Best method to glue bridge?

[Taylor Ham]

Hello, I will soon be applying the finish and then installing the bridge.

I've seen several methods to get wood to wood contact on a precise footprint, and I think masking under the bridge before finishing would be the best.

Any experience/ tips to share?

I will be using royal-lac. How deep will I have to score through the finish on the perimeter before peeling off the tape?

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by Taylor Ham

How deep will I have to score through the finish on the perimeter before peeling off the tape?

Just to the depth of the finish. You do not want to score the top. If you are padding shellac, the finish will be very thin.

[redir]

I'm not sure I understand, if you are taping off the bridge footprint as in the pic below then you don't need to score a line. That's part of the reason why I like doing this method. Simply remove the tape and you are to bare wood.

[Alan Carruth]

redir:
Most of us tape an area that's a bit smaller than the actual bridge footprint, so there will be some finish that has to be removed around the edge. It's better than finding out when you come to put the bridge down that you measured the placement wrong, and taped over a pat of the top that will show. So far as I know, there are two types of luthiers; the ones who have done this, and those who have not - yet....

Scoring into the wood, especially along rhe back edge of the bridge, and especially if the top is redwood or ceder, risks creating a major stress riser that will cause the bridge to fly off and kill the cat.

[redir]

Originally Posted by Alan Carruth

redir:
Most of us tape an area that's a bit smaller than the actual bridge footprint, so there will be some finish that has to be removed around the edge. It's better than finding out when you come to put the bridge down that you measured the placement wrong, and taped over a pat of the top that will show. So far as I know, there are two types of luthiers; the ones who have done this, and those who have not - yet....

Scoring into the wood, especially along rhe back edge of the bridge, and especially if the top is redwood or ceder, risks creating a major stress riser that will cause the bridge to fly off and kill the cat.

Ah yes I do that too but I sand a very slight taper in the edge of the bridge to rise over the finish, and mostly French Polish and glue right over the thin finish.

[Taylor Ham]

thanks. I absolutely want to avoid scoring the top, and if masking under finish allows me to peel off without cracking the rest of the finish, I will do that.

[mirwa]

Hopefully photo works

A replacement bridge happening on this guitar, I use a dremel to create a micro route on the underside so the bridge goes over the finish

Steve