first acoustic guitar build cont'd...need to buy a bridge

[beginner]

After countless days I finally have the finish satisfactory.
The fretboard, frets and neck look and feel nice.
Today I carefully aligned and glued the neck to the body....it's all clamped up, fingers crossed it will look ok tomorrow.

I need to install a bridge. I had a standard type of pinned 6 string ebony bridge all finished and looking pretty...however somehow I seem to have misplaced it. I spent hours looking for it to no avail. I don't think the pup took it but it seems to have disappeared.

I'll have to purchase another.

I did a brief internet search of Amazon, AllParts and eBay and found some examples of pinless top loading acoustic guitar bridges.... they look nice in the photos....as well as standard pin type bridges

Wondering if the pinless are as good or perhaps even better than the standard pinned type. Definitely don't want something that will impair the quality of the guitar as I put so much time and effort in this build.

The pinless bridges, if i understand the installation procedure, require bolts and screws in addition to clamping and glue. Not sure if that's a good thing or a less desirable consideration.

Are the Amazon or eBay bridges good quality or would you advocate a specific brand or manufacturer?

I would very much appreciate your help, suggestions, counsel.

[tippie53]

Not a fan . In 30 years of repairs I have seen few bolted on pinless bridges. Mechanical fasteners on guitars are inefficient. Gibson used screws on bridges and they failed just as often as not connected.
From an engineering point , your bridge will totally rely on the glue joint. On a pinned bridge , the strings are also secured by the ball end on the plate.
SO what does this mean???? On a pinless bridge you don't get the full exchange of energy as you do from the pinned bridge. WHY????
OK it how the stresses are applied.
without getting too technical the physics of the energy transfer start at the ball end. So look at this fact. The only rotational force is from the downward push over the saddle , so we will have some compression in front of the bridge and tensional forces behind. You would have a lot of math to figure out the centroid of the force and centroid of the stress. So all applied force is on the glue joint.

On a pinned bridge the force is applied differently. The ball end starts on the plate and continues over the saddle so in the end we have in a perfect world a string height of 1/2 in at the front of the bridge , now add the thickness of the top and plate we can say about .2 of an inch . That gives us just shy of 3/4 of an inch for the forces to apply. On a pinless you have less than 3/8. So now we have a stronger rotational force of the ball end pulling up , and the downward force at the saddle.
So this brings me to this point. The sound you get will be different. So it all depends on the sound you want. I feel a pinless bridge just doesn't have the punch of the Pinned.

One last point is that the amount of string pressure will be about the same just applied differently.

[beginner]

thank you, very grateful for the thoughtful and comprehensive comments...it helps a lot.

I'm focusing my search on on ebony pin type with 54mm string span and a 3mm wide route for the saddle.

I don't want to use a substandard part after so many months of hard work but I do feel a responsibility to be judicious and fiscally responsible in my expenditures. It's been a fun and educational project and I"m glad I have the opportunity to build a guitar......but i must admit it's been a bit more costly than I had imagined....this despite not owning or purchasing any electrical tools etc.


Does this seem to be a good/appropriate option....is there a better option?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LV ... DQG8&psc=1


thank you again, appreciate the help.

[rcnewcomb]

John,
Thanks for providing the explanation of the differences between pinned and pinless bridges. I found it very helpful.

[jread]

Very interesting, John. Thanks for sharing.

[beginner]

thank you....so i've got a new bridge. I've read 2 different sets of instructions....one states that the middle of the saddle at the midpoint between strings 3 and 4 should be set at two times the length from the nut to the 12th fret.

another set of instructions states that one must add 2.9mm or 7/64 inch to that measurement


I have seen 2 different saddles...one is a straight bar...and the other has some areas that are shelfed forward a bit....

i'm guessing that the straight bar type saddle would be best with the additional 7/64 inch placement
while the saddle with the extended shelf should be placed at only twice the distance from nut to 12th fret

is this correct? of should both types of saddles be placed at the same measured distance from the nut...and if so which?

appreciate the help. I really do try to research these matters prior to posting but I've not been able to answer this query.

[tippie53]

post pics of them
we can help you may need to call someone and I can help

[beginner]

thank you....appreciate your help.

I took photos on the guitar but they didn't come out great so I'm attaching links to the specific make and model of acoustic guitar saddles that i purchased and own.



https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.co ... tic+saddle

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096NDTB8D?re ... in_title_1


(the major reasons i'm asking is two fold....I want it to come out appropriately....and beginner's error ....when building the guitar I measured out 2 x the distance from nut to middle of 12th fret and masked that area off so it wouldn't get finish there for when i glue in the bridge.....but as it turns out It sounds like i should have added another few mm to this calculation....that means there will be an unfinished area evident....so another few weeks to try to finish and blend out the exposed area.

Learning a lot.

[tippie53]

martin style compensated saddle

[beginner]

thank you

should i add the additional 7/64 inch to two times the distance from nut to mid 12th fret
or
should i just fix the bridge at two times the distance from nut to mid 12th fret

appreciate the help