Guitar Bridge

February 2025 

This classic guitar had been recovered from a skip by a guitarist who only saw the case.  It had (criminally?) been strung with steel strings, ultimately tearing the bridge off.

As with all glue repairs, the process was to thoroughly clean and dress both surfaces - body and bridge - of all residue, down to the timber.  The guitar face is of small thickness, I carved the cross-hatch keying into the bridge only.

On an acoustic guitar with a body bridge, the bridge is the point on the guitar that is under the greatest tension.  Accordingly, the glue must be ridiculously strong. Also, on both surfaces take care that the glue is bonded to the entire surface and will not easily drag off.

Once glued, the bridge was clamped tight enough to push excess glue out around the edge.  This glue was left in place, so as to not smear.

The clamps were removed after three days, and the excess glue was trimmed off using a scalpel, and a bead of shellac run around the edge to seal the join.

When restrung, the strings were not brought up to full tension for a day, and then re-tuned twice a day for the next week to both stretch them in, and to ensure the integrity of the bond.