Official Luthiers Forum!

Thought I'd post some photos of my bridge making process for your viewing pleasure. Just another way to skin this particular cat.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Into the saddle slotting jig.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Slot is routed. I do this in a few passes of increasing depth. I don't use the router base plunge. Too much slop. I tilt the base down in to plunge it.

I line up the bit with the slot marks by eye, tighten down the top part of the jig, then set the stops in place (again, using my eye to determine where the bit should stop at each end).

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

In this shot I use a ruler to show the back-tilt angle of the slot.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Now the bridge pin holes are drilled.

More to come...

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

That's a nicely illustrated process, Todd. Very clear and pretty simple, too. I am curious why you slant your saddle. Do you have a drill press jig to register your string peg holes, or do you just freehand that part to your marked peg locations?
Patrick

Thanks, Patrick.

Back-tilted saddle: Strings push saddle directly down to bottom of slot, rather than pulling saddle toward the front of the slot. Why? Bridge won't split, and undersaddle transducer response may be improved. Some claim acoustic response is improved, too -- jury still out on that, as far as I'm concerned.

Bridge pin holes: no jig. Mark locations, poke each spot with an awl, drill using brad point bit.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Okay, Todd. Makes sense to me. Thanks.
Patrick

Todd, thanks for this. What kind of pen, pencil, marker are you using here?
MM

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Mike McNerney

A mechanical pencil with a fine yellow lead. I think I got it from a quilter's supply or something like that.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Just when I thought I was looking at a stretch of days where I could make some good progress on the guitar this bridge is going on, something else has come up. A good thing: the opportunity to exhibit a few of my instruments in an art show to benefit the Community School of Music and Arts here in Ithaca.

http://www.arts4all.org/

http://www.artsforallmarathon.org/

Along with the instruments I'll be showing, I'll have a digital photo frame showing a repeating slide show of the construction of this guitar, and then, near the end of the six-week show, I'll exhibit the completed, or nearly completed, guitar in the flesh. Putting this show together is now eating up a ton of my time, so I have only a couple more photos of just a bit more progress on this bridge to show you right now.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

The ziricote bridge in the foreground, which is going on another guitar, shows you what I'm aiming for. The wings on that one are shorter, and the ends are angled differently, since it is going on a guitar with a different shape. I vary my bridge shape somewhat to visually integrate better with each guitar shape, as well as to work better structurally and acoustically -- longer bridge for a wider guitar.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Beautiful, Todd.

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Thanks, Max!

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Yo, Todd,
Very, very nice aesthetics in your design! Nice, subtle changes to suit each individual instrument. My sensibilities are wired up pretty much the same way. I strive for similar tweaks to each of my projects, but I am not so sure I achieve your outcomes. Regardless, your work is outstanding, and I'm glad you launched this thread. Carry on, and keep posting. I'll be watching.

Patrick

Thanks, Patrick!

Probably won't get back to this until sometime next week, now...

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Sanding to the outline on the belt sander and spindle sander. (How convenient that the curves at the top of the bridge match the radius of that spindle... )

Then contour lines are drawn on the outside edges to guide the next steps of shaping the bridge.

(I staged these sanding shots after having already drawn the contour lines, because I forgot to shoot them earlier.)

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Another shot showing the contour lines, then one of the bridge being shaped on the other belt sander.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Now here are two shots of the bridge after the rough shaping is done on the belt sander. The final shaping will be done with rasps, files, and sandpaper (using a variety of little sanding blocks). Even though it looks pretty close already, a lot of meticulous work goes into taking it from here to the completed bridge.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Thanks Todd, Nice work. It's always good to see how others do things...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

The bottom is marked for sanding the 28' radius, then sanded until all marks are gone.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

It is stuck on this block with double-sided tape, then meticulously, painstakingly, time-consumingly carved.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Then the pin holes are chamfered using Stew Mac's nifty bit.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

And, finally, it is meticulously, painstakingly, time-consumingly sanded and polished until it looks like this. And that's it.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Really enjoyed that, Todd. What is the back-angle on that slot? Do you think it could be achieved by just shimming an appropriate thickness under the front edge rail of a router jig? I would like to try the angled slot but don't want to make a new slotting jig. Thanks for showing it and enjoy your exhibition!