Bridge Clamp

Storebought or Homemade: Tell Us!
ruby@magpage.com
Posts: 1564
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 8:03 am
Location: Chestertown Maryland

Re: Bridge Clamp

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

Hesh Breakstone is a recently retired tech with Ann Arbor Guitars. He was quite prolific and shared all of the techniques used in the shop, and the shop was VERY busy and had to have all their ducks in a row.

He always used Hot Hide Glue for bridges, and it needs to be clamped very quickly. He used these with the little leg in the middle:

https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/T ... 9TEALw_wcB

And set everything up and clamped the bridge dry - then just opened the clamps, applied the glue, and tightened the clamps. I wanted to try this but these clamps are pretty outrageously priced, so I got some deep throat C-clamps form Horror Freight for $4 on sale, taped a piece of wood the right thickness in the center of the arm, and did the same thing. I still used the home made fox clamp with the 2 bolts with paste wax on the threads to line it up and hold it in place, but I added 3 of the H-F clamps.

Ed
Ed M
tippie53
Posts: 7011
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:09 pm
Location: Hegins, Pa
Contact:

Re: Bridge Clamp

Post by tippie53 »

agree using HHG on bridges
you will be surprised how fast you can learn to clamp .
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
PSmill
Posts: 111
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2018 12:23 pm
Location: British Columbia, Canada

Re: Bridge Clamp size

Post by PSmill »

Hi, I'm looking at the Lee Valley bridge clamps, for a OOO body would I use the 8" and not the 6 1/4"? Tnx.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.a ... ,250,76068
MaineGeezer
Posts: 1711
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:14 pm

Re: Bridge Clamp

Post by MaineGeezer »

Ed -- thanks for calling attention to those StewMac clamps with the intermediate clamping screw. It appears that one uses that screw to hold the clamp in the proper position while one applies glue, then all one has to do is set the bridge in place and tighten the end screw of the clamp that is already pre-positioned where it needs to be ... is that correct?
Don't believe everything you know.
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
When things are bad, try not to make them any worse, because it is quite likely they are bad enough already. - French Foreign Legion
ruby@magpage.com
Posts: 1564
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 8:03 am
Location: Chestertown Maryland

Re: Bridge Clamp

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

Fit your caul inside, then tape it in place with a couple of long pieces of tape. Adjust the bottom screw on the clamp so the clamp clears any braces in the way. Adjust the upper screw so it holds down the bridge using whatever caul. Adjust the extra leg so it touches the top. Do it again for more clamps. Once your dry run is done, just back off the the upper screws, glue up your bridge, stick it on the top andtighten the screws on the clamps.

I do the same thing with cheap Horror Freight clamps by fitting a piece of wood the right thickness under the upper clamp leg so that it suspends the screw end ready to put the bridge under.

Ed
Ed M
Post Reply