Solo Bridge Clamp

[Stray Feathers]

I found a bridge clamp at a reasonable price ($15.95 CAD) on the Solo Guitars web site and thought I would give it a try. It's a simple design and I now see the same thing on Amazon. The short story is that it works well. There is one small hitch I discovered: The allen-head bolts provided with it are nominally 3/16", but they are actually slightly larger, so they don't go through 3/16" bridge pin holes. These bolts are 0.188 to 0.192" in diameter. Other 3/16" machine screws I had in the shop are 0.182", and the 3/16" drill bits I checked are 0.185 to 0.186". I used a pin reamer to enlarge the two guide holes in the bridge and bridge plate, but I was getting close to making them too big for bridge pins. They don't seem to be metric. So I will look for other bolts and wing nuts of a better size. Otherwise it is much more convenient than assorted clamps and trying to hold a bridge plate-sized caul on the inside of a guitar while you set the clamps. Solo is good to deal with and you can choose CAD or USD pricing on the web site. (Unable to upload image for some reason). Bruce W.

https://www.solomusicgear.com/product/s ... dge-clamp/

[Tomcat]

Here's a pic from your site, in use.

[Tomcat]

I see it sitting there on top of the bridge, but how does it actually attach to hold it down? The description didn't make it clear.

[Daver7]

I believe the wing nuts are threaded onto a small machine screw that goes through the holes for the E strings.
The machine screws would go in from the inside of the guitar.
Hope that helps

[Stray Feathers]

Thanks--that's correct. The Allen-head bolts are meant to go up through the bridge plate and bridge from the underside. The bolt heads and washers are a little on the small side and could be upgraded. It's possible for the bolts to get glued in place, but an Allen wrench is provided, and it is less trouble than I thought to get inside the guitar and free up a glued bolt with the wrench. It also occurred to me you could put the bolt in from the bridge side, and tighten the wing nuts by feel inside the body of the guitar. That would make it easier to free up a glued-in bolt from the outside with the Allen wrench. You can also wax the bolts before putting them in the holes. It all seems to work well, with a nice even squeeze-out of glue all around when tightening it up, and easier wipe-up with a wet rag with no clamps in the way. Bruce W.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

this clamp is a copied version of the Fox clamp that LMI was selling years ago. I have it and use it. It is made of metal, probably aluminum, back anodized. The machine screws do go through from the top and wing nuts are applied inside. This can be tricky with large hands like I have and has to be done within a few short minutes before the glue begins to set up.

So what I've been doing lately is this.

The bridge has been pre-positioned before applying the finish using two brad nails through the saddle slot. So at the time for glue up I now position the bridge with the nails, then drill holes through the two E string pin holes. I apply the glue, insert the two machine screws, pull the nails out of the saddle slot. Now I use a cam clamp through the sound hole to clamp down on the center of the bridge, and then I screw down the outside wings using a small leather padded block under each screw and clamp the wings down. After about 5 min the squeeze out can be cleaned up.

I find this quicker and less stressful than reaching through the sound hole trying to get those wing nuts on.