I just bought a used Recording King RD-10 (solid spruce/solid mahogany dreadnought) that was in nearly perfect condition, but had this EXACT problem - bridge was lifting on the back-side. I used my Rowenta iron to warm the bridge enough to get it off, and found EXACTLY what you describe - narrow line of finish all the way around the edge under the bridge, score lines in the wood underneath, wood lifting up at the score lines, etc. Following your video, I removed the finish around the edges, cleaned up the 'flaps' of wood, applied a good coating of glue on both the bridge and the body, and clamped the bridge in place. Good as new (I guess you could say BETTER than new!!!). Thanks for a GREAT video!
I have a cheap 12 string my dad bought, and it had the Same Problem that this guitar had, but mine had more like 1/4 of an inch of finish left where the bridge sat. I followed your technique with repairing the bridge, and now its doing just fine! I've been binge watching your videos for a long time now, and I'm enjoying them alot. Cheers!
I love these vids on a Sunday morning. I’m hunkered down with a coffee, a pack of cigs and am ready for some excellent luthier tips. Thank you for making these!
Such instructive videos! I'm not a luthier; I build model airplanes and small wooden boats, but these tips are invaluable to anyone working with wood. Thank you for doing all these!
Had this issue on my 10 year old fender accoustic bass for a while now, did the repair today 10 mins before watching this, added some wedges for good measure after watching, cheers for the vid and tips
Also depends on the bridge plate underneath and the layout of the bridge bracing. the bridge pins should push the ball ends of the strings down far enough on the bridge plate so that the 125-175lb string tension is evenly distributed between the bridge and the bridge plate. Otherwise, if the entire string tension is acting on the top of the bridge, it could lift the bridge at the back.
my bridge popped out... it damaged the top a little bit but i managed to reduce the damage to an almost perfect result...only thing that's left is to glue the bridge back ...you helped very much sir !!! THANK YOU !
Thank you for the info and example. The bridge on one of my "cheaper" acoustics is lifting pretty good from the back and now I feel confident to fix it myself. If it was one of my "nicer" guitars I would probably take it to a luthier. But it's not, so I'm gonna give it a shot. Thanks again. Peace.
This is going to be a very helpful tutorial for me this week. I have a friend's old Fender acoustic with both the tailpiece lifting and the fretboard separating from the body and is just starting to separate from the neck at the body joint, so I'm looking up insights on carefully repairing that situation, as well.
This is an excellent tutorial. I was contemplating purchasing a guitar I had my eye on w/ a lifted bridge. The price was right but now I see why.....to do the repair right requires quite a bit of knowledge & experience and of course the right toolset helps. But your video was quite helpful, thank you!
I have an old parlor that I wanted to save the bridge for and the guitar itself, so I am going to use your process and get this taken care of. We will see how well my blues will walk after this!
He didn't use a clamping caul inside the guitar to add clamping pressure to the centre of the bridge, and the fitment jig only has clamping threads for the wings. I noticed straight away because I've had a bridge fail myself and glue starvation is another reason for bridge failure. Clamping cauls can be fiddly to put in and sometimes aren't in properly. Sometimes cauls go in crooked, or you drop them inside the guitar and they're hard to retrieve and meanwhile the glue is setting up. Or the caul isn't directly under the bridge and because its inside the guitar you can't see. If you can't see ample glue squeeze out you don't have clamping pressure. The wedges address that. If you have a radiused soundboard or ripples where wood shrinkage occurs between braces, both of which are common in more lightly built instruments, you might want to use both a clamping caul and the wedges. I never thought of that before. What a great idea.
wow.. very helpful! I am working on a bridge re-glueing right now. Thank for the bonus tip I will try it right away! Thank you for your tutorials... Inspiring, really inspiring ))) greetings from Germany!
Man, I've spent countless hours watching you fiddle with and fix things, and make tools, etc. So, thanks to you - yesterday I started my first repair on a cheap guitar I had where the bridge was pulling off. The thing popped off easy, it was practically glued to just finish and with a really crappy glue - which I had to scrape all off, and scrape down the bridge, etc... Man that's a lotta work! Gonna glue it back up tonight. Even made my own clamping jig out of stuff I had laying around and a few bits from the hardware store. Can't really find Titebond easily here, but I found a Type 1 PVA glue that should do the trick (Elmer's Probond MAX?). It says ANSI Type I on the back so hopefully it'll be all good.
Excellent, thank you for this. I had a similar situation and i actually took out a millimeter of body before gluing the bridge back. I was concerned the the loose parts of the body would have sanding dust under them that would hinder the gluing process. In order to compensate for the missing material i added two screwholes (classical guitar) and screwed the bridge down onto a pair of custom made braces glued to the underside. 60×6 is 300 foot pounds of force constantly pulling on that 😨
Well done video, with one exception: With all the variety of glues available, I think it would have been a huge help if you had clearly stated the best one to use in this instance. One of my Seagull 6-strings has this affliction and I'm making preparations to reglue its bridge (buying clamps, glue. etc). I'm confident that, having seen your video, once I determine which glue is most suitable, I'll have complete, unfailing success.
This was an old video right after I started my CZcams channel. I've glued on dozens of bridges in other videos. You need to clean all the old glue off and all the old finish off and make sure it's wood to wood contact and use a good quality wood glue like Titebond original.
Great explanation, Jerry. Thank for the video! Had a tough time recently with my guitar, whose bridge had come off. The clamps would sit half on a brace or overshoot the bridge!! Had to put in a piece of wood with double-sided tape at the X-brace to bring everything in level. Only then did the clamps work. But all's well now.
Thanks, Jerry. My wife brought home her Cheap-A guitar from school with just that problem. I'll have to build a few special tools, but I think I can get 'er done.
