64 lg1 bridge plate

[Rodger C.Palmer]

 

My plate is grooved EtoE but not beyond at either end.I talked to a luthier that is going to replacie the plastic bridge and he said 3bills to replace the plat(OMG).

  I saw Franks demo on the maple overlay and wondered how that would affect the sound.I also thought

about razoring some long thread like strips soaking them in thinned down tightbond placing them in the groove then razor scraping the area flat after it's dry then re-drilling the holes

[Scott Supak]

If he is making a bridge from scratch, and a new saddle, and doing the bridge plate, any set up work etc. to hand you back a fully functioning, upgraded guitar, then $300.00 isn't so OMG. In fact, it's pretty reasonable!

A bridge plate overlay is definately advisable and should alter the expense in your favor. I'll only pull a bridge plate in cases of extreme damage, as in half missing. It's a lot of hairy work and there are several alternative methods of repair that are good remedies for a worn plate.

I would strongly advise anyone considering any work on their guitar to do everyone involved a favor by doing a bit of on-line investigation into what professional guitar repair actually costs. Given some adjusting for region and reputation, a person could get an idea of what to expect and avoid sticker-shock.

[Rodger C.Palmer]

 

  the 300 was just for the plate,another100 for putting in the belly up I supplied which came from steve chipman ,vintage parlor guitars he makes these specificaly for the lg replacement.and it came w/a bone saddle allready allready fitted

[Kerry Krishna]

Belly bridge you mean?  For my shop, $300 for a bridge plate replacement would be a bit much. This would be $325/350 in my shop.

[Scott Supak]

Three bills for the bridge plate alone is a bit pricey.

A small maple overlay would, in my opinion, have a negligable affect on tone and probably be an enhancement if anything.

The bridge plate in those guitars is usually made of spruce and prone to wear from the string ball-ends.

I'd want to make sure the screw holes were being plugged too.

 

 

[Rodger C.Palmer]

 

 I thought perhaps I would clean the worn groove a little and fashon a splice to glue in, razor scrape it flat and then

glue a maple overlay.--1/6"?1/8"?

[Dave]

My wife inherited a '66 LG-0 from her grandmother that had a plastic bridge and substantial tear out (a deep goove from E to e, that didn't look like it was caused by string balls) between the pin holes on the (apparently spruce) bridge plate. My local tech/luthier fashioned a new (Brazilian) rosewood bridge ($200), but we decided the most cost effective way to repair the bridge plate was to use overlapping maple plugs (cut and fashioned using StewMacs tool) to fill the entire torn out region from E to e, and then redrill after the new bridge was installed. That bridge plate repair was only $50.

[Paul Hostetter]

I have yet to see a commercially available bridge to replace the plastic ones that's worth buying, but I'm all ears.

$300 for just the plate sounds quite wrong. 

I've done this procedure dozens of times, like this.

[John]

I didn't know that tool (mezzotint rocker) had a name Paul. An old school builder I worked with had a chisel the he'd modified. So I did the same with a Dremel cut off wheel. I like your approach to this repair ...I'm sure I'd have the bridge pins at the front on the first try.

[Rodger C.Palmer]

I spoke with

 the luthier who spializes in  vintage guitars guitars ie lg1s and made my matching bridge.He said to use Bras ebony it's the stiffest and because the lg1 is ladder braced the plate is longer and will takesome of the hump

out if sandwiched with anice long caul and 5 clamps.