bridge not centered on fretboard centerline

[digrox]

Hi all--

Ugh. I'm learning-- next time, I do the final installation of the neck BEFORE gluing the bridge. I apparently did a poor job in centering the bridge on the fingerboard centerline before finishing, and didn't notice in time to do anything about it while it would've been easy. (The body and neck are both finished now.) The result is what you see here-- note the off-center E strings. The bridge is glued in place and the bridge pin holes are drilled, but the bolt-on neck is not glued and so is easily removable. The nut-saddle distance is about right, it's just the centering that's off.

Any thoughts on whether it would make the most sense to finesse the heel joint at this point to re-center things? Maybe this issue is just cosmetic, as long as that high E string is playable? Seems like any fix involving bridge placement-- like moving the bridge-- would've been easy before it was glued down (of course!), but now would be a bear.

If nothing else, my many mistakes have definitely been learning experiences. :) (This is my first kit guitar, a 0000/M.)

Thanks for any suggestions,
Kevin

[Ken Hundley]

No one will ever notice. String it up and be happy.

[tippie53]

You have a few options
1 pop off the bridge
plug the holes in the plate and top and make a bridge with offset holes.
2 take off the neck and center the neck to the bridge

3 slot the saddle

4 play it as is

5 show it off in the dark

Personally , if the guitar plays as is , go for it if not you would be best to remake a bridge .

[darren]

slot the bridge to adjust your string spacing.

[digrox]

Thanks for the ideas. Last night I loosened the neck bolts and re-aligned the neck (while loose) centered on the bridge, to see how much of an adjustment would be required. It looks like about 0.02" needs to come off the bass cheek (that's at the top, less at the bottom) for proper alignment, resulting in a decrease of about 0.01" in the nut-to-bridge distance. I think this will be doable.

Hopefully then I can show it off in at least dim light. :)

Interesting ideas about slotting the saddle or using angled-to-the-side ramps in the bridge. Are saddles ever slotted in normal use (that is, not to correct a mistake)?

Kevin

[darren]

As John would say it's not a mistake it's a design enhancement.

By the way from what we can see looks like you did a nice job. Good clean purfling lines on the binding and rosette.

[digrox]

Thanks. The binding/purfling on the sides turned out nicely-- better than I expected for my first try. Bosch Colt + the KMG attachment worked like champs. The rosette was a little gappy at first-- the channel was routed a little bit big and then I didn't use a water-based glue that would've swelled the rosette to close the gaps... but I filled the gaps later with clear stick shellac, and after finishing they're invisible!

The neck joint (as you can see) has given me fits... but I'm closing in on it.