Mark's PRS-1H Buid

[Bakersdozen]

I got one of those Musiclily bridges and couldn't use it on my PRS-1H build as it sat too high. Even with the posts wound all the way in my action at the 12th fret was still 4mm.

Sadly as an experiment I tried the same bridge on my PRS SE245 and got a similar result. Both my guitars currently sport the fixed intonation bridges and the adjustable bridge sits in my parts box...

Doing some final rounds to get scale length, neck angle and ensure I don't run into the same issues. With the bridge right on the deck, the strings touch the 24th fret, so I've got plenty of clearance to bring it up. The pics are with the bridge sitting about 2mm off the deck and that gives me less than 1mm at the 24th fret. Plenty of room to adjust when setting up.

The measurements for mine also look fine. In fact the Musiclilly bridge looks to be a tiny bit shorter than the one supplied with the kit. The bridge itself is about the same height but has string indents which make it shorter. Plus the bottom of the post screws are thinner and the top of the post inserts is thinner allowing the bridge to sit lower than the supplied bridge. So all up about 2mm lower for mine.

Winning!

[Marcel]

Cool Bananas...

I dug my bridge out of the box and it looks different to yours. A browse of Ebay sellers quickly confirmed that I have a "Bad Ass" adjustable wrap around bridge which at its highest point is 16mm tall for the D an G strings and a mountainous 14.75mm tall for the two E strings. Add a touch of height adjustment just so the bridge is slightly off the deck and it all goes wrong very fast.

Just measured my PRS SE245 with the original bridge fitted and adjusted and it turns out that in a pinch I could just use this 'Bad Ass' bridge though it definitely would be hard down on the deck. Would look odd too as the PRS machine heads are chrome and the Bad Ass bridge is Gold...

[Bakersdozen]

Cool Bananas...

I dug my bridge out of the box and it looks different to yours. A browse of Ebay sellers quickly confirmed that I have a "Bad Ass" adjustable wrap around bridge which at its highest point is 16mm tall for the D an G strings and a mountainous 14.75mm tall for the two E strings. Add a touch of height adjustment just so the bridge is slightly off the deck and it all goes wrong very fast.

Just measured my PRS SE245 with the original bridge fitted and adjusted and it turns out that in a pinch I could just use this 'Bad Ass' bridge though it definitely would be hard down on the deck. Would look odd too as the PRS machine heads are chrome and the Bad Ass bridge is Gold...

Based off your build diary, I had a feeling you may have got these confused, but you had me a little paranoid... I did plan to do these final checks again before finishing and setting the neck. I'm glad I did. Always pays to triple check these things before mating them for life.

[Sonic Mountain]

Coming together well. Having the neck angle and straightness sorted is a big step.

[Bakersdozen]

Coming together well. Having the neck angle and straightness sorted is a big step.

Thanks mate, and a huge "relief" that's it's going to work lol

[Marcel]

Something that's not visible in my build diary is how I ensured that the neck is/was in the correct place when I set it...

When dry I found the correct location for the nut and 12th fret relative to the bridge. I then created a block spacer (in my case a tiny piece of plywood) to fit in the gap between the neck tongue and the back of the first PU cavity. Essentially I extended the neck tongue to the back of the hole.

After glueing the spacer block in place in the PU hole I could then be sure the neck would be in the correct place when I set it eliminating the need to do bridge to 12th fret measurements during the actual neck setting process.

A picture tells a thousand words.

[Bakersdozen]

Something that's not visible in my build diary is how I ensured that the neck is/was in the correct place when I set it...

When dry I found the correct location for the nut and 12th fret relative to the bridge. I then created a block spacer (in my case a tiny piece of plywood) to fit in the gap between the neck tongue and the back of the first PU cavity. Essentially I extended the neck tongue to the back of the hole.

After glueing the spacer block in place in the PU hole I could then be sure the neck would be in the correct place when I set it eliminating the need to do bridge to 12th fret measurements during the actual neck setting process.

A picture tells a thousand words.

Great tip thanks Marcel. I was thinking along the same lines, however it didn't dawn on me to do this prior to setting. The heel on my neck unfortunately isn't a flush 90° angle, so it will take some creativity to get the spacer shaped correctly.

Fortunately, for me the scale length is perfect when I align the end of the fretboard with the neck side of the pickup rout. So I already have a good marker

[Marcel]

Great tip thanks Marcel. I was thinking along the same lines, however it didn't dawn on me to do this prior to setting. The heel on my neck unfortunately isn't a flush 90° angle, so it will take some creativity to get it shaped.

Neither was mine. I took the plunge and squared off the end of the neck tongue, which gave me a nice even 7mm gap all the way across that the ply snugly filled.

When I set the neck the excess glue 'solidified' the tiny chunk of ply.... In my axe the neck is pretty damn solid in the body now....

[Bakersdozen]

Okay, thanks. That sounds easily do-able. Better to be able to fit a square spacer in.

[Bakersdozen]

Some progress...
Fitted the Grover's, measuring tusq nut, playing around with TRC ideas, added bridge posts and wiring has started.