#2 - The Final Step — tyson hand-did

The Final Step | After celebrating our freedom from tyranny (at least one kind) with gluttony and explosions, I spent the last hour of the day gluing up the bridge of my second guitar build so it can set up overnight.

Gluing the bridge in place is one of those areas that I get ultra obsessive about, checking and rechecking all my calculations and measurements over and over again. If this is wrong, the whole guitar is wrong.

As I mentioned in the last post, this bridge is a pinless design meaning the strings do not pass through holes drilled in the top of the guitar. To position the bridge and also add a little more support along the direction of the string tension, I glued three small maple dowels in place that connect with the underside of the saddle slot in the bridge.

The bridge is usually the last piece to be glued in place AFTER the guitar is finished with oil or lacquer. This means you have to find the correct position of the bridge, mark and mask it all off to keep the raw wood open for a good glue joint. This doweling process made that whole process a little easier.

When I get home this afternoon, I will take off the clamps, make the nut, do some final finishing pieces and hopefully string this baby up.