Thanks for this helpful video Jerry. I've watched a good many of your postings here and finally feel confident enough to tackle fixing the bridge on a cheapie acoustic I have. But I have to say that a big part of my confidence is knowing I have this awesome video library of yours to reference. Thank you so much for doing all you do here. It is very highly appreciated. :)
Thanks again Jerry. I wish I had your clamp collection. I have a single bridge repair in mind. I've been considering fabricating my own clamps from scraps around the shop. This gives me a good idea of what I need. I really like the double clamp rig and the wedges. I have been wondering how to best apply pressure evenly on an uneven surface. Great video. Cheers...
I sure hope they got better in their later guitars. I just purchased a Recording King RD-328 (solid Rosewood sides and back and Adirondacks spruce top) because I couldn't afford a Martin D28. I love the guitar and it's sound. I sure hope it holds up now. This video has me worried. Awesome video Jerry.
Next time, apply water-thin super glue to those cuts in the top where the wood is separating from itself. The glue glue will wick into the deepest parts of those cuts and bond the wood back together. Clamp the wood down lightly with waxed paper and allow the super glue to cure, on its own without accelerant. When cured, remove the clamp(s), scrape off any excess glue squeeze-out and sand the surface to expose bare wood. Now you're ready to glue the bridge back in the same way that you typically do with wood glue. The point is that you definitely don't want any loose or broken wood under the bridge, otherwise the joint will likely fail again in the future. The benefit of the thin super glue is that it soaks into the cracks and wood fibers and restores the integrity of the wood structure better than ever in a way that wood glue can't. Another common problem is with laminate tops that are made with glued veneers. The strength of the bridge joint is only as strong as its weakest link, and often the glue bond between wood veneers fails and the bridge breaks loose that way. The super glue is also helpful in this case because it can soak into the laminate wood fibers and bond it together better in preparation for bridge re-gluing. Thank you.
Thank you for this. We learn something new every day. Put the water thin superglue under the 'flaps' before doing anything else to prevent sanding dust etc. getting in there.
A lot of the early 1900's guitar had X's scribed across the bridge area on the top and bridge itself in a belief that they got a better glue joint by doing this. I've seen it on early Maritn guitars. Some repair people still subscribe to this method. I've done both, X scribing and not, and both glue joints have held. I don't do the X scribing anymore with the better glues they have today. On older instruments I use cooked hide glue, but on more modern instruments I use the aliphatic resin glue like Titebond.
Usually happens in the Spring/Summer when the humidity hits a guitar that was tuned in the Winter. I try to remember to loosen guitar strings if I have one sitting around unused.
they score the bridge and body to give the glue something to fill out and "hang on to" but you usually go with or parallel to the grain depending on your school of thought about the matter. but that score looked like a pretty big thing to overlook even for a novice. otherwise that guitar looks amazing.
Let me just explain it to you this way. I have been gluing bridges on guitars for more than 40 years. 90% of them I do not score. I have never had one returned that came loose. And that's pretty good for a novice.
@@RosaStringWorks no offense implied, I thought you made a lot of good points and I can really appreciate what you do. my first POS acoustic this happened to(10 years ago) got some bolts on either side of the bridge with giant washers (still holding somehow with no buldge). honestly my work doesn't hold a candle, but even me 10 years ago would have realized how bad that bridge was set out of the factory.
I know this is an old video but I don't think he was criticizing you Jerry. He was criticizing the "novice" at the factory. At least that's how I read it.
Great video, thanks. Although I have another problem ... I made a diy wooden clamp that goes over the bridge, is curved on the bottom to fit the bridge top and connects, trough the string peg holes, with the lower (inside of guitar body - under the bridge) part of the clamp via 4 threaded (4mm) rods that are tightened with 4 wing nuts ... and there is one hole on each side of the upper clap for the rod that pushes the wings of the bridge down with the help of small pieces of wood. So ... I have removed everything except for the lower part of the clamp which is now glued to the top from the inside and does not want to come off. Tried really hard to kinda snap it away, with no success. Drilled all 12 holes all the way trough the bottom (I used a metal drill bit for the four holes that had metal inserts for the rods, there is still a thin metal cylinder left inside of the lower clamp - could present a problem if I wanted to use a hole reamer to try to slowly remove wood in hope of the glue to let go) of the lower part of the clamp wood and it still does not budge, not for a 1/1000 of an inch or millimetre. Would you maybe know how does one go about a thing like that? How can I "know" where the thing is glued or how much, when there is no way to see? Is that possible or should I leave the part glued and try to slowly widen the holes so that the pegs fit normally? This really bummed me out.
I feel like i have have a good chance of being successful doing this after watching this video! Oooop gotta go, I’ve got a hip replacement surgery to go do. I watched a vid on how to do it here on CZcams. Pee-Pa is gonna be walkin around in no time. 😃
Hi Jerry. I've seen several interesting and valuable videos of yours. I am not a guitar maker, but I decided to build my first classical guitar. Seeing your videos for repairing bridges, I saw that sometimes you use different glues. When you glue a bridge for the very first time, what your preference of glue? (I mean, Titebond,...., and so on). Everytime I watch a video I learn a different thing. Thanks very much for your time of sharing your knowledge with others. Paulo Rosa - Brazil.
@@preacherjohn9986 Since you didn't get an answer, I'll answer your question. I believe I heard him clarify it in the video, but it's my experience also. You should use the Titebond original white glue. It creates a bond stronger the wood itself. I've used it to replace bridges, cracks in the tops, and cracked or broken necks. Any place that can be clamped to allow for drying time. For smaller or tight cracks i often use super glue, but the finishing process can be more difficult.
Exactly what happened to my Oscar Schmidt 12 string. After removing the bridge their is a 1/8" solid line of finish around the sides, and back of the bridge. I will be taking my time to repair this right. I don't want to do it twice...
Great video! I've got an old acoustic (Flinthill I believe is the brand) that a buddy gave me years ago and it's laying around in my garage. He gave it to me because the bridge itself was cracked and started lifting. I removed the bridge and super glued it back together (using claps) and it seems like it's sturdy enough to re-use. I went ahead and lighting sanded the area and thought about glueing it back -- then I stubbled upon your video. My question to you is -- "should I buy a new bridge or is it okay to use the make shift one I glued back together?" I have tons guitars and have never attempted to repair any of the, so I thought I'd ask before I went ahead with it. Like I said, it's a beat up guitar and I'd love to keep using it for spur of the moment jams! Let me know. Thanks!
