First Luthier project - bridge reset on el-cheapo guitar

[Scott N.]

I found out the other day that the bridge on my 13 y/o daughter's el-cheapo Rogue guitar was pealing up and probably days away from flying off entirely. Not wanting to pay for a pro repair and wanting to try a little repair, I decided to tackle the job.

First task was building some clamps to reach in the sound-hole - welded some from some steel tubing I had around and some 3/8" coupling nuts. Plywood served for the clamping surfaces.



Here's the bridge and guitar sanded and the glue spread. Just used regular Tite-Bond.



Clamps in place. Tricky getting them thru the sound hole and aligned.



I let the glue dry for a couple days, and we tuned it up this morning. No pops, no bangs, all seems well. Fun stuff!

[Spruce]

First task was building some clamps to reach in the sound-hole - welded some from some steel tubing I had around and some 3/8" coupling nuts.

Well, you saved yourself some serious coinage there...congrats!
Those clamps can be pricey...

[Mandoplumb]

Dont it feel good to have no pops or crackles. Not to long ago I glued a neck back in a fiddle for our preacher. I'm no luthier but it was a cheep fiddle his grandson was learning on and he wanted it to last a little longer before upgrading. They had tried to glue it with some yellow gooy something that was a mess to get cleaned but after a cleaning and a reglue with tite bond I tuned it up and SURPRISE it stayed together. I love it when a plan comes together.

[Br1ck]

I just fixed a nasty neck block top crack on a friend's old Epiphone. You have to get everything realigned by clamping at the end block, placing a wood block under the neck block, then clamping the neck harder and harder until everything lines up again. Then you reglue the inevitable loose brace or two, cleat the crack in several places and hold your breath and hope things don't collapse when you string it backup. So satisfying when it doesn't. It's been stable for several months now.

Very satisfying to fix a guitar that would not be taken to a pro. Fun too, as you found out. Love the clamps.