Original 60's Bridge Specs?

[jedzep]

Hey y'all!
It might be time to work a neck job into my budget. I'll likely add a 'slab' of matched color BRW to the thin bridge bottom to get close to original thicknesses. It looks more substantial in the photo, but the wings are only a 16th of an inch, and the mid is 3/16 tall.

If anyone has an untouched Hobo bridge, or otherwise knows, and can give me those two measurements, I'd appreciate it.

 

[jfilm]

Hey y'all!
It might be time to work a neck job into my budget. I'll likely add a 'slab' of matched color BRW to the thin bridge bottom to get close to original thicknesses. It looks more substantial in the photo, but the wings are only a 16th of an inch, and the mid is 3/16 tall.

If anyone has an untouched Hobo bridge, or otherwise knows, and can give me those two measurements, I'd appreciate it.

Hey, I have a 1961 F-20. The bridges might vary a bit depending on the year, but I believe this one is original and hasn't been shaved down. It's 3/8" tall in the middle, and the wings are 1/8" tall.

 

[jedzep]

That's the one! I wonder if any fine luthier has ever carved a true copy. Thank you, j.

I have this pretty piece of Braz. If I can figure out how to get a sliver off it without ruining for future use, it should be a pretty undetectable lam from the edge.

 

[jfilm]

That's the one! I wonder if any fine luthier has ever carved a true copy. Thank you, j.

I have this pretty piece of Braz. If I can figure out how to get a sliver off it without ruining for future use, it should be a pretty undetectable lam from the edge.

That's interesting, have you ever done that before? I've never heard of adding to a thinned out bridge in this way. I've come across a lot of Guilds with shaved bridges though! I had one made for my D-40 (which I just now traded for an F-30) that I thought looked great. Though it would have been better with that nice piece of Brazilian! I love the way so many Hoboken bridges have distinctive Brazilian RW patterns. I've retained the old bridge that was removed from my D-40, maybe I'll be able to salvage it if this works. Here are the two side by side:

 

[jedzep]

It is a widely accepted procedure, according to the generous, skilled luthiers and builders that lurk and selflessly comment over on the UMGF. There's a surprisingly large number of owners of super high dollar vintage guitars that are not going to discard original shaved down bridges, so short of making a copy, can 'laminate' BRW bridges to their original thickness.

I found my piece on Ebay, and like to scarf up and keep a few 'chunks' of BRW around just in case. I'll need to take it to a friend who builds and restores antique furniture, to get it sliced cleanly with minimal kerf loss. My carpentry tools are for renovation work on homes.

Rebuilding a too-thin classical guitar bridge | S.B. MacDonald Custom Instruments

Here’s a series of photos of a classical guitar repair I’m in the middle of performing. It’s a nicely built, great sounding guitar, but the maker made a big mistake with the bridge: He made the bridge’s wings paper thin and it is not supporting the top correctly, so the tone is less than it...

customguitars.com

 

[jfilm]

That's good to know, thanks! I have a potential use for this bridge and maybe I'll look into getting it done. It's for a strange D44 that I picked up that had a ruined bridge and underset neck- I happened to have a very thin Martin style bridge kicking around, so I installed that to make the guitar playable. It sounds amazing, so down the line I'll probably want to do a neck reset on it and add a proper Guild bridge of the right thickness.

 

[jedzep]

Interesting. What does the D-44 have that your Hoboken D-40 doesn't already do?

 

[jfilm]

Interesting. What does the D-44 have that your Hoboken D-40 doesn't already do?

It's hard to describe sound, but I'd say the D-44 has a woodier, snappier tone than my D-40. I love the sound of both of them. That said, the '65 D-40 that I used to have (traded it away yesterday) was very different from the '64 D-40 that I kept. The '64 has a very deep bass and smooth, velvety sound, while the '65 had a more intense treble and chime to it. I was sad to see it go, but at some point decisions must be made! And now I finally have an F-30, which I'm just starting to get to know. I would say the D-44 is closer in tone to the '65 D-40, which is one of the reasons I felt ok about moving the '65 along. But there is definitely something about that pearwood that sounds different from other guitars I've come across.

 

[jedzep]

Yeah, I relate to the juggling act. My F30 is the only Guild I stayed with over the years, and promised myself to not install any more guitar hangers on my walls so as to settle in with what I have.

God knows when it will be done, but I've ordered a Martin Custom Shop guitar. I'm planning to call that my last. It's a deep body version of the 0018, hopefully powerful for it's compact build.