William Johanson's Page

Great!  Is there a specific length you need it in?  The purfling strips are about 3 ft long give or take and it would probably be cheaper to send them in shorter lengths if that’s not an issue.  I'll try to get it out tomorrow.

Hi William, 

I never heard back from you about length so I bought a shipping tube and sent 3 sticks to you at full length.  That should give you more than enough.  Hope it works!

I've got about $6.00 bucks in the tube and shipping and I won't charge you for the purling.  Glad to help out a fellow Benson restorer!  You can send me check or pay pal me at vallillo@macomb.com.

Hey Bill,

Thanks for the $.  Hope this works out for you.  Re the bridge, I'll take pics soon and forward them tonight.  I've been looking mine over closely because it has been drilled and screwed onto the top.  From other Benson pics, I've determined the it's likely the original brides that was drilled with screws added like the old Gibson bridges of the 50s and 60s.  In this case, instead of pearl inlays, they just used glue and sawdust.  It's a basic pyramid bridge with a bone saddle. I may replace it with a CAD copy.  I've used a guy in MI before and I'll check and see if he has this one in his files already.  If so. I'll shoot you his contact info. 

Hi Bill,   I measured the bridge last night and it's exactly 1" wide and 6" long and is a standard style pyramid bridge (not to be confused with the "Martin Style" pyramid bridge).  The spacing for the pin holes is 2 1/4" Center E to Center E.

Here are several shots to see the shape:

Andy Birko has created several replacement bridges in the past with a CAD machine (with excellent results) and may have these already.  His web site is currently shut down due to medical issues but it suggests that it will be open again soon.  You can google him to get the web site.