David Ross David Ross Musical Instruments
Forum Replies Created
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Do you have some pictures perhaps?
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Hey folks, I’m making this message a few days after my last to see if anyone has further insights. Here’s where I’m at with it. I’ve continued to work on the guitar and I got the underside of the bridge surface to be completely flat. I began sanding/chiseling the guitar top where the bridge lays and I think the best course of action at the moment is to mechanically remove the finish/glue. By the way, I was thinking that the glue was epoxy, I’m now considering that it’s in fact super glue. Anyway, the finish is quite thick where the bridge lays and I think that in order to remove it by hand I would be spending an enormous amount of time doing it. My concern though is that the Dremel/router method runs the risk of chipping the finish, which would open a whole other can of worms, one which I’m not set up to deal with. I’m thinking of informing the customer of my progress, letting him know of some other concerns that could and perhaps should be addressed (bridge plate), and also letting him know that there is the risk of the finish being damaged and the possibility of a partial refinish. Hope to here from you all again, perhaps from @Riley_guitars or @patreon_94549210 or someone new would be welcome as well. Thank you!
-David
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Last pictures the night, this will need to be addressed. The bridge plate and bridge pins are both fairly chewed up, I’m guessing replacement bridge pins at the very least or more ideally, new pins and a bridge plate repair/replacement of some kind. Any thoughts here?
Thanks for the help guys! I appreciate it!
-David
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Here’s the end result. Overall I’m pleased with how neat a job I did, there was no damage to any area other than underneath the bridge. The area is relatively flat but there are some chunks of wood taken out and I’m reasonably confident the manufacturer sprayed the entire top and epoxied the bridge on top of it. Do you think this is a correct assumption?
As for the area under the bridge, I could use some advice on how to proceed next. I know that chisels were mentioned, as well as a Dremel to flatten the area before placing the bridge (which will also need to be flattened). I like the idea of a Dremel but with the top being not perfectly flat, how would one proceed to use the routing tool while staying level? Also, I’m assuming it would be good practice to use wood filler to filler the missing chunks taken out as opposed to anything else?
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Alright so I spent some time tonight removing the bridge. It was pretty slow going and I have a feeling I know why. I think they used epoxy to glue down the bridge. While I’ve never removed a bridge before, I have removed fretboards and in my experience they usually come off without too much trouble. You can sort of ease your way though the glue with a little bit of muscle. This felt like guiding a knife through glass shards, not gummy at all but more stiff and chunky. Any thoughts on whether or not this is likely the case?
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Here’s one other photo of the bridge.
So my main question is how would you proceed with this? Any more thoughts from you Dave Staudte @patreon_94549210 ?
In addition, the customer also mentioned wear on the first few frets on the treble side. I took a picture and I couldn’t help but feel like this is a fairly excessive amount of fret wear for a guitar that’s from 2020. I’m going to ask the customer how much he plays but what I do know is that he played when he was younger and only got back into it over the pandemic. He’s a retiree, he doesn’t play live and I don’t get impression that he’s spending hours a day playing, although I suppose it’s possible. This leads to a question of mine, is it possible companies are using inferior fret wire? recently, I feel like I’ve seen some very heavy fret wear on guitars that are practically new.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to hearing back from you all. Thank you!
-David
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The customer stopped by and we chatted for a bit about the guitar. He bought it brand new in 2020 during the pandemic. I wasn’t sure what to expect but upon inspection the bridge is certainly lifting off the guitar and will need to be reglued. The first thing I did was detune the strings to take tension off of it, this seemed like a logical course of action. I checked with some feeler gauges and there is about a 1/32″ gap around the backside of the bridge, and this extends roughly a third of the way through the bridge. Upon taking the feeler gauges out of the bridge, there was some debris that came out with it. I’m not sure whether or not it was glue or finish. I also took a straight edge and laid it parallel behind the bridge and noticed a hump in the middle and gaps on either end. I haven’t yet measured how much of that gap there is or whether it’s significant.
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I cannot speak for paid advertising but practically all of the success that I’ve had in business can be traced back to my online presence. My website, social media platforms and Google Business profile are the lifeblood of my business. It’s simply how people find me.
-David
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Hey Dave, that sounds like the best starting place. I am jumping the gun a bit here and spending mental energy on something that may turn out to be a non-issue. In the meantime, I would be curious to know of suggestions for learning about acoustic guitar repair theory either through books or videos if you or any of the other members have them. Thanks for the response!
-David
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They did not make mention of the string spacing. I’m inclined to agree as well and I will contact the customer. On a side note, I find it odd that the factory would set up a guitar with such narrow string spacing on a guitar that has such a wide width. This seems improper to me, like putting a small t-shirt on someone who normally wears an extra large. It’s essentially a $500 guitar and so I somewhat doubt that these considerations were taken into account in the first place.
-David
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It’s a good thought but there isn’t shielding inside the jack hole on this one. I also think you’re right that it’s potentially something simple, but there’s nothing left that’s obvious at the moment. Maybe if I look at it again with fresh eyes something will jump out.
-David
