Strings digging grooves into string-holes on rosewood bridge. Advice needed.

[Satellitedog01]

Hey folks!

My cheap, all laminate dreadnought is in need of a number of minor procedures, but I already have an electric at a luthier for a wood-mod/pro refinish, which will be costly, so I'd like to avoid taking this beater to a pro, especially since it's going to need a fret dressing or perhaps a refret, and a good look at the neck joint too, plus it has a loose rattly G tuner, which may need to be swapped, and the guitar is worth little beyond sentimental value, so I'd like to turn the necessity into an opportunity to learn about these jobs first hand, and gain some experience.

The rosewood bridge has been damaged by the strings through more than a decade of playing, and the high E string was getting stuck in the groove it dug itself, and kept snapping during tuning, so I took a thin electric wire (probably a short piece of a 9V battery connector, took some of the plastic tubing and used that as a temporary fix. It worked, but I want a better solution, that doesn't dampen the string at all.

My local luthier/tech recommended filing the grooves smoother and slightly wider with a thin needle-file, which I've done in all the string-holes, as it turned out all of them have been damaged to some degree. I haven't restrung the guitar yet, because I don't really want to waste unwound strings if possible.

Is this sufficient? Should I apply some graphite dust with a small brush to the surfaces in contact with the strings and call it a day? Should I fill the grooves with glued in slivers of some hardwood and file/sand back to the original shape?

Thanks a bunch for reading, and your helpful suggestions are very welcome!

SD.

[dekutree64]

Yeah, needle file should probably buy you another 10 years. Maybe try and curve the slot so the string bends more gradually rather than focusing all its pressure on a small amount of wood. A drop of thin CA glue could potentially harden the surface enough to help.

And for the rattly tuner, if it just has a loose washer on the headstock face, all you need to do is screw down the grommet a bit tighter. That's a common problem in the winter because the headstock dries out and becomes thinner.

[Satellitedog01]

Thanks, dekutree! Good username too.

I did curve the slots for exactly the same reason you mention.
I'll try the superglue in the high E slot, and see if it works without extra padding. The other strings were heavy enough not to get stuck/break, but who knows how deep they want to burrow in that poor bridge, perhaps all of them deserve a spot of CA glue.

As for the tuner, I'm afraid it is not a seasonal problem, it's most likely the result of an old hit it took when the guitar fell over, or got bumped into something more solid than itself by accident. The rattling started just before an old recording session and I used some masking tape, or gaffa tape to keep it noise-free. I took that off last time after cleaning the fretboard, and since there's a number of issues, I didn't go with the same fix. The tuner itself was as stable as the others, holding just fine.

[tahoeguitar]

http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools...and_Files.html

http://www.axner.com/kemper-sbr-saber-saw.aspx

The kemper sabre saw is very inexpensive and is all I used for years. I still use it a lot. The stewmac saws are nicer but also expensive.

These little saws are what I use for what is called a bridge-slotomy, which is where the luthier cuts slots in front of the pins that fit each string, then you turn the pins around so that the smooth side of the pin is against the string, or buy and install unslotted pins. This is the way it was done back in the day, but manufacturers stopped slotting bridges in the '40s with the advent of modern cheap slotted pins... which generally suck IMO.

[Satellitedog01]

Thanks for the recommendations tahoe!

Also for that history-lesson in luthiery, don't recall having read that before, but I just might try it.

How would the steeper break-angle behind the bridge affect the instrument?

[phavriluk]

This bit of advice is a jewel - - - THANKS!

Just ordered one from a vendor.

Much obliged.