Official Luthiers Forum!

All these guitars from the late 50's through the 60"s all suffer from the tension on the bridge pulling up the top. Just curious, any idea why this is ( i think they are ladder braced) and also, is there a fix?

I reset a bridge on one of mine (new rosewood) and that is fine, but the pull up is a killer. THX

I'm not actually familiar with these, but what I can tell you is that the amount of stress on the back of the bridge or more how it concentrates at the back of the bridge is relational to the bracing pattern and it's location with respect to the bridge.
So, there may be something inherent about that particular bracing pattern over time.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

drusso have you taken a look inside the box?  It's possible you may have a loose brace.  

I mis-read the post, I thought that it was problems with the back of the bridge lifting, sorry bout that.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Thanks I will double check the braces, but I think that it was such a standard problem that it is a design issue. Just made me think as the problem runs through so many years one woudl think that Gibson would have fixed it -- unless the problem took many years to show up.

 

Dennis

Definitely check for loose braces. I have a '65 with the plastic bridge, the one that's screwed on. The top was bellied and when I started checking inside the box I found a very poor repair of a loose brace and an added brace (and lots and lots of epoxy).

I'm no expert for sure, but I suspect these things can't handle very heavy strings, and I probably used mediums on it back before I knew what ladder bracing was. I think the top starts to deform a bit, a brace pops loose and then the top deforms a lot and the bridge starts to separate.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Also keep in mind these things weren't designed for 40 years down the road. These were meant to be beginners' instruments and ladder bracing is less labor intensive than X- bracing.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR