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I'm a bit of a woodworker, but not a luthier (although I aspire). My neighbor has an Ovation that is pretty busted up and he asked if I could help him repair the top and replace the bridge. How carefully does the bridge have to be placed? In other words, what is the tolerance on the placement? plus or minus 0.050? 0.005? I would hate to glue this up and find out we blew up the tonation of the guitar. Thanks in advance.

-Michael

You'll need to get this pretty close.

You can start by measuring from the nut to the center of the 12th fret. Double that measurement, then add compensation.

compensation can vary, but you'll get close by adding 1/16th to the treble side and 3/16ths to the Bass side.

There are tools for this too. stewmac.com has a saddlematic, which I use along with measuring too. They also have a tool I've not used with adjustable individual pieces for each string.

Then there are the through the bridge pin hollow bolts they offer. This might be just the ticket here, String it up but not glue it, adjust the compensation of the saddle in the bridge and determine your bridge location.

My guess is that the original top will tell you exactly where Ovation had it, and putting it there will likely be close to accurate. Good luck. Add some pics and maybe folks can make suggestions as you go.

Cumpiano's book would be a great place to start too, or Dick Boak's guide that comes with Martin Kits. You might could find copies of those fairly easy.

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No need to study string physics as long as the old bridge and saddle are there to measure. Get it to within a 64th and you'll be fine.

Hi Grumpy, Welcome back. You been snowmobiling?

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Grumpy x 4

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