So I buy a new Cumberland Acoustic bridge from Elderly Instruments (60 bucks). Of course the saddle string slots are not cut.
I figure I will just get my handy dandy Stewmac proportional string slot ruler out, and cut those string slots quicker than you can say Bill Monroe!
But first I tape some sandpaper to the top so I can fit my new bridge to my arch top.
So I finished fitting my new bridge to my arch top.
Now I very carefully position the bridge evenly and exactly between the F holes, and tape them down.
I whip out my Stewmac slot ruler, and check for the right grouping at the nut... But I could not get any of them match up. So I decided to eye-ball it. Yeah, right!
This is when I realized that there was no way in hell I was going to be able to get the bridge string slots cut in the correct spots myself.
So I bring the mando down to the shop to have them mark the slots for me.
20 bucks later (Now I have spent 80 bucks on this bridge) I get it home, string it up, and start setting the intonation. After I get the intonation right on the money, I notice that the bridge is not straight. It is angled towards the tail piece on the treble side.
So, I start looking at pictures of mandolin bridges on mandolins online. DAG NAB IT! I had the saddle on backwards!
... But technically it was not my fault, because, Cumberland Acoustic, (Bless their hearts) marked the bottom of the bridge so a reasonably intelligent person would know at a glance which side went where.
This is how they mark the bottom:
T B
So, of course this must mean Bass and Treble, right? NOT!!!!!! It meant Top and Bottom! What an idiot I is!!!!
So due to the fact the guy at the shop put little cuts in the saddle so it would be easy for me to cut them when I got home (Which I did not cut deeper yet), the E strings are cut slightly too low in the saddle after I turned it the correct way.
So, now I have to sand down the top of my saddle, and start over (100 bucks for this bridge... So far).
Jeeze! I really need to stop working on my on instruments from now on.
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