- Located bridge on body by measuring 645.2mm down from bottom of nu to bottom E string crossover point
- Centred by laying straight edge down side of fretboard and measuring distance across to holes of both E strings. Once distance is the same, bridge is centred.
- Make square with neck by using fret ruler laid centrally on neck to flat edge of bridge with end of ruler
- Put masking tape in approximate position across bridge location
- Clamped in place with bridge clamps through sound hole then drilled through E string pin holes with 2 drill bits to locate
- Carefully score around bridge location with knife and remove around bridge
- Masked up sound hole by gradually building up tape from the outer edges of sound hole till small hole left in centre.
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- Put bridge into jig
- Measured length and location of slot from template bridge
- Mark out length on jig top so router only moves that length
- Cut channel through jug top using 1.5mm bit in router
- Fit jig top to bottom at location of slot as marked on bridge. Screw top of jig to bottom
- Route through top plate of jig in 3mm increments till saddle slot is 9mm deep
- Marked outline of bridge onto block
- Cut outline roughly on band saw
- Shape to final outline on bobbin sander
- Used routing table and 6mm bit to route bottom edge
- Finished off on bobbin sander & with sandpaper, file and spokeshave
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Fret Board
- Took off the clamps and wood holding down the frets on the fret board. Unfortunately they didn’t hold in place and all but the 1st fret had to be removed to start again.
- Sanded back the fret board and reglued one fret after leaving the sanding grit in the fret channel to see if it would hold. Left for 2 hours to dry.
- Came back after 2 hours and fret still hadn’t stuck
- Got an off-cut of fret board and sanded enough powder to make a ‘gap-filler’ paste and spread over the side of the fret that needed re-bedding and put on excess glue on frets and re-inserted.
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Heel Plate
- Cut redgum hell plate on band saw
- Glued to back of heel
Fret board
- Sanded fret board with 150 to flush pearl inlaysCut frets to width of fret board (decreasing size)
- Lay out the frets in order of size
- Set up the fret board clamp by clamping to bench with g-glamps
- Wipe each fret with small amount of glue and press in with fret clamp
- Wipe off excess glue as you go
- Once all fitted, clamp strips of wood across sides of fret board to hold in place
Bridge
- Bridge sequence – flatten bottom, cut width, plane depth, set depth, set length, cut slot, drill peg holes then cut to shape
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