to choose from. I've heard that antler is the best, the next being bone, then micarta a plastic, which is usually found on cheaper guitars, as well as other plastics. Some are compensated and some are not. To make things even more complicated, some of the dimensions are in inch decimals, inch fractions, and metric. So, I'm constantly finding out the equivalent inch decimal for the saddle I'm looking at, which for me, is more accurate and easier to understand. I'm wondering what would be better. A compensated or a non compensated one. The length , I'm guessing, should have a radius from end to end. The original saddle was not compensated but did have a length wise radius. Just for grins I measured the "scale" of the neck at the 12th fret and doubled that to find the approximate location of the bridge / saddle. The old one was about a whole 1/8 flat where it used to be. No wonder it was always hard to keep in tune. Right now, I'm just letting my brain rest. Ron

Today I converted a tailpiece I found on Ebay ($5) to slip over the strap button for when I get to the intonation process. It had some tiny holes but I drilled out the bottom one and dremel'd a triangle so it would fit over the strap button. I think it's going to work just fine. Ron

Zule ( Ghostbusters) Ron

Now that you mention it............. Ron

It looks great. It looks like there's fire under the strings. Ron

Either way I go, I will have to plug the bolt holes with a dowel pin. I feel that two open holes in the bridge plate and sound board are a weak point waiting for a crack to form when string tension stress is added to them. Ron

Thank you @Andyjr1515. The bridge plate is solid. As you say, I don't really think, it will be a problem. Ron

I sure do. I too am leaning right now towards keeping the original idea and design over changing it to pinned. it would also be a lot more straight forward to putting it on. But I'll see when they both get here. I do appreciate your input, thanks. Ron

I just ordered both and I'll make my judgement call when I can compare them in person. I can return the one I don't use. Thanks again for your help. @Bizman62. Ron

I agree. As far as I know it lasted about 25+ years or so glued and bolted. I'm not going to use the screws. I just want Titebond glue original under it and on the sound board. One good thing is that either one is larger than the footprint of the original which will help cover the scar of taking it off. The top load bridge is .344" wider and .063" longer, and the pinned bridge is ..280" wider and .125" longer. Both are a little wider than the bridge plate, which makes me wonder if that might facilitate a belly bulge. Right now there's very little to none between the bridge and sound hole or the lower bout between the bridge and the bottom. Of course the scale measurement would give me a overall idea of placement and overhang and intonation would tell me exactly how much it might extend beyond the bridge plate. I don't know if that is a big concern or not. Removing the plate and gluing in a new one might be beyond my skill level. I don't know how difficult is it to replace. I imagine it's not easy to get the old one off. Ron

Is there a general agreement among luthiers which design is better. (pin less or pinned) ? Ron

When I first contacted him about a couple of months ago, he said, or his office person, said that he's not taking any new work because of the huge back log of customers. Thanks @Bizman62, for the reminder of that link. When I looked the "Top Load Rosewood" bridge looked promising, but I was not sure about going with top load or pin holes. I am thinking about converting the original style of top load through bridge to a pinned one. At that time though there were a lot of things to fix before I got to that point. As it is I think the GB-2866-0R0 would work very close for my application. It looks like an ovation bridge design. I have been looking for a pinned one with those same dimensions and there is one the GB-J29-R that might work. Maybe I should order both to give some comparison and send the one that works least back. I saw one on an RSW video on an Ovation ,that had broken right at the spot where the thickness of the entering string hole and the exit at the saddle side just broke out. He said something about that being a poor design and probably was not enough wall thickness with that much string stress pull to withstand. Thank you for reminding me of this link. I had bookmarked it but had overlooked it until now. Again, thank you. Ron

@ADFinlayson, you're doing a great job. I could do better than that "luthier". Not only did he not trim the fret tang to give clearance for the binding, but he glued it in. What trained and experienced luthier glues frets in? If that luthier is not busy, I have a side of beef I would like cut to order. Ron

The way I understand it, and I could be wrong, but the nut has very little to do with intonation, but where the scale starts and it ends at the saddle. If the string is leaving the nut as close to the front as possible, then that's where the intonation begins. You can't move it and it is what it is. The only things you can do with a nut is to relief the back to provide string clearance to insure that there's no buzz there and that the string leaves it as close to the front as possible . And that the string depth is not too deep or is too narrow causing pinching of the string. If a string is pinched by the nut, it's possible that after tuning the guitar to pitch it could "jump" or relieve the tension, causing the tuning to change when you start playing the guitar. The bridge and saddle location is movable. So, if it can't stay in tune or your intonation is wrong, then you have to move or fine tune the bridge and saddle position to adjust the intonation. If at the 12th fret it's sharp the saddle has to be be moved in a direction away from the nut. If it's flat, then the saddle has to be moved closer to the nut. If it's a full tone off, then your fret scale is not the correct one for the bridge and saddle position that is currently on the guitar. It would be a good idea to try with another tuner just to eliminate the equation of a bad tuner giving a false reading. I could be totally wrong, but that's the way I understand intonation. It would be nice to have some feed back form the OP in order to give a better evaluation of the actual problem. Ron

Does anyone know of a person or place that can make a bridge like this? I'm wanting to change to pinned in stead of pinless. Thanks Ron

I was able to piece the bridge together so I could trace it on some paper, scan it and be able to send that PDF file to someone maybe to make it. Seeing how thin it is between the hole part and the saddle part it's a wonder it lasted the couple of decades it did before it gave way. Bridge Diagram for actual size .pdf

Bizman62, he is a great teacher. There are many videos of how to fix guitars, but Jerry Rosa tells you why as well as how. Thank you. Ron

You're right about that. This is the first and probably only time I will do this. I was as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Thank you. Ron

Today I'm removing the bridge. I'll use a small hot iron which I will hold on top along with a removal tool sort of under it to heat both up around the same time. I made the removal tool out of a putty knife. I narrowed for the forward part of the knife and rounded the end with a fairly sharp edge. I will use the iron as it's heating up the bridge to also heat the knife. I am using the iron to heat up the bridge so that the glue under it will soften and using the knife slowly work it side to side and forward and back and just move it around to help the softer glue release it's hold on the bridge. The cardboard is to protect the finish around the bridge Then I work the knife to help loosen the glue and slowly one little part at a time help the bridge separate from the soundboard. The removed bridge. The black is a part where the bridge used to be is part of the removed bridge, for what ever reason, would not let go when the rest of it did. I'm removing what's left of the bridge from the sound board, but I've gone about as far as I can go until I know what the shape and size of the replacement bridge will be. All in all it went pretty well. I wish it came off cleaner but it is what it is. It doesn't happen this way in the all the block buster movies though. Ron

I didn't know Greece was so green. And your thinking "Greece, what's this have to do with Greece?" Well, it's Greek to me. Looks complicated. Total respect for anyone who can understand that so this. Ron