lifting bridge

news_watch · #1 11-13-2014, 11:18 PM

All
I have a 25 yr old Sigma that really plays and sounds great.
The bridge is at least not glued well on the pin side. A piece of paper will slip.under it partway. I would not characterize it as lifting.
just needs to.be re_glued.
does the bridge need to be removed or can I or someone just inject so.e glue and clamp it down?
Thanks
NW

swsman · #2 11-14-2014, 01:12 AM

You have not specified whether the whole bridge area is showing a gap, or just a small portion of it.
On my Blueridge, towards center of the bridge I could push piece of paper almost all the way to the bridge pins, corners were fine, I decided to have the bridge removed and properly reglued. Guitar is with my local guitar tech.
$100 and about a week or so turnaround. He does quality work and has worked on my instruments before.
He did offer as an option to use a screw instead and cover it up with pearl dot, sort of what Ovation, Takamine and some Gibson/Epiphone do - cheaper and it will do the job.
I wanted repair to look as original and decided against it. I take care of my instruments and this repair should hold up for some time.
As far as injecting glue, you will be able to add some via syringe or something similar, chances are it will not fill entire gap and glue itself will attach to old glue, dust, oil whatever is in the gap now.

Jim.S · #3 11-14-2014, 01:41 AM

How far can you slip the bit of paper under NW?

Jim

news_watch · #4 11-14-2014, 06:21 AM

I'll check this weekend and post a picture.
The gap does not seem to be growing over time, and may have been there for quite a while.
None-the-less, I read that if they let go, the repair difficulty goes exponential if it is repairable at all.
My plan is to remove the worry.
I want to keep this guitar.
It is old, but sounds great, plays great and almost perfect intonation.
It would cost 4 times as much to replace like to like.
I'll respond this weekend.

Thanks.
NW

Ned Milburn · #5 11-14-2014, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by news_watch

I'll check this weekend and post a picture.
The gap does not seem to be growing over time, and may have been there for quite a while.
None-the-less, I read that if they let go, the repair difficulty goes exponential if it is repairable at all.
My plan is to remove the worry.
I want to keep this guitar.
It is old, but sounds great, plays great and almost perfect intonation.
It would cost 4 times as much to replace like to like.
I'll respond this weekend.

Thanks.
NW

It is often best to remove, scrape glue areas and extra finish clean, then re glue properly. On many guitars there is too much finish left underneath the bridge area.

charles Tauber · #6 11-14-2014, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by news_watch

I would not characterize it as lifting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by news_watch

The gap does not seem to be growing over time, and may have been there for quite a while.
None-the-less, I read that if they let go, the repair difficulty goes exponential if it is repairable at all.

Based on what you have said, I'd continue to keep an eye on it to see if it gets worse. If not, I'd leave it alone. If the bridge is not lifting, is not a recent thing, does not affect intonation or action and does not adversely affect the sound, leave it be.

If the bridge "lets go", the repair is not generally more difficult, and, in some cases, a little easier, despite what you read.

redir · #7 11-14-2014, 08:05 AM

My advise is that if you really like the guitar then get it fixed. But like Charles said it can go on for years like that too. But it sounds like you really like the guitar and that you would benefit from the piece of mind of a $100 fix.

As for injecting glue, I won't recommend that you do that. As a professional it is something I would never do unless the guitar was so cheap that the customer and I agree that we will give it one last ditch effort. Having said that my college roommate about 20 years ago injected wood glue under a bridge on a classical guitar (on my not so professional opinion at the time) that is still holding up today. And I've seen many more iterations of this that work.

You should see the one that I have in my shop now LOL. Broken headstock he got throwing his Strat across the stage and repaired with wood glue and one screw going on 15 years old now.

The moral of my story again is if you love this guitar, it's in good shape, plays well and so on then maybe you will have better peace of mind just getting it done right.