Martin Mini Bk1 rather old now moved to an island where humidity caused the bridge to just fall off. I've tried repairing it now just this week for the 5th time. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing wrong, but as soon as I string it up the back rises up. I don't have the nifty bridge clamp, but i been using 4 C clamps and this last venture even went so far as to drill out a piece of wood and use screws/nuts into the pin holes to keep the pressure. Titebond Ultimate, sand it all down, still rises. Maybe I should literally score and set the bridge like you do in this video?
I own an early 90’s 5214 Regent by Alvarez that shows a lengthwise shallow split on the rosewood bridge piece along where the string plug holes run. Plays fine, just that annoying drywood look split. The bridge piece is firmly attached so maybe I should string it with low tension strings?
Light strings would be a good idea and I would also keep an eye on it to see if it gets worse if so I would unstring it and get a new bridge made for it.
I know this video is 8 years old but I just had an issue with my guitar and on the google search it brought up your video. I hope you see this and will be able to answer a question. When my bridge failed it took a chunk out of the wood with it and when I feel under where the strings go it feels a bit chewed up. Would this still be okay to repair or do to these issues would it cause other failure issues? The reason I believe it failed was because the bridge was attached directly to the lacquer. It took 30 + years though.
I was tuning up my 12 string acoustic and later i noticed the back corners of the bridge had lifted.I was able to fit a piece of paper into the gap about 5mm .I didn't manage to tune the two G strings at all.So did i tension too tight,i don't know.But my heart sank.Should i loosen all the strings to relieve any more tension on the bridge?
I've got a lot of guitars, so this isn't an emergency, but I found a cheap Lyon by Warmoth near the dumpster in my apartment complex, and the bridge is pulling up. I cleaned it up, but I can't get the bridge to lay flat back down (strings are removed). I'm tempted to shove a flathead screwdriver in there to try to break the wood fragments that are coming up with the bridge, but I'm not sure if this is a dumb idea. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Subbed, I just found u, do you have a video on bridge pins loose? Bought some none pins and I managed to keep them from backing out but they did fall straight in due to ebony matin pins so thick prior. Thank you
Have a question. I have an old bridge that is expensive and rare but cracked, is there a way to epoxy it or repair just that bridge with something very strong and maybe sawdust sand and restain?
Wll, sir, I thank you for this video. I did my part along with you, couldnt find affordable clamps down here - the glue alone had bust the bank already - but did build a pair myself with some handy work. She's sitting pretty, glued up, clamped up, with wedges, bells and whistles and I'm left waiting. Since it has been in the family for so many years, an old 60s brazilian classical guitar that was the first guitar for every single man in my family, upon doing this work I noticed that a piece of wood inside of it, not longer than a toothpick and not much wider than a pencil is broken in half, just under the bridge on the backboard. Should i use the same glue to fix it? How would one proceed to clamp that tiny itsy bitsy piece of wood? Or should I just leave it there as a sign of 50-odd years of family music? Cheers, from Brazil!
The piece of wood that you found inside sounds like it might be an internal brace. Hopefully, you don't have a brace which was broken as the top deformed (as the bridge pulled up), because that would have likely left you with a deformed top, and I have seen Rosa String Works videos showing the amount of work required to flatten a top warped in this manner. If you do have a broken internal brace (regardless of the cause), it should probably be replaced rather than glued back together (but it is also important to make sure whatever broke it is stable first).
Not that much! D'Addario tells how exactly much tension is on each string, for a given scale length. For a 6 string acoustic, 120-160 pounds is about average, depending on gauge & scale length. 260-340 pounds for a 12 string, depending on string gauge and scale length, is about average. An electric with 10s is around 112 to 125 pounds. Some of these Asian shops have production quotas that are ridiculous. I have a Korean Sigma with some nightmarish brown glue that will NOT soften with heat at all. The old bridge is useless. It was ground convex, which is the opposite of what I need, so I found a new bridge top plate, and a Tusq saddle. I buy 3/16 (I think) dowel rods, cut them down to about 5/16"-3/8" long and wrap them with plumber's Teflon tape so my peg holes stay open. IT WORKS GREAT!
Hi, I was thinking if wheter you could you just epoxy glue instead of wood or super glues? I though if I would fortify my new guitar in advance before it weakens. Good work.
I would never use epoxy on a bridge. In fact I don't use epoxy much at all on an instrument. It's too brittle and it always seems to crack and break and turn loose. That's just been my experience. Thanks for taking a look.
Is this a problem with recording kings ? I have a oarlor thats lifting and I can see wood still attached to the bridge where its lifting in back corner . The bridge almost looks warped
I have a classical guitar bridge that is just starting to lift in the back top corner ... do I have to remove the whole bridge just for a small portion that is lifting?
Beyond Limits Productions it's difficult to give a black-and-white answer. I would suggest taking a piece of paper like notebook paper and see how far you can slide the corner of the paper under the bridge. if it slides more than a quarter of an inch you probably need to remove the whole bridge. if it just barely goes under there you can probably get by with just putting a little blue around there and clamping it well
Thanks for video, I'm a little curious as to your # 3 glue on this bridge repair. Not that I have anything against it, I just thought Titebond Original was suppose to be best for transmitting sound. I've watched many of your videos and really appreciate the shared knowledge of your years of experience. Jeff Forte
Thanks for watching and commenting. Titebond original is what I use most of the time. It is excellent for this type of repair. If there is a difference in sound, I'm not aware of it. There are lots of "theories and claims" out there. Many completely without proof. Not trying to sound like a know it all, but seriously I really think you'd have a dog's hearing to hear the difference. If there really is one.
