El Degas F175 bridge question

[chuben]

Well, the templates are cut, cauls made, 1/8" Maple ordered... I have fish glue and Titebond original from the earlier. I assume Titebond for both plate and bridge? I feel that I'm ready and hope to glue the plate Thursday night or Friday and the bridge Sat or Sun

[Barry]

Sounds like you're on your way!

I would go with TiteBond, for everything.

Fish glue has its supporters but TiteBond is more consistent and reliable over time in my view. It's doesn't get brittle and contrary to popular belief it is more predictable when removing parts, not more difficult.

Just be certain that the surfaces are clean and debris free, etc. and don't be afraid of glue "squeeze out".
You want to see that, the more the better. It ensures that the parts are mating well and that there are no air gaps which will cause the bond to fail.

You cannot physically squeeze out all the glue

Good luck!

[Barry]

Just another tip for you while I remember it, before you restring the guitar take a few minutes to chop (or sand) the bottoms of the bridge pins at a 45º angle or thereabouts.

This will ensure that the ball end of the string will ride up into the slot where it belongs and not get jammed on the new bridge plate like what happened before. That's what chewed up the wood around the string holes.

Have a look at this StewMac video if you've not done this before: https://www.stewmac.com/video-and-ideas ... idge-pins/

It also doesn't hurt to put a slight bend in the string end with your pliers. This also helps the string track better into the pin without getting caught on the end of the pin.

[chuben]

I normally remove all the old strings then put the new strings through the bridge and pin them, place my hand in the sound hole and feel to make sure that the balls are in the right place. That may sound odd, but that’s how I do it….. I did a dry fit with the new bridge and it looks as if I’ll have to put the old one back on. Not only was it offset by about an 1/8”, but it sat crooked. Also, the action would be much higher regardless of what I could do. Oh well, I bought it to experiment and learn on.

[Barry]

I kinda had the suspicion the new bridge would not solve your high action problem.

But, a new bridge needs to be centred and squared up relative to the neck and positioned for correct intonation, it cannot simply be put into the old location because the footprint will be different.

You would need to trace around it with a sharp xacto knife and carefully remove any finish that is under it. Wood to wood contact is required to glue it properly.

If the new bridge is very thick you might consider removing some material from the bottom, but don't overdo it. The effect on string action is 0.001" drop on the neck for every 0.002" removed on the bridge. In other words, 2:1 ratio so you would have to remove a lot in your case, from what I can surmise, which would weaken everything.

Yes you can reuse the original bridge however, you would first have to glue that crack up and make it solid.
But then you still have the issue of that wide metal adjustable saddle and the damaged bridge slot. I would not re-install that.

What I did on my '75 elDegas Dove which has the same adjustable saddle, was to fit a Tusq saddle which was originally designed for a Gibson adjustable saddle. It made a huge difference to the volume and tone! But didn't help with high action.
I currently have it strung with 11's and tuned down 2 steps and it plays fine with my old arthritic hands.
Read about it here: http://eldegas.com/forum/viewtopic.php? ... 802&p=5122

Short of a neck reset, it looks like you're not going to be able to lower the action much, if at all but you can make the guitar much more playable.

[chuben]

I never really thought that I’d get the action much lower and a neck reset is way out of my league. Anyway, I haven’t totally given up, I just need to rethink the situation.

[Barry]

Good on ya for sticking with it! You'll learn a ton of stuff in the process.

Yeah, a neck reset is not for the faint of heart but it ain't rocket science neither. Like everything else it takes care and patience plus some specific equipment to pull it off (no pun intended ).

After it's removed there is usually a lot of old glue cleanup plus a bit of math required to determine the new neck angle and how much material needs to be removed in order to get it. It can be a tedious process.

It's up to you of course, but I still think repairing/replacing the bridge is doable.
From there you can either restring with a lighter gauge and drop the tuning and/or add a capo back up to pitch, or stay with 12's and plan on using the guitar for slide. Either way you should have a better sounding guitar with more volume, so that's a win in my book.

[chuben]

I received the maple and it has been cut and glued. I’ll glue the bridge tomorrow. You said that you used a Gibson saddle on an adjustable bridge? Can you provide a photo of that setup?

[Barry]

No, I replaced the adjustable saddle with a wide Gibson saddle that was made for their version of the saddle. Throw that metal thing away! Are you planning on using the original bridge now?

I gave you the link to my post above which details what I did.

[chuben]

Yes, I’m planning on putting the old bridge back on. The other bridge was off set about 1/8” and was slightly crooked when I put the pins in. I like the idea of the Gibson saddle and that may be the route to take.

[Barry]

It should work OK.
You'll likely be doing some sanding to make it fit, and of course you'll still have higher action that you'd like.
But it's a straight forward mod.

[chuben]

Well, everything is back together and the Gibson saddle has replaced the old adjustable one. The saddle did help get intonation close to perfect, and with your suggestions it has a slightly lower action. It was a fun project, and thank you for your advice. Maybe a neck reset is in the future?

[Barry]

Hey congratulations!
Happy I was able to help!

Yeah, a neck reset is the ultimate fix for high action, assuming everything else is stable that is. I don't know if you are going to attempt it but it does demand a pretty good understanding of what you're doing and probably some specialized tools that you may not have.

You might want to practice on a beater guitar first.
Enjoy that bad boy!