Bridge Installation

[Victory Pete]

Originally Posted by Glen H

Is that a satin finish or do you glue down prior to finishing?

I glue bridge and neck before finishing. It makes more sense for me. For one thing I can evaluate how the guitar sounds and how everything came out before I commit to finishing. Aligning neck and bridge on a finished top and scraping the bridge area and fretboard extension can be a hit or miss situation.

[BEJ]

How do you deal with working the finish next to the bridge. Seems like there is always some areas that you can't get to.

[Victory Pete]

Originally Posted by BEJ

How do you deal with working the finish next to the bridge. Seems like there is always some areas that you can't get to.

I tape around the bridge leaving about an 1/8" of the bottom of the bridge exposed. When finish is ready for sanding, I use a small angled chisel and carefully scrape off the exposed part of the bridge. I use a feeler gauge for the chisels to ride on. I also have a piece of aluminum flashing I am making to match the contours of the bridges so it can cover the entire bridge. Carefully sanding with a belt sanding stick cleans and levels it up nicely. It works great.

[phavriluk]

Good example of a problem having many valid solutions.

[Victory Pete]

Originally Posted by phavriluk

Good example of a problem having many valid solutions.

I used to mask right down to the top, that makes a nasty gutter and ledge of lacquer to deal with.