Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on May 9, 2011 at 6:26am

Hey Colin,

I just noticed this has gone unanswered. Sorry about that! Did you find a solution?

I have never had this particular problem so I am not sure I have much to offer. All the pin style bridges I have messed with are on standard acoustic bridges.

I dont see how the distance of the string from saddle to pin would have as much influence as the angle of pull. It should be a sharp angle. If I were looking at it the first thing I would check is for a good pin fit. The taper of the pin should match the taper of the hole. There are two standard tapers as I recall, 3 and 5 degrees. Most modern guitars use 3, but I think Martin might be the exception.

Also, the pin should extend through the top and some amount of material used to brace the area. Perhaps a bit of rosin on the pin would add a little friction to the fit? I would also look for a notch in the hole to allow for the string, so the pin can fit snuggly in its bore.

Hope that helps!

Mark

Permalink Reply by colin mcgrath on May 9, 2011 at 3:44pm

I did drill the hole too big the first time. I used dowel and wood glue to fill the hole. When I installed the string/pin combo the first time all was okay, I did not tighten the strings to tune though. Later, while tuning the guitar the end almost smacked me in the face. There was a groove formed in the wood already...maybe just too soft of wood? I will have to experiment...I was just wondering if anyone has already gone through these same steps, to avoid my fooling around.

 

And by the way thank you for the response. I do try to look most of my questions up in the search. Sometimes, however, I cannot seem to get the right nomenclature.

Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on May 25, 2011 at 5:17pm

are you useing a tapered reamer to make the hole fit the taper of the pin?  a hole drilled will only offer a small part of the hole to contact the taper of the pin.  A hole tapered with a tapered reamer will contact the entire length of the pin, thus a tight fit....

 

hope this helps,

the best,

 

Wichita Sam

Permalink Reply by colin mcgrath on May 26, 2011 at 5:37pm

No, I do not have one. It is on my to get list, it seems that more and more tools get added to that list with each build. 8v)

Thank you

C-

Permalink Reply by Tom Agg on June 6, 2011 at 11:04pm

I've used bridge pins with two of my builds and have designed what I think is a pretty good bridge assembly. The pins are drilled into a block of timber at the heel of the guitar which has horisontal holes meeting up with the vertical ones, this creates a void in which the end of the string gets stuck.

Attachments:

• P1010057.JPG, 599 KB
• P1010056.JPG, 590 KB

Permalink Reply by colin mcgrath on June 7, 2011 at 4:49am

Tom, that looks cool. Are the holes at top and bottom of the horizontal hole different sizes?

Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on June 7, 2011 at 5:48am

I like the look of that. Still need a proper tapered reamer though.

Permalink Reply by Tom Agg on June 13, 2011 at 1:50pm

The holes are tapered so I guess the bottom ones are smaller, I dont own a reamer so I drilled the hole straight and used the pointy handle end of a file as a reamer and it did a great job

colin mcgrath said:

Tom, that looks cool. Are the holes at top and bottom of the horizontal hole different sizes?