BRIDGE SHAPING
The
first step in making the bridge is to cut all the blanks to the proper
length. As with many aspects of guitar building, it is
time-effective to do a whole batch at once.
The basic outline of my bridge is cut on the spindle shaper, and
there is photo of this jig HERE.
Here I am using the spindle shaper to cut the profile of my
"belly bridge." The jig is one sided - I cut one side and
then flip the blank over to cut the other side. This automatically
makes a symmetrical blank.
The pyramid bridges are quite different. I have started a page on that process HERE.
After this is done, I rough shape the top of the bridge on my belt sander.
The shape is curved both side to side and from to back, and by a bit of
careful "rolling" I can come quite close.
After the basic shape is created I sand the ears of the bridge to
the correct thickness. The curvature of the ears is created by the
drum sander (which is simply a large drum mounted in my lathe).
A closer view.
This sander can
be set up with finer grits than the sander in my lathe. I use it to
finish sand various parts of the bridge. By varying the degree to
which the drum is inflated, and thus its "hardness", I can use
this for flat surfaces (as shown here) or for curved surfaces such as the
top of the bridge.
These days I use my oscillating spindle shaper for much of the shaping of the bridge. Works wonderfully. I love this tool!!
The belt sander is used for some more final shaping, and then a small
amount of hand sanding will complete the bridge.
After the
bridge is shaped, I drill the holes. I use an arc to lay out the pin
holes for two reasons. First, I like the look. Second, it may
help to prevent cracked bridges of all of the pin holes are not on the
same grain line. This may or may not be a real advantage. The
next steps are on the next page about gluing a bridge
in place.
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