Bridge removal

[LaurentB]

Hi everyone,

It's been a time since I posted here after my Stewmac kit guitar was finished.

I have another project now:

I recently bought a 40 year old Yamaha FG-230 12 string for little money; It sounds great, but I had spotted the small gap at the back of the bridge however, so that obviously had to be reglued, and I liked undertaking a project like this.

However, after having removed the bridge, it has become apparent that actually not the glue but a layer of the wood had come loose as well:

http://iplayguitaronline.files.wordpres ... moval2.jpg

I wondered how to repair this, any suggestions?

Laurent

[tippie53]

make a plastic plate or at least a wood one with a wax paper separator. work glue well into the separation. Here the best glue would be Hot Hide or fish glue as it can be made to be thin to really soak in. If you use tite bond ORIGINAL work the glue well into the layer of wood and use a thin knife.
Also make a cawl to fit under the top and clamp. This will flatten the top . Once you have that done you can assess the top. If you need to do more you can then rout the top under the bridge to good wood and place a filler.

[LaurentB]

make a plastic plate or at least a wood one with a wax paper separator. work glue well into the separation. Here the best glue would be Hot Hide or fish glue as it can be made to be thin to really soak in. If you use tite bond ORIGINAL work the glue well into the layer of wood and use a thin knife.
Also make a cawl to fit under the top and clamp. This will flatten the top . Once you have that done you can assess the top. If you need to do more you can then rout the top under the bridge to good wood and place a filler.

Thanks for your quick reply!

I don't quite understand the last sentence though: "If you need to do more you can then rout the top under the bridge to good wood and place a filler."

You mean if I'd have to remove the loose part of wood? And with what do I fill it then, with another piece of wood?

[Ben-Had]

make a plastic plate or at least a wood one with a wax paper separator. work glue well into the separation. Here the best glue would be Hot Hide or fish glue as it can be made to be thin to really soak in. If you use tite bond ORIGINAL work the glue well into the layer of wood and use a thin knife.
Also make a cawl to fit under the top and clamp. This will flatten the top . Once you have that done you can assess the top. If you need to do more you can then rout the top under the bridge to good wood and place a filler.

Thanks for your quick reply!

I don't quite understand the last sentence though: "If you need to do more you can then rout the top under the bridge to good wood and place a filler."

You mean if I'd have to remove the loose part of wood? And with what do I fill it then, with another piece of wood?

It's unlikely you'll need to do that if you follow John's instructions. I just completed a similar repair on a Yamaha and it flattened out perfectly and I have done several others the same way on Yamaha's with laminated tops without having to shave the top at all. If after you remove the clamps and cauls it is NOT flat with the rest of the top revisit his instructions on that part.

[tippie53]

sometimes the area is so bad you need to rout some under the bridge and glue in a new piece of spruce to make a solid footing for the bridge

[LaurentB]

Ah, I understand what you mean now, thanks!

[tippie53]

you are most welcome

[LaurentB]

Ok, I ran into a problem: because this bridge has kind of a slanted top, clamping makes it slide forward after I've glued it to the top. Had to remove the bridge AGAIN :-(

Any good tricks to prevent this from happening? I was thinking of putting some bridge pins in through the holes, but wouldn't they get glued tight as well then? I have some old ugly ones, perhaps I could use those and drill them out later?

[sylvan]

Hot hide glue does not creep like Titebond and other PVA's. A little harder to use but it is well worth it!

[Ben-Had]

A setup like this will work.