I have watched videos where other luthier say don't clamp too tight because you just squeeze all the glue back out and get a poor bond, so who is right? I re attached a bridge to a cheap Chinese acoustic 5 months ago using Franklin tight bond Red and a specially designed bridge clamp similar to what is shown here I made sure glue was squeezed from all around the bridge but deliberately did not clamp it completely tight as shown here, so far it is holding fine
@@RosaStringWorks thanks for the advice, that was my first bridge repair on a cheap Chinese guitar, it's holding on fine for now but the next bridge I re attach I will take your advice and tighten all the way
All the scientific tests that I have seen show that shear strength is reduced with adhesive layer thickness. Correctly applied wood glue will appear to mate with the wood surfaces no matter how thick the glue layer is but the harder you press the glue against the wood (in other words the tighter you clamp), the better it will fill the surface irregularities in the wood and bond to it. And there is another important factor to consider. Wood glue (which is normally always PVA-based) has to remain slightly flexible when dry in order to cope with the expansion and contraction of the wood caused by ambient humidity. This means that it will absorb vibration and act as an acoustic insulation material. OK, the effect is minimal, but you still want as little sound-proofing material as possible under your guitar bridge! Final verdict: you should do what Jerry does and clamp as tight as you can without causing damage to the surfaces that you are pressing against.
I have an Ovation Balladeer from about 1997, and noticed the top bowing up behind the bridge. I use light or ultralight strings to minimise this, but it is still there Last string change I ran my hand inside the guitar and noticed the wood screws holding the bridge in place. There is no plate on the underside, and the bracing crosses under the bridge near the screws. Is there anything I can do to keep from having a crack in the top behind the bridge?
Take a sheet of notebook paper and see if you can slide the corner under your bridge. If you can slide it between the bridge and the top of the guitar odds are you need to have the bridge removed everything needs to be completely cleaned off and it needs to be reglued. It may also help to put a larger Bridge pad under the bridge inside the guitar
Rosa String Works Thanks - only a small area separating right now, maybe 1/2 " section. Does not appear to have a bridge plate. Mainly hoping to prevent a problem. Thanks for your fast response.
I had a weird bridge fail on a 60s Guild M-20. A narrow piece of the bridge snapped off in a narrow strip, almost exactly the same size as the saddle. I’d had a neck reset on this a couple years ago and I’m not sure if this failure was somehow a result of that work. My question is, can this be fixed (glued) or would it need a complete replacement?
Just a question sir, why can’t the bridge be tighten with screws and nuts. Or some sort of assembly inside the guitar to reduce the string pressure. Or some aluminium or metal construction can help this problem eliminate permanently. Because this is such a pain to seek the guitar wopped off.
Jitendra Wagh First of all all, mechanical fasteners (screws, metal, etc.) make a difference to the sound, and not in a good way. Second, believe it or not, screws almost always cause more damage to the top compared to a simple glue joint. What happens is that when the glue fails those two screws on either end of the bridge still hold on and they pull up in a specific spot and always crack the wood. In a few cases where they don't crack the wood or have it cracked it yet they at least distort the wood in those two locations. Bottom line is if it's done correctly a bridge glued with good glue will hold pretty much forever. So there's no need to put any type of mechanical Fasteners or metal or anything in that area which always dampen the sound some degree. Hope that helps.
I just bought a used Recording King RD-10 (solid spruce/solid mahogany dreadnought) that was in nearly perfect condition, but had this EXACT problem - bridge was lifting on the back-side. I used my Rowenta iron to warm the bridge enough to get it off, and found EXACTLY what you describe - narrow line of finish all the way around the edge under the bridge, score lines in the wood underneath, wood lifting up at the score lines, etc. Following your video, I removed the finish around the edges, cleaned up the 'flaps' of wood, applied a good coating of glue on both the bridge and the body, and clamped the bridge in place. Good as new (I guess you could say BETTER than new!!!). Thanks for a GREAT video!
I have a cheap 12 string my dad bought, and it had the Same Problem that this guitar had, but mine had more like 1/4 of an inch of finish left where the bridge sat. I followed your technique with repairing the bridge, and now its doing just fine! I've been binge watching your videos for a long time now, and I'm enjoying them alot. Cheers!
I love these vids on a Sunday morning. I’m hunkered down with a coffee, a pack of cigs and am ready for some excellent luthier tips.
Thank you for making these!
Such instructive videos! I'm not a luthier; I build model airplanes and small wooden boats, but these tips are invaluable to anyone working with wood. Thank you for doing all these!
Excellent craftsmanship and attention to detail, Sir. So nice to see people who really pay attention to detail and take pride in their craft.👍😁😎🔥
Love to way you added the wedges. A completed job as the belly up of the top proved the wedges were needed to fill any voids. Great work!
David Brown thank you very much.
I had no idea this happened to guitars until 2 weeks ago when the tension did indeed lift the bridge up. Glad I came across this I video!
Had this issue on my 10 year old fender accoustic bass for a while now, did the repair today 10 mins before watching this, added some wedges for good measure after watching, cheers for the vid and tips
Also depends on the bridge plate underneath and the layout of the bridge bracing. the bridge pins should push the ball ends of the strings down far enough on the bridge plate so that the 125-175lb string tension is evenly distributed between the bridge and the bridge plate. Otherwise, if the entire string tension is acting on the top of the bridge, it could lift the bridge at the back.
This is the most complete explanation of how to glue a bridge that I have seen. Thumbs up!
my bridge popped out... it damaged the top a little bit but i managed to reduce the damage to an almost perfect result...only thing that's left is to glue the bridge back ...you helped very much sir !!! THANK YOU !
Mr. Burns glad to hear it thank you very much.
you're welcome !!!
Thank you for the info and example. The bridge on one of my "cheaper" acoustics is lifting pretty good from the back and now I feel confident to fix it myself. If it was one of my "nicer" guitars I would probably take it to a luthier. But it's not, so I'm gonna give it a shot. Thanks again. Peace.
This is going to be a very helpful tutorial for me this week. I have a friend's old Fender acoustic with both the tailpiece lifting and the fretboard separating from the body and is just starting to separate from the neck at the body joint, so I'm looking up insights on carefully repairing that situation, as well.
