Need a fixture

[Donald A. Fortune]

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

[Mike Kolb]

Hey Donald.... while reading the problem, I had to re-read a few times. You're not slotting a bridge plate, right? A bridge blank perhaps? Anyway, it reminded me of a jig I built a few years ago to work with a bridge that's off the guitar (the actual particular problem at the time escapes me) but it comes in handy every now & again.

The bridge is mounted onto a squared-up little block of wood, via machine screws through the outside string holes, and into 6-32 threaded inserts in the small wood block. That unit (bridge and block) is then placed in the larger (gray) fixture and it's held tight (and the placement can be fine-tuned) with the threaded rods on the exterior of the gray box. It all clamps-down in a mill or what-have-you... and it works OK. Hope that helps?


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[Donald A. Fortune]

Hi Mike, Ya know, I think with a few mods, that kind of thing is just what the Dr. ordered.
thanx for the post :-)

[Rick Gentry]

That's fantastic! Excellent and thoughtful.

[Jim Bancroft]

I have a home-made jig for routing saddle slots, and can be used with the bridge on or off the guitar. I use a Dremel tool for routing the slot. If the bridge is off the guitar I hold it in the jig with double stick tape.

Jim.

[Jack Lord]

I use a pin router setup. Keep the router stationary and slide the bridge blank. I zero in on the top of the blank, then lower the router in increments until I reach the desired depth. The blank is held at the desired angle (approx 3 deg) by a wedge. I have also started to angle the slot 8 or 9 deg toward the bridge pins as recommended by Rick Turner. This improves the reliability of an undersaddle pickup, and makes the bridge generally stronger. I do this by angling the blank in the fixture.

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[Donald A. Fortune]

Hi Jack-- (don't want to say that at an air port)
That set up that you have looks like it might work well in a drill press as well as the way you have it.
Thank you for the post-- Peace

[Jack Lord]

I'm not sure you'll get the RPM you need.

[Mike Kolb]

Howdy Jack.... that's a pretty slick looking compact pin-router. Is there much up-and-down travel available? Any chance of sharing some detailed pics or drawing up some plans? I've been looking to build something similar and yours looks like just the ticket. Thanks...

[Mike Kolb]

PS... any guy who date-codes his TiteBond is alright in my book!

[Donald A. Fortune]

Hey Mike As far as the fixture that Jack made looks like you could use part of a channel making device that I have to do bindings. It rides up and down on an aluminum post type of thing and it also has a stop, so the depth can be met.
I'm taking in all the info on this one because I'm beginning to make my own custom bridges,
and this can be the start of something new for me, since I have always purchased bridges that were already made. Peace

[Jack Lord]

Thank you Mike, I'm flattered. Here's a better overall view. Nothing fancy, it's basically the binding router fixture from LMI. You can see it's resting on a dowel about 2" in diam. I start by placing 4 or 5 spacers on it that total the depth I want, zero it on on the surface of the piece and then remove the spacers one at a time for each pass. Very hi-tech. I have also recently adapted it for a Bosch Colt router that has a fine depth adjustment, so I can vary the depth that way.

[Donald A. Fortune]

hey Jack-- you may have something there as far as the R.P.M. of a drill press goes, Good thought -- Peace