Seagull Entourage Bridge Repair

[btaylor]

I have a Seagull Entourage that the bridge lifted when it was only 9 months old! Seagull's version of warranty coverage is to use my local dealer, which is 2 hours away, to do the repair and they will reimburse that dealer up to $60, which is about half of what they charge for this repair in my area. Plus, it will cost 8-10 hours of time making 2 trips to the dealer and gas costs. So....my question is, should I fix this myself and save the time and some money, even though it will probably void the warranty, which isn't doing me any good anyway? Or should I make the trips and pay the cost to repair? I am a handy guy, so I feel that I could do it, but I would definitely want some guidance to the proper way and glue type to use before I consider tackling it. What do you guys think? DIY or make the trips and pay? Any help would be appreciated.

I couldn't the pics to download, but it has lifted 3/4 off the top and is under no tension right now.

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by btaylor

it will cost 8-10 hours of time making 2 trips to the dealer and gas costs. So....my question is, should I fix this myself and save the time and some money, even though it will probably void the warranty, which isn't doing me any good anyway? Or should I make the trips and pay the cost to repair?

I think the heart of the matter is do you want to have a guitar with an attached bridge or do you want to learn how to remove and re-glue a guitar bridge?

I think you underestimate how much effort is involved in learning how to properly re-glue a bridge and doing it. I think you'll find that it will likely take you the same amount of time, if not more, and won't save you much money, if any. Many people advising you will tell you to buy two deep-throated clamps to clamp the bridge: that'll meet or exceed the $60 you "saved". (There are less expensive methods, but that's a "conventional" approach. ) To do the job properly, the pin holes should be reamed to remove any excess glue. A good reamer will exceed the $60 you "save" by doing it yourself.

So, it boils down to whether you want it fixed or you want to acquire the knowledge, skills and tools to do it yourself. Potentially, two different things.

[mirwa]

Yes, do not under estimate the cost of tooling to do the job right, you may be able to do it yourself cheaper but the chances of it being good / clean and well executed are extremely low.

Steve

[btaylor]

After farther haggling, they offered for me to send it back to them for repair, although it will take 8 weeks for turn around, which is crazy! Also, I found a guy locally that has worked on guitars for a long time that can fix it for a reasonable rate and I feel that he would do a good job. I'm probably going to go local since it's not a premium guitar and the time for them to repair is so long. Thank you guys for your input

[Dan of SC]

You could go to google images and enter "clamping bridge on acoustic guitar" and see many different ways this is done. You can use some of the bridge pins to make sure you're attaching the bridge in the right place.