I put the new two point bridge in place and measured everything, and it looked like the "north" bridge post needs to go almost exactly where there was already a hole. Since it's a mm or two off center from where the current hole is, I plugged the hole with a dowel.
The place where the hole goes on the "south side" would have put it off the center block. You are all probably sick of me saying that the center blocks in these ES bodies are super narrow. If anything is a little off center you're cooked. And on this bass the bridge needed to move a little to the south.
So, I got out the forstner bit and drilled about 1 5/8 deep with a 1 3/8 bit into the front:
I then plugged the hole with a piece of recycled closet rod.
Here's a pic of the inside taken through the F-hole:
In placing the original three point bridge, I had already broken out the side of the center block. I glued in a piece of wood in a vain attempt to hold the post threaded ferrule in place. It didn't work. When I would try to raise the south side of the bridge, it was just spinning the ferrule in the hole. I needed to get a big piece of wood in there to hold the ferrule solidly. I just could not find a way to do that through the f-hole. I was able to glue a piece of wood in place, but because of the arched top, it was not flush with the top (you can see that in the pic). It was, however, solidly bonded to the center post, so it is helping to hold the rod in place on the south side. you can see the glued piece at the top of the last pic.
Although this put a big hole in the top, it was actually the least intrusive way I could think of to extend the side of the center block far enough to accommodate the ferrule.
When it dries the next step will be to cut the rod as flush as possible and then sand down the rest of the way. After that I'll drill for the new bridge.
Reply With Quote