intial set up on a new guitar

[Mitch]

Hi John,

Very timely post.

I'm confused about the two pictures showing the clearance between the bridge and the fret plane. In the first you show a 3/32" clearance with a drill bit and in the second pic you show a smaller clearance with 0.025" wood shim. What changed between those two pictures?

When you say "I want about 3/32 at the treble side of center.", do you mean over the hole for the third string. With the straightedge following the line of the 3rd string?

Thanks again for sharing all this info.

Mitch

[tippie53]

the wood shim is the first measurement and the corrected height is with the drill bit. The key here is that you have to set the angle up and it is best to do it now . You can make finite adjustments with the bridge by taking a little off the bottom.
The point I use to measure is about the center of the bridge to the 3rd string. The bridge should also have a radius but slightly canted to the fretboard so the saddle is more evenly expose from the bridge. If the bridge radius is on the same plane as the fretboard your saddle will look higher on the bass side than the treble.

the posting of pics if backwards , what I posted first is on the bottom

[Mitch]

>and the corrected height is with the drill bit.

I'm a little confused because the Cory ebook and the stew Mac directions both say the clearance should be less than 1/32. Is the discrepancy in clearance (3/32" vs. <1/32") a difference in techniques, or a difference in how to take the measurement? We're only talking a 1/16" but I'd like to understand as much as possible before attaching the bridge.

Thanks,

Mitch

[tippie53]

3/32 is where I do it. If you go too low you will be short on saddle and you don't want to go over 3/32.
when you look at a bridge the radius us tapered and you can find this measurement on the bass E string , it may be 1/16 .
Stew mac building doesn't translate well to the Martin styles the side geometry is different.
in the end you want to see 1/2 inch of string clearance on the top in front of the bridge. On initial set up you may see .560 but the top will come up in about a week and the set up on day one will have to be tweaked in about 5 to 10 days.

there is a tolerance so you have a little window so 1/16 to 3/32 will work. you are talking .030in.
after 10 years I can say it is a guess on what the top will do. The lighter you build the more the top may rise. A good point that you bring up is that I don't think I mentioned this is a scalloped top and that will move more than a non scalloped.
There I would shoot for the 1/16

[jbutler]

John,
When you say:
"I also use a slightly smaller radius than the fretboard do the ends of the fretboard are clean and tite to the top. I use a 14 in radius on the extension."

Are you saying you level the frets using a radius block to (maybe) a 15" from the 16" radius on the fretboard and a 14" on the extension part of the fretboard? Please clarify.
Thanks,
John Butler

[tippie53]

What I meant there is when I go to glue this extension on the top , I use a shorter radius block so the ends are squeezed on the top. That closes the joint better.
I don't change the fretboard radius just the gluing cawl

[jbutler]

Thanks John for clarifying! It now makes sense.
John

[Mitch]

I've measured the bridge position 8 ways to Sunday and am happy with its location. Except, that the two outer strings are not parallel to the fretboard edge. On the bass side it's hardly noticeable, with the gap going from 4/32 to 5/32 at the 1st and 14 the frets respectively. On the treble side the non-parallelism was noticeable (which prompted me to even measure it) with the gap growing from 3/32 to 5.5/32.

I remeasured the width of the fretboard at the 12th fret and it was 1/16" narrower than the plans.

I don't have another guitar to compare this to, so maybe the distance from the string to the fretboard edge should be a bit wider at the middle of the neck?

Is this a problem?

Mitch

[tippie53]

the string tapers into the neck as it goes down along the edge that is normal

[Gerry]

John,
Since this is my first guitar, I didn't scallop the braces. You recommend that the fret plane be 1/16 above the bridge if the braces aren't scalloped. Should there be an adjustment in the distance between the nut and the bridge for unscalloped braces?
Thanks,
Gerry