Acoustic Guitar Construction

Yep -- pocket holes!

The lowden bridge has nice weight/size scale the relief extending all the way across does that -- like a river canyon rather then a hole in the wood. Matter of fact curved chanel would be pretty cool to my eye.

Looking closer at that Mottola bridge I see that it does have a curved ramp. Maybe it looks bulky because it is bulky? There's is not much saddle reveal so perhaps its way thicker than normal/average? I can see that the string stop area is much thicker then the others.

It is bulky, and looking at some other designs has made me change my mind about that particular bridge.

On a very mundane and practical note, a pinless bridge is a pain in the backside during a tricky setup. With a pin bridge you can easily take tension off the strings, pull the pins and get the strings out of the way so you can pull the saddle, file a fret, or whatever else. Not so with a pinless bridge. I've installed this kind of bridge on two different projects this year. I love the look and the owners love the ease of restringing, but it can be awkward and impractical under certain circumstances.

Thanks Tom, things to consider.

Electric string winder?

I tend to leave the strings pegged and unwind anyway. I am not sure why I do this.