Mis-aligned bridge holes

[adam]

Hey guys,

We have a customer who is really unhappy that he has received a kit that has "mis-aligned" bridge post holes. You can see from the photos that he has had to fill the holes with dowel and re-drill, which has ruined the great finish he has.

I wanted to ask the community how they would handle this one. You know our philosophy, if the kit we supply is faulty, we will replace or refund.

However, with this one, I don't know if the holes are incorrectly drilled or if he's put the neck on crooked?

What would you like to see to determine whether the kit is faulty? (I did ask for measurements, but haven't received anything yet)?

Thanks for your input. Hopefully the customer concerned will join this conversation and describe the issue.

[adam]

sorry, forgot to add the photos.

[Analyst69]

Seems like the strings don't line up nicely over the pickups now the bridge has been moved.

I assume this is a set neck kit. I have only built one set neck kit (non-pitbull) but there was some very valuable advice on this forum (and others) about checking the alignment before gluing. If I had not read this I may have had a result like this.

I still have a pitbull LP1 kit to build and from all my preliminary checking, the neck lines up nicely, but has a small amount of movement and will need some care t line up with the bridge. A millimetre of movement at the joint can equate to a lot across the length of the neck.

I think the million dollar question here is did the builder follow the forum information for aligning the neck as detailed in the following link?

http://www.pitbullguitars.com/?page_...wtopic&t=302.0

I really think that not following the procedure (or similar) is bound to cause these problems. And it should definitely be worked out before applying finish.

Maybe in future there needs to be something in big 24 point font in the box that tells people they must refer to the forum information before assembling their guitar.

Not sure if this helps.

Cheers

Darren

[stan]

bit hard to tell from the pics if the holes we misaligned in the first place, you need an overall pic from directly above to form any opinion on this one.

I have a lefty ES kit with bridge hole drilled for a right instead of left - I was offered a refund, but intend to make it work - I am planning to inset a piece of ebony across the area, and redrill - make a feature of it.

Alternatively you could put discs like washers under the bridge posts, just big enough to hide offset holes, and cover the repair,
Or paint a solid colour.

[vh2580]

It could be just the photo angle, but if you look at the right side of the bridge and can see half a hole of dowel and can also see dowel on the left side ( unless its chipping). If you moved the bridge left you should technically see only finished body similar to how the tailstock looks,
Agree you need an overhead of the body and measurements.

[Analyst69]

With the bridge moved a few millimetres north, the strings don't align nicely over the pickup posts. In this context, for it to be a fault of the guitar kit the neck heel route would have to be totally mis-aligned with the pickup routes (and bridge).

Not sure this would be possible unless the body actually shifted in the middle of routing. Assuming its a CNC, I would expect the body to stay put.

Cheers

Darren

[Analyst69]

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from vh2580 on January 5, 2014, 18:45
It could be just the photo angle, but if you look at the right side of the bridge and can see half a hole of dowel and can also see dowel on the left side ( unless its chipping). If you moved the bridge left you should technically see only finished body similar to how the tailstock looks,
Agree you need an overhead of the body and measurements.

Well spotted vh2580. Looking at the bridge in the photo which shows the left side post, and comparing it with my factory guitars with tun-o-matics, the bridge angle now looks way too severe. I'm not entirely sure the fix is in the right place now (although doesn't answer the question of whether the kit was faulty).

Cheers

Darren

[Analyst69]

Don't mean to be the only one commenting so much on this one (maybe I should gather my thoughts better before posting).

FWIW, I suspect a crooked neck gluing. Taking into account the strings not lining up over the pickup posts and the moved bridge position not aligning centrally over the middle cap join (I know, its not necessarily always centred), I don't believe the claim that the bridge posts were misaligned. The neck route could still, however, have been crooked.

I do think the following photo is the one we need to understand how the neck is seated (and confirm if it is the route or the gluing):

Cheers

Darren

[AJ]

think you need a neck join close up (left n right and top) and also a view from the head stock back down the neck... that should clear up any miss alignment issues..

[Gavin1393]

Ok, you go away for a few hours and this happens!!

As many of you know "intonation" was my original birth name.....

Using the pickup surround as a reference, there is no way that that bridge is currently in the correct position. A detailed overhead shot will confirm this I am sure. Simply, the difference in string length between high 'e' and low 'e' is usually a max of 2-3mm. This looks far in excess of that! In fact I'd suggest that there is no way the intonation can even be set on this guitar, as the low 'e' looks to be about 5mm or more 'longer' than high 'e'.

Bring on the overhead shot!

Given where the dowels have been placed though does suggest that the bridge itself is not wide enough to have had any chance of fitting in the predrilled holes. Again this could have been avoided with the obligatory pre-build routine.