This is an excellent tutorial. I was contemplating purchasing a guitar I had my eye on w/ a lifted bridge. The price was right but now I see why.....to do the repair right requires quite a bit of knowledge & experience and of course the right toolset helps. But your video was quite helpful, thank you!
Great, thank you so much for watching.
Excellent video. I glued a bridge back on to a Tanglewood. But I didn't do a thorough enough job. I'll do it again, and follow your methods. Thanks!
Sebastian Palmer good luck to you. Thank you for watching.
Wow the wedges!! I would of had a hard time giving up that secret, good tip
I have an old parlor that I wanted to save the bridge for and the guitar itself, so I am going to use your process and get this taken care of. We will see how well my blues will walk after this!
I like what you did with the wedges. Didn't see that one coming.
He didn't use a clamping caul inside the guitar to add clamping pressure to the centre of the bridge, and the fitment jig only has clamping threads for the wings. I noticed straight away because I've had a bridge fail myself and glue starvation is another reason for bridge failure. Clamping cauls can be fiddly to put in and sometimes aren't in properly. Sometimes cauls go in crooked, or you drop them inside the guitar and they're hard to retrieve and meanwhile the glue is setting up. Or the caul isn't directly under the bridge and because its inside the guitar you can't see. If you can't see ample glue squeeze out you don't have clamping pressure. The wedges address that. If you have a radiused soundboard or ripples where wood shrinkage occurs between braces, both of which are common in more lightly built instruments, you might want to use both a clamping caul and the wedges. I never thought of that before. What a great idea.
This video helped me on fixing the bridge of my 1974 Contessa Hohner 12 string.
Thanks
Jordan Bostic glad to hear it. Thank you for watching.
Excellent video of problem discussion, process, & repair job !
wow.. very helpful! I am working on a bridge re-glueing right now. Thank for the bonus tip I will try it right away!
Thank you for your tutorials... Inspiring, really inspiring )))
greetings from Germany!
Man, I've spent countless hours watching you fiddle with and fix things, and make tools, etc. So, thanks to you - yesterday I started my first repair on a cheap guitar I had where the bridge was pulling off. The thing popped off easy, it was practically glued to just finish and with a really crappy glue - which I had to scrape all off, and scrape down the bridge, etc... Man that's a lotta work! Gonna glue it back up tonight.
Even made my own clamping jig out of stuff I had laying around and a few bits from the hardware store. Can't really find Titebond easily here, but I found a Type 1 PVA glue that should do the trick (Elmer's Probond MAX?). It says ANSI Type I on the back so hopefully it'll be all good.
that type of glue should work just fine.
@@RosaStringWorks Thanks Jerry!
I've learned a lot of good techniques from watching your videos. Thanks. It's great to be able to benefit from all of your years of experience.
Excellent, thank you for this. I had a similar situation and i actually took out a millimeter of body before gluing the bridge back. I was concerned the the loose parts of the body would have sanding dust under them that would hinder the gluing process. In order to compensate for the missing material i added two screwholes (classical guitar) and screwed the bridge down onto a pair of custom made braces glued to the underside. 60×6 is 300 foot pounds of force constantly pulling on that 😨
Thank you. My Bridge broke loose a few days ago. I've had this guitar for 31 or 32 years.
I just did my bridge on my Carlo 12 string. It worked just like you described. Thank you.
Masterful. Well done, sir.
Well done video, with one exception: With all the variety of glues available, I think it would have been a huge help if you had clearly stated the best one to use in this instance.
One of my Seagull 6-strings has this affliction and I'm making preparations to reglue its bridge (buying clamps, glue. etc).
I'm confident that, having seen your video, once I determine which glue is most suitable, I'll have complete, unfailing success.
This was an old video right after I started my CZcams channel. I've glued on dozens of bridges in other videos. You need to clean all the old glue off and all the old finish off and make sure it's wood to wood contact and use a good quality wood glue like Titebond original.
Great explanation, Jerry. Thank for the video!
Had a tough time recently with my guitar, whose bridge had come off.
The clamps would sit half on a brace or overshoot the bridge!!
Had to put in a piece of wood with double-sided tape at the X-brace to bring everything in level.
Only then did the clamps work.
But all's well now.
Great. Thank you for watching.
Thanks, Jerry. My wife brought home her Cheap-A guitar from school with just that problem. I'll have to build a few special tools, but I think I can get 'er done.
Dave Rutan great, good luck.
Thanks for this helpful video Jerry. I've watched a good many of your postings here and finally feel confident enough to tackle fixing the bridge on a cheapie acoustic I have. But I have to say that a big part of my confidence is knowing I have this awesome video library of yours to reference. Thank you so much for doing all you do here. It is very highly appreciated. :)
You're welcome my friend. Good luck with your project.
Thanks again Jerry. I wish I had your clamp collection. I have a single bridge repair in mind. I've been considering fabricating my own clamps from scraps around the shop. This gives me a good idea of what I need. I really like the double clamp rig and the wedges. I have been wondering how to best apply pressure evenly on an uneven surface. Great video. Cheers...
I have same problem with my guitar but i dont have clamps.do you know what glue is good for this
I sure hope they got better in their later guitars. I just purchased a Recording King RD-328 (solid Rosewood sides and back and Adirondacks spruce top) because I couldn't afford a Martin D28. I love the guitar and it's sound. I sure hope it holds up now. This video has me worried.
Awesome video Jerry.
Next time, apply water-thin super glue to those cuts in the top where the wood is separating from itself. The glue glue will wick into the deepest parts of those cuts and bond the wood back together. Clamp the wood down lightly with waxed paper and allow the super glue to cure, on its own without accelerant. When cured, remove the clamp(s), scrape off any excess glue squeeze-out and sand the surface to expose bare wood. Now you're ready to glue the bridge back in the same way that you typically do with wood glue. The point is that you definitely don't want any loose or broken wood under the bridge, otherwise the joint will likely fail again in the future. The benefit of the thin super glue is that it soaks into the cracks and wood fibers and restores the integrity of the wood structure better than ever in a way that wood glue can't. Another common problem is with laminate tops that are made with glued veneers. The strength of the bridge joint is only as strong as its weakest link, and often the glue bond between wood veneers fails and the bridge breaks loose that way. The super glue is also helpful in this case because it can soak into the laminate wood fibers and bond it together better in preparation for bridge re-gluing. Thank you.
