Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi all, wondering if anyone else sees a problem with the placement of the bridge plate on the stewmac herringbone plans? Seems like it is too close to the X, or too small because the belly of the bridge would overhang it by 1/4", and there is around 1/4" on the front side of where the bridge "should" be if the 14th fret is within 1/16 of the body. The fret scale is also not drawn accurately, and the bridge placement isn't right. I called them and they said I was the first person to ask about it, and that it was drawn off of a 60's D28 Herringbone. Insights?

The HD28 didn’t show up until 1976, right in the middle of what many consider to be the low water mark of Martin quality. Why SM elected to use that as the basis for their dreadnought plan is beyond me. Don’t trust anything about it. To add to your observations, the peghead angle on the StewMac plan is considerably less than the Martin standard 15 degrees.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

_________________
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Martin didn't use herringbone trim in the 60's. The herringbone trim was replaced with a simpler binding scheme in the 50's and didn't reappear I believe until the mid 70's (76 HD-28).

My understanding is this plan has been altered or made "generic" to avoid patent suits....

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Hi Justin,
I guess in our haste to mention that 60's herringbones are not a factory norm, we didn't answer your real question. You may find that most guitar plans are deficient in some aspects of accuracy. I only use them as a general guide and make adjustments as necessary. The older guitars had a smaller maple bridge plate which some prefer, but it should be fitted so the bridge pins pass through it. The newer guitars used a larger rosewood plate which was a little harder to miss. The Stew Mac plans do contain some useful general information and dimensioning, but the accuracy of the drawing is not the greatest.

Carefully lay out your bridge position, size your bridge plate to be 1/8' deeper than your bridge and center 1/16" over front and back. Good Luck!

Thanks for the input and replies folks!

Thanks for bringing this up.

I'm currently working on a Dred from the StewMac plans & assumed the bracing and bridge plate layout were accurate. In the past I've built OM's and L-00's from the Grellier plans and they were accurate.

I took a slotted fingerboard, put it on the drawing of the underside of the top and it definitely looks like the bridge plate needs to be moved down 1/8" or maybe a little more. I'll get a more accurate measurement later.

Now I need to remove the bridge plate , luckily the top is just braced and not even mounted to the rims.

Kevin Looker

_________________
I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Glad I could help!

Yep, its off... i realised this on my 2nd guitar, had to remove it and make and glue a new one with the top already glued on. Scary as hell for a noob.

_________________
www.leddingtonguitars.com

Here's a link to Frank Ford's site where he posted pics of Martin factory bracing from 1998.

Maybe the vintage instruments had smaller bridge plates but they definitely need to be moved lower than the Stew Mac plan.

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/History ... races.html

And here's a pic from the Martin factory I found on Wikipedia

_________________
I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Would you mind rewording that, I don't get it.

_________________
Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Basically what is being said is to make the bridge plate 1/8th inch wider than the bridge and place it so it overlaps the bridge position a 16th inch front and back.
Personally I would make it a 1/4 inch wider and let it overlap the bridge position 1/16th in the front and 3/16ths in the back. I also prefer maple for bridge plates for that type of guitar.

Thanks for the clarification Clay.

_________________
Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Yes, & Black Locust makes a fine bridge plate

I did some investigating this morning and sure enough, it's about 1/4" to far forward. I'm so glad you pointed it out but I have to say, If I built it to the plan, I don't think I would be too concerned. There's still plenty of plate for drilling.

_________________
Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!