Damm those evil slotted bridge pins!!!

[ken cierp]

Well even an "old dog can learn new tricks" This is a topic I really never gave much thought until I saw this post by David Collins

http://theunofficialmartinguitarforum.y ... 3ilOWd3u1t

So I contacted my go to guy John Greven and this is what he said:

Ken;
I have been slotting the bridge pin holes and using solid pins for decades. No only is it somewhat traditional, but it affords much greater durability to the pins and firmly seats the string ends against wood not plastic. Mostly its durability issue for me.

I use two different carbide cutters in my Dremel to notch the bridge slots, one for the high E and B and a larger one for the others. I slot all the way from the bottom of the bridge blank to the top where I roll the slot over in the direction the string will take on the way to the saddle. This reduces the break angle from bridge to saddle and increases the string to wood contact on the bridge.
John


I am convinced and will be adding some info in our KMG instruction for those who would like to add this feature to their project.

[Herman]

I use a little saw from stewmac for this purpose, but it seems they don't sell them anymore.

Now I see you use the D-word it in this the topic. I did not use it before, as it may offend others, but it looks like it is not that inappropriate here. This enlarges my English vocabulary in guitarbuilding expressions by 50%.

[ken cierp]

Oh that word is highly associated with woodworkers. Especially guitar makers, the incidents that cause us to blurt it out in the long run make us good repair persons.

[ken cierp]

I made my bridge ramping tool out of a super fine 22 tpi Saber/jib saw blade. I have one of the SM tools and it is, in my opinion far too course.

[Dave Bagwill]

That article was very interesting. When you have your instructions put together for the procedure I'll be very interested in reading them.

[Herman]

Yes ken, the saw is coarse. But a little file does the clean up.

[Tim Benware]

If been doing just that on my last few builds. This week I completed a repair on a 1974 Martin D 12-20. The old pins were still set high and the holes not tapered. Some where along the way someone had slotted the BP holes but he had slotted BPs in it. They had chewed up the bridge plate. I plugged the holes in the BP, re-drilled and reamed the new holes then replaced the slotted BP with solid ebony pins. Owner said he felt it now had more volume and better tone (a complaint he had when he brought it in). He's a happy camper now.

I use a small saw and a modified fret file to cut new holes and the Stewmac BridgeSaver to complete repairs. The Stewmac tool is expensive but does a great job and I have recouped my money several times over.