DDEENY yep, thanks for watching.
Very good Sir
Thank you for this. We learn something new every day. Put the water thin superglue under the 'flaps' before doing anything else to prevent sanding dust etc. getting in there.
Great info. This was really helpful. Thanks!
A lot of the early 1900's guitar had X's scribed across the bridge area on the top and bridge itself in a belief that they got a better glue joint by doing this. I've seen it on early Maritn guitars. Some repair people still subscribe to this method. I've done both, X scribing and not, and both glue joints have held. I don't do the X scribing anymore with the better glues they have today. On older instruments I use cooked hide glue, but on more modern instruments I use the aliphatic resin glue like Titebond.
Hope you are doing good Jerry. Thinking about ya. Cheers.
Usually happens in the Spring/Summer when the humidity hits a guitar that was tuned in the Winter. I try to remember to loosen guitar strings if I have one sitting around unused.
they score the bridge and body to give the glue something to fill out and "hang on to" but you usually go with or parallel to the grain depending on your school of thought about the matter. but that score looked like a pretty big thing to overlook even for a novice. otherwise that guitar looks amazing.
Let me just explain it to you this way. I have been gluing bridges on guitars for more than 40 years. 90% of them I do not score. I have never had one returned that came loose. And that's pretty good for a novice.
@@RosaStringWorks no offense implied, I thought you made a lot of good points and I can really appreciate what you do. my first POS acoustic this happened to(10 years ago) got some bolts on either side of the bridge with giant washers (still holding somehow with no buldge). honestly my work doesn't hold a candle, but even me 10 years ago would have realized how bad that bridge was set out of the factory.
I know this is an old video but I don't think he was criticizing you Jerry. He was criticizing the "novice" at the factory. At least that's how I read it.
Great video, thanks. Although I have another problem ... I made a diy wooden clamp that goes over the bridge, is curved on the bottom to fit the bridge top and connects, trough the string peg holes, with the lower (inside of guitar body - under the bridge) part of the clamp via 4 threaded (4mm) rods that are tightened with 4 wing nuts ... and there is one hole on each side of the upper clap for the rod that pushes the wings of the bridge down with the help of small pieces of wood. So ... I have removed everything except for the lower part of the clamp which is now glued to the top from the inside and does not want to come off. Tried really hard to kinda snap it away, with no success. Drilled all 12 holes all the way trough the bottom (I used a metal drill bit for the four holes that had metal inserts for the rods, there is still a thin metal cylinder left inside of the lower clamp - could present a problem if I wanted to use a hole reamer to try to slowly remove wood in hope of the glue to let go) of the lower part of the clamp wood and it still does not budge, not for a 1/1000 of an inch or millimetre. Would you maybe know how does one go about a thing like that? How can I "know" where the thing is glued or how much, when there is no way to see? Is that possible or should I leave the part glued and try to slowly widen the holes so that the pegs fit normally? This really bummed me out.
I absolutely love your videos ! Very thorough . Cheers from Guitar Rx!!!
I build. But I've learned a shed load of new stuff from you. Passing on the craft - thank you.
I feel like i have have a good chance of being successful doing this after watching this video!
Oooop gotta go, I’ve got a hip replacement surgery to go do.
I watched a vid on how to do it here on CZcams. Pee-Pa is gonna be walkin around in no time. 😃
Hi Jerry. I've seen several interesting and valuable videos of yours. I am not a guitar maker, but I decided to build my first classical guitar. Seeing your videos for repairing bridges, I saw that sometimes you use different glues. When you glue a bridge for the very first time, what your preference of glue? (I mean, Titebond,...., and so on). Everytime I watch a video I learn a different thing. Thanks very much for your time of sharing your knowledge with others. Paulo Rosa - Brazil.
It's pretty cool we have the same last name. I always use Titebond whenever I can when it's wood to wood.
@@RosaStringWorks Is there a special type of "Titebond" glue that you use; theres' several types, thanks.
@@preacherjohn9986 Since you didn't get an answer, I'll answer your question. I believe I heard him clarify it in the video, but it's my experience also. You should use the Titebond original white glue. It creates a bond stronger the wood itself. I've used it to replace bridges, cracks in the tops, and cracked or broken necks. Any place that can be clamped to allow for drying time. For smaller or tight cracks i often use super glue, but the finishing process can be more difficult.
Thanks for the valuable information
If you dont have any clamp can i use something to weight it down?
After you put in the wood wedges in I was waiting for, "Now that's no good enough".
This was a damn good tutorial, sir.
Wow. I've a Fender DG-11 and those that made the guitar glued the bridge directly on top of the lacquer! Beware those Fenders made in Korea.
Exactly what happened to my Oscar Schmidt 12 string. After removing the bridge their is a 1/8" solid line of finish around the sides, and back of the bridge. I will be taking my time to repair this right. I don't want to do it twice...
RJ David well that's the way to do it for sure. Good luck to you my friend.
In later videos Jerry cleanes the face of the bridge with aceton from oil. That makes gluing much thighter in some cases
Great video! I've got an old acoustic (Flinthill I believe is the brand) that a buddy gave me years ago and it's laying around in my garage. He gave it to me because the bridge itself was cracked and started lifting. I removed the bridge and super glued it back together (using claps) and it seems like it's sturdy enough to re-use. I went ahead and lighting sanded the area and thought about glueing it back -- then I stubbled upon your video. My question to you is -- "should I buy a new bridge or is it okay to use the make shift one I glued back together?" I have tons guitars and have never attempted to repair any of the, so I thought I'd ask before I went ahead with it. Like I said, it's a beat up guitar and I'd love to keep using it for spur of the moment jams! Let me know. Thanks!
