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Hi People- I'm in a fix here, in as much as I need a fixture of some sort to make a bridge plate for an acoustic guitar.   I mainly need some sort of fixture to hold the blank still while I cut the slot to hold saddle.
I hope I have explained this well enough for someone out there in guitar building land to give me an idea or two. any pics. and other info will be appreciated, and thank you for any and all answers to this post.
Peace, Donald

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Donald - If you plan on buying a router, I recommend the Bosch Colt, available at Lowes, Home Depot, etc. You'll also have to buy a 1/8" collet available on line at gpcollets.com
hey Jack- I'm an old cabinet maker ( not to be confused with a cabinet maker that is old)
and I maybe have 6 or more routers in my arsenal of tools and I'm sure that I have one that will do for me, but thanks for the suggestion just the same.
Peace----
One more thing Donald, before I begin to route the slot, I drill a hole with the router bit on the drill press at the leading edge of the slot, the depth of the slot. Then as you lower the router, it has the hole to go into.
Hey Jack, I have started to make a jig that kind of represents the one that you made with the exception, that I'm using part of my "true channel" jig to replace the holder that you hand made. I also plan on drilling a starter hole and a ending hole so I have a place to start and a place to finish my saddle channel.
Hope I have explained this so you can understand it, and thank you for the posts and the help.
I think I will post some pics. of my jig when I get it completed...
Peace
Please do post the pictures Donald. Not to be too picky, but I would not drill an ending hole, it ends where it ends and you might miss the exact location of the hole. Use a stop on the slide for the end location.
I make my bridge then glue it on the top before cutting the saddle slot. That way I can make sure to get the correct intonation with compensation. Here's a pic of my fixture. littleguitargreg

You're braver than I am Gregory. How many passes do you make with the router? How do you control the end points accurately?
Jack, I pencil in the end points and a line indicating the leading edge of the slot. I set up the movable fence so that the router base glides along at the correct location and angle. As far as controling when to stop at the end points I'm usually very good if I set up with a good light and watching carefully when the routher bit gets to my end marks. If my frame of mind that particular day is not at peak performance, (or if I've had too much coffee) I've also clamped small blocks on both ends so that the router base has a hard stop.

peace, Greg
So, do you run those bolts through four big holes in the body? Seems pretty stable! ;)
Ted, Yes! and then I fill the holes with Elmers wood putty, then soak in super glue! It really makes for a very unique look! hahahahaha The bolt heads are countersunk into the opposite side of the jig (oops, fixture). I marked the outline of the head and chiselled out the rescess for a perfect fit to lock the heads from spinning. Notice there are two pairs, depending on which direction the wings flair out. I can spin the fixture either way to have the flat side of the bridge against the flat side of the fixture cut-out.

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