Official Luthiers Forum!

I made a bunch of bridge Blanks this morning. From left to right, the first one is unknown wood. The next 3 are Brazilian rosewood and the last 4 are macassar ebony. Next I'll shape them and store them for future guitars.

_________________
Hutch

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

Is the mystery wood padauk?

Good goin!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars

That's my guess as well. It has a nice ring to it.

_________________
Hutch

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

After posting this pic on FB, friends and family think I'm some kind of genius. It's amazing

_________________
Hutch

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

When I used to rock climb I had completed many 5.12+ rated routes. At one point in time that was world class. In my time it was intermediate class. However, to the other 99.9% of the world who had no idea about rock climbing I was spiderman.

Just remember you’re always somebody’s hero.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars

Made some bridge making jigs yesterday. I'm waiting for a bottom bearing router bit now. The robo sander in the drill press is too slow.

_________________
Hutch

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

My practice bridge blank. Good enough to use one day. I used a cheap router bit for the wings and it worked great.

I noticed the holes are not in line perfectly. I have the stewmac template but it must have moved while making the punch marks. Somehow, I didn't catch it. I'm going to make a drill guide for it





I need to do a little more work on this jig to get the whole thing in one shot by moving the clamp/clamps.

_________________
Hutch

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

Do you cut both wings with the same direction bit?

Sent from my SM-A526B using Tapatalk

_________________
Pat

I flipped it end for end.

_________________
Hutch

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

Another way to cut the wings is with a belt sander jig like the one pictured here to thicknesses a headstock. That’s what I eventually gravitated to.

IMG_3860 by Terence Kennedy, on Flickr

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Yep. That's what I use.

+1

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Yup. pretty much what I do.

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

The router works perfect fir the bridge but I'd like to use my belt sander for the back of the peghead as Terrance shows. I can't tell how you adjust that thing from the photo. Could you please explain?

_________________
Hutch

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

That is not my jig, but this is how I do it on a similar belt sander jig.
Slide either the jig or the sander for rough adjustment, and use .019" veneer shims, on the bed of the jig, for finer adjustments. I also keep a few plastic dealer car tags around, to use as a little thicker shim. They are usually about .030" thick and free at your local car dealer. You can cut them to shape with scissors .
Cardboard, from cereal boxes, also works great as shims.

My jig is on a hinge and adjustment is via a 1/2” threaded rod. I’ll take pictures when I get home. One thing I did was sand a second board flat with the jig and attach it to the movable board to insure everything was co-planar. You can see it in the picture.

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I like that!! Thanks

_________________
Hutch

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

Here's a picture of my rig. 1/2" threaded rod that fits into a pivoting support for the adjustable hinged sanding support. I put wing nuts on to lock it in position but rarely use them to lock it. It stays put quite well at the adjusted setting when sanding.

IMG_9325 by Terence Kennedy, on Flickr

IMG_9328 by Terence Kennedy, on Flickr

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Another take on an adjustable table for a belt sander. Structure looks a bit odd because it started out on a 4" x 36" sander before being moved to this 6" x 48" sander. Higher quality turnbuckle for adjustment has no slop, provides small increments and does not need to be locked.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

We used something similar to Mr. Smith's 6 x 48 inch belt sander jig for tapering head stocks as seen on some older Gibson and Epiphone instruments, and there are a few things of note for use with bridge wings:

- The radius cut will be the outside radius of the abrasive riding on the idler roller, so likely greater than the 1" seen on Martin and some other brands
of guitars

- There is a slight crown on the idler roller necessary for tracking control, so for something like a peg head, this can generate a noticeably thinner center than edges (0.010"-0.015" on the Rockwell unit at Greenridge) which required a bit of cleanup by working the peg head across the table width. For bridge wings, I doubt this would be noticeable over the ~1" width. The heavier the backing and newer the belt, the less stretch and variation from the centerline radius, so a good excuse to change the belt for a fresh one.

-Another advantage of the 6" x 48" belt sander is that a few fine tip marker lines on the bed of the jig is all that is needed to keep the work square to the idler roller. This ease of keeping things square is in contrast to a drill press drum sanding jig or oscillating spindle sander, where an edge reference surface must be used, making pre-shaping of the bridge planview inadvisable on all but rectangular bridges.

For work that requires a smaller radius, a sanding drum in a drill press or (much better) an oscillating spindle sander allows choice of wing radius at the cost of altering the order of build for the bridge (planview trim AFTER bridge wing tapering and top profile radius). The sanding drum method works, but any run-out in the drum makes for slow going and scraper rework after rough milling. Also, most drill presses are really not intended to take lateral loads at the end of something like a sanding drum, while a spindle sander is designed for that use case.

_________________
For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

I'm now making a hole jig out of maple. It's a bear to get these holes right in wood, I think metal would be easier but I don't have any. I'm considering adding metal pipe into this block, the holes look good.

_________________
Hutch

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