Since you've gone that far I would go ahead and get a new bridge and put on it. That solid bridge will provide part of your strength.
What glue are you using?
titebond 1. it's pretty much all he uses for wood to wood contact
Does it matter what wood glue you use?
I have a generic one from home depot
Doesn't the guitar have a bridge plate underneath? Wouldn't the plate bear most of the load?
Martin Mini Bk1 rather old now moved to an island where humidity caused the bridge to just fall off. I've tried repairing it now just this week for the 5th time. I honestly have no idea what I'm doing wrong, but as soon as I string it up the back rises up. I don't have the nifty bridge clamp, but i been using 4 C clamps and this last venture even went so far as to drill out a piece of wood and use screws/nuts into the pin holes to keep the pressure.
Titebond Ultimate, sand it all down, still rises. Maybe I should literally score and set the bridge like you do in this video?
I own an early 90’s 5214 Regent by Alvarez that shows a lengthwise shallow split on the rosewood bridge piece along where the string plug holes run. Plays fine, just that annoying drywood look split. The bridge piece is firmly attached so maybe I should string it with low tension strings?
Light strings would be a good idea and I would also keep an eye on it to see if it gets worse if so I would unstring it and get a new bridge made for it.
Great job. What kind of glue did you used and how whould you clamp it if you never had a sound hole like that one? Tia
Great work. Where do I get those clamps and this extratoole on top of the bridge. Which glue you use? Thank you, sir, greatings from Germany.
Medium gauge strings speeds up bridge and belly failure....I use only light gauge strings now...
I know this video is 8 years old but I just had an issue with my guitar and on the google search it brought up your video. I hope you see this and will be able to answer a question.
When my bridge failed it took a chunk out of the wood with it and when I feel under where the strings go it feels a bit chewed up. Would this still be okay to repair or do to these issues would it cause other failure issues?
The reason I believe it failed was because the bridge was attached directly to the lacquer. It took 30 + years though.
Where can i get a clamp like that?
What kind of glue is best for bridge repair? Carpenters Wood Glue (Elmers)?
Great video but why rely on just glue? Surely, a series of small screws or bolts (in additional to glue in old instruments) would be a better design?
Hi very good video. What type of wood glue do you use?
great video....i've learned a lot, one thing , where can i buy a cheap u clamp? ebay is soo expensive..
What if the wood under the bridge is not even or slight bulge, can I still re glue with screws and clamps?
I know im a bad boy been bad a long time. Haha love these sayings you come up with
I was tuning up my 12 string acoustic and later i noticed the back corners of the bridge had lifted.I was able to fit a piece of paper into the gap about 5mm .I didn't manage to tune the two G strings at all.So did i tension too tight,i don't know.But my heart sank.Should i loosen all the strings to relieve any more tension on the bridge?
I've got a lot of guitars, so this isn't an emergency, but I found a cheap Lyon by Warmoth near the dumpster in my apartment complex, and the bridge is pulling up. I cleaned it up, but I can't get the bridge to lay flat back down (strings are removed). I'm tempted to shove a flathead screwdriver in there to try to break the wood fragments that are coming up with the bridge, but I'm not sure if this is a dumb idea. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Have you tested your gluing method with other gluing methods? Are there any studies? Thanks
This is the exact same scenario that happened on my Recording King Rp-06 . Terrible factory workmanship. Guitar 3 years old.
Subbed, I just found u, do you have a video on bridge pins loose? Bought some none pins and I managed to keep them from backing out but they did fall straight in due to ebony matin pins so thick prior. Thank you
Have a question. I have an old bridge that is expensive and rare but cracked, is there a way to epoxy it or repair just that bridge with something very strong and maybe sawdust sand and restain?
Tension is force (not pressure), in the US you can measure that force in lbs (the SI unit is the Newton).
are you not better using hide glue cause it is more brittle and will carry vibrations better?
Wll, sir, I thank you for this video. I did my part along with you, couldnt find affordable clamps down here - the glue alone had bust the bank already - but did build a pair myself with some handy work. She's sitting pretty, glued up, clamped up, with wedges, bells and whistles and I'm left waiting. Since it has been in the family for so many years, an old 60s brazilian classical guitar that was the first guitar for every single man in my family, upon doing this work I noticed that a piece of wood inside of it, not longer than a toothpick and not much wider than a pencil is broken in half, just under the bridge on the backboard. Should i use the same glue to fix it? How would one proceed to clamp that tiny itsy bitsy piece of wood? Or should I just leave it there as a sign of 50-odd years of family music? Cheers, from Brazil!
Alexandre Bier agood wood glue is what I used. You might be able to clamp it by wedging a stick between the top and back. Thanks for watching.
The piece of wood that you found inside sounds like it might be an internal brace. Hopefully, you don't have a brace which was broken as the top deformed (as the bridge pulled up), because that would have likely left you with a deformed top, and I have seen Rosa String Works videos showing the amount of work required to flatten a top warped in this manner.
If you do have a broken internal brace (regardless of the cause), it should probably be replaced rather than glued back together (but it is also important to make sure whatever broke it is stable first).
Can I use any other wood Glue, Gorilla, PVA PolyVinyl Acetate?
Is hard struming on guitar, slap harmonic, can lifted the guitar?
Is there a certain kind of glue to use or just all purpose?
Not that much! D'Addario tells how exactly much tension is on each string, for a given scale length. For a 6 string acoustic, 120-160 pounds is about average, depending on gauge & scale length. 260-340 pounds for a 12 string, depending on string gauge and scale length, is about average. An electric with 10s is around 112 to 125 pounds. Some of these Asian shops have production quotas that are ridiculous. I have a Korean Sigma with some nightmarish brown glue that will NOT soften with heat at all. The old bridge is useless. It was ground convex, which is the opposite of what I need, so I found a new bridge top plate, and a Tusq saddle. I buy 3/16 (I think) dowel rods, cut them down to about 5/16"-3/8" long and wrap them with plumber's Teflon tape so my peg holes stay open. IT WORKS GREAT!
