I have been busy working on the guitar for the last couple of weeks. The small stuff always takes the longest.
Routing the PU cavities and the electronics bay took ages and wore out a few router bits - oak is hard!
As I mentioned earlier, I wanted a bridge that 'bridged' the river. This rules out the standard TOM bridge as it is too narrow and would mean drilling the inserts into the clear resin - not a good look.
So I looked to design my own bridge with 6 slots that each hold a small piece of fretwire to act as saddles. Bridges like this do exist - I think Simon Bardon was involved in a thread about one a couple of days ago.
The problem I had was how to make it height adjustable. This brings me nicely to my pet hate!
Have you noticed how the threads on the posts and inserts of the standard TOM bridges are all sloppy. I know the pressure of the strings holds everything in position but threads that are loose is just sloppy engineering! Rant over.
So, below are some pictures showing the structure of the bridge - it is not finished yet but I made the parts on my lathe and the bridge is made of maple and walnut. The saddle plate is maple and walnut topped with ebony.
I guess you can see how it will fit together.
Turning the threads was fun. I used the tailstock of the lathe to put pressure on the die and then turned the chuck by hand - last time I did that was when I learned the method at school over 50 years ago! (Lathe was switched off and unplugged for that before someone mentions Health and Safety)
Don't know if it will work but it is fun trying these things out!
Cheers
Ricky