The last 12 string I did, had that brown glue from hell. I used 6 clamps, and two bridge clamps. It's a wide plate, and lots of wood tore out.
I use wedges too, but I made some from Delrin. Glue won't stick to it.
excellent video. thank you.
How deep the c clamps? 5"?
Hi,
I was thinking if wheter you could you just epoxy glue instead of wood or super glues? I though if I would fortify my new guitar in advance before it weakens. Good work.
I would never use epoxy on a bridge. In fact I don't use epoxy much at all on an instrument. It's too brittle and it always seems to crack and break and turn loose. That's just been my experience. Thanks for taking a look.
Is this a problem with recording kings ? I have a oarlor thats lifting and I can see wood still attached to the bridge where its lifting in back corner . The bridge almost looks warped
Great video!!
I have a classical guitar bridge that is just starting to lift in the back top corner ... do I have to remove the whole bridge just for a small portion that is lifting?
Beyond Limits Productions it's difficult to give a black-and-white answer. I would suggest taking a piece of paper like notebook paper and see how far you can slide the corner of the paper under the bridge. if it slides more than a quarter of an inch you probably need to remove the whole bridge. if it just barely goes under there you can probably get by with just putting a little blue around there and clamping it well
Thanks for video, I'm a little curious as to your # 3 glue on this bridge repair. Not that I have anything against it, I just thought Titebond Original was suppose to be best for transmitting sound. I've watched many of your videos and really appreciate the shared knowledge of your years of experience. Jeff Forte
Thanks for watching and commenting. Titebond original is what I use most of the time. It is excellent for this type of repair. If there is a difference in sound, I'm not aware of it. There are lots of "theories and claims" out there. Many completely without proof. Not trying to sound like a know it all, but seriously I really think you'd have a dog's hearing to hear the difference. If there really is one.
I have watched videos where other luthier say don't clamp too tight because you just squeeze all the glue back out and get a poor bond, so who is right? I re attached a bridge to a cheap Chinese acoustic 5 months ago using Franklin tight bond Red and a specially designed bridge clamp similar to what is shown here I made sure glue was squeezed from all around the bridge but deliberately did not clamp it completely tight as shown here, so far it is holding fine
I clamp it as tight as I can get it. Every time and I don't recall ever having a bridge failure. That's 35 years of doing it.
@@RosaStringWorks thanks for the advice, that was my first bridge repair on a cheap Chinese guitar, it's holding on fine for now but the next bridge I re attach I will take your advice and tighten all the way
All the scientific tests that I have seen show that shear strength is reduced with adhesive layer thickness.
Correctly applied wood glue will appear to mate with the wood surfaces no matter how thick the glue layer is but the harder you press the glue against the wood (in other words the tighter you clamp), the better it will fill the surface irregularities in the wood and bond to it.
And there is another important factor to consider. Wood glue (which is normally always PVA-based) has to remain slightly flexible when dry in order to cope with the expansion and contraction of the wood caused by ambient humidity. This means that it will absorb vibration and act as an acoustic insulation material. OK, the effect is minimal, but you still want as little sound-proofing material as possible under your guitar bridge!
Final verdict: you should do what Jerry does and clamp as tight as you can without causing damage to the surfaces that you are pressing against.
Is it okay to screw the bridge to the top board, when it doesn't stay after sticking. It's an acoustic guitar.
Hello Jerry, why not put a double orven four timeee a ide a bridge insid to give bridge something to hang on to?
Nice Work
cool thanks, got the iron today, I will make these clamps. I need to fix one.
+One Individual good luck to you. Thanks for watching.
I have an Ovation Balladeer from about 1997, and noticed the top bowing up behind the bridge. I use light or ultralight strings to minimise this, but it is still there
Last string change I ran my hand inside the guitar and noticed the wood screws holding the bridge in place. There is no plate on the underside, and the bracing crosses under the bridge near the screws. Is there anything I can do to keep from having a crack in the top behind the bridge?
Take a sheet of notebook paper and see if you can slide the corner under your bridge. If you can slide it between the bridge and the top of the guitar odds are you need to have the bridge removed everything needs to be completely cleaned off and it needs to be reglued. It may also help to put a larger Bridge pad under the bridge inside the guitar
Rosa String Works Thanks - only a small area separating right now, maybe 1/2 " section. Does not appear to have a bridge plate. Mainly hoping to prevent a problem. Thanks for your fast response.
Yours might be a problem of over humidity causing the belly. Search you tube for more info.
What glue do you use?
I had a weird bridge fail on a 60s Guild M-20. A narrow piece of the bridge snapped off in a narrow strip, almost exactly the same size as the saddle. I’d had a neck reset on this a couple years ago and I’m not sure if this failure was somehow a result of that work. My question is, can this be fixed (glued) or would it need a complete replacement?
Thank you for sharing. God bless.
what brand of glue youre using?
When you've scored the finish, hope do you remove the excess finish material?
Just a question sir, why can’t the bridge be tighten with screws and nuts. Or some sort of assembly inside the guitar to reduce the string pressure. Or some aluminium or metal construction can help this problem eliminate permanently. Because this is such a pain to seek the guitar wopped off.
Jitendra Wagh First of all all, mechanical fasteners (screws, metal, etc.) make a difference to the sound, and not in a good way. Second, believe it or not, screws almost always cause more damage to the top compared to a simple glue joint. What happens is that when the glue fails those two screws on either end of the bridge still hold on and they pull up in a specific spot and always crack the wood. In a few cases where they don't crack the wood or have it cracked it yet they at least distort the wood in those two locations. Bottom line is if it's done correctly a bridge glued with good glue will hold pretty much forever. So there's no need to put any type of mechanical Fasteners or metal or anything in that area which always dampen the sound some degree. Hope that helps.
Rosa String Works thank you Sir, It was great to hear from you.