Martin bridge in the wrong place!

[stringspinner]

I recently got a 000-28VS that sounded wonderful - yet intonated
dreadfully. I finally took it to Martin and got them to scope it in the
lab. The sixth string was seven cents sharp and the first string was
plus three!!
The buggers had glued the bridge on in the wrong place!
I had this happen once before - with a 70s 00-45. The 00-45 got an
oversized bridge repair-job and, with the new saddle in the right
place, was fine.
I hate to do that to the 000, though, as an oversized pyramid-bridge
would look all wrong.
John Pearse.

[David Kilpatrick]

Just take a couple of mm off the first fret at the nut, move the nut
forward. Buzz Feiten got away with it... it has more proportional effect
on intonation than moving the saddle slot, or the bridge.

Easily tested, just cut a strip of credit card the same height as the
nut slots, and place it in front of the nut. Martin do not compensate
the length of the first fret spacing, unlike some other makers (Lowden,
even Washburn, many hand luthiers). I think all their guitars can be
improved by moving the nut forward 1/16th. It compensates for the
unequal physics of fretting at the 1st fret. Combined with routing the
saddle slot from narrow 2.5mm out to classical 3mm (all the extra space
being at the back of the slot) and making a good compensated saddle
using the extra 0.5mm to the full, the error of +7 +3 can just about be
fixed. Though +7 sounds really extreme and might need a second piece of
bone grafting to the saddle - and might leave an unacceptable pin hole
to saddle distance and break angle.

I'm having my latest guitar built with a bridge of my own design where
the bass string pin holes gradually curve away from the angled saddle
slot, and keep a more constant angle of string over the bass end of the
saddle with its slight extra height.

David

[hank alrich]

stringspinner wrote:

Yep, a friend had a seemingly nice 1974 D28 that nobody wanted to play
for more than a few minutes. One day at a post fiddle contest party Dave
Johns and I strated messing with it and we found the bridge was a
half-inch out of position. Straight from the factory.

She had to get a new bridge made, large enough to cover the footprint of
the old one. Plays okay now, but one's confidence is eroded by such
slacker QC at the source.

--
ha

[Steve Perry]

In article <1h4rxwy.16rdkbhvaksndN%walk...@thegrid.net>, hank alrich
<walk...@thegrid.net> wrote:

> She had to get a new bridge made, large enough to cover the footprint of
> the old one. Plays okay now, but one's confidence is eroded by such
> slacker QC at the source.
>
> --
> ha

Probably the assembly was done late on a Friday.

Years ago, somebody did a research project on defects in new cars. I
recall, perhaps incorrectly, that it was the Chevrolet Chevette, which
might explain the overall number of defects, however, the main
discovery was that the number of defects went up as the week went on,
and that the ones with the most repair problems were usually assembled
on Fridays ...

--
Steve

[Don Lewis n FTW]

> and that the ones with the most repair problems were usually assembled
> on Fridays ...
>
> --
> Steve

Monday mornings and Friday afternoons...........

[McCollum]

"Don Lewis n FTW" <donsai...@swbell.net> wrote in message
news:Yzd6f.3308$D13...@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com...

You want to talk about Martin gluing the bridge on wrong! I'm restoring a
'70s D-35. The bridge has already been moved back to correct the
compensation they neglected to build into it, and now when I put the neck on
so it lines up matching the center lines, I realize that the bridge is off
center by at least 1/8". The strings have never been centered on the neck
(for 31 years!) I'm now making a new bridge because the footprint of the old
one, when the original bridge is shifted to the right position, would show
ugly marks. I can't believe how far off it is. I shit a brick if my bridges
have to shift 1/16" off center. What is it about Martin and the guy who
glues the bridges on? They've been notorious for years now not being able to
get them in the right place? And to build one for John Pearce, of all
people, that is wrong. I'll bet some heads are rolling today! :o)

Kind of funny timing. John complains and I run into the same problem in a 31
year old guitar. And I don't work on Martins that often.

Lance

www.mccollumguitars.com

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[alcarruth]

What I find most amusing about this thread is that there is one on
another bulletin board about what is 'acceptable' on a handmade guitar.
The original poster noted that the bridge on his new one is 1/16"
closer to one side of the top than the other; 1/32" off center. The
assumption is that the factories 'always' get this stuff right, so why
can't luthiers? Now there's an example of one of the best factories
getting something far more wrong than any individual maker would allow.

Alan Carruth / Luthier

[Tony Done]

Wasn't there a story that Martin used a wooden stick as a gauge, and it
shrunk with age?

Such s the stuff of urban legends ;0)

Tony D
"McCollum" <mcco...@mccollumguitars.com> wrote in message
news:1129951...@spool6-east.superfeed.net...

[Kevin Hall]

I've encountered a few similar instruments over the years. The latest was a
Martin concert uke from the early 60s. Bridge was a good way out of whack,
but nothing that a new one didn't fix. During my time with the company
bridges were located with jigs, not measured, so perhaps the uke error
could be down to the operator picking up a soprano or tenor jig rather than
the concert one. That it happens in a setting where things are done by
humans isn't surprising. That they passed final inspection is.

KH

Tony Done <tony...@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:AmF6f.25446$U51....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...

[H Dickert]

I have a 2005 Martin D-40. The saddle slot seems to be to far forward.
When I measure the distance to the 12th fret and compare it to my other
guitars (that all play nicely in tune), the Martin is different by almost a
1/16 of an inch. Now - granted - all guitars will be a little different
based on string hight and scale lenth, but guitars with a similar scale
length should be vary similar in the saddle spacing. I have been planing to
fill and recut the slot. Right now the low E and A strings are out enough
to really bug me when I play.

See ya'

Harold
www.dickert.ca (my guitars)

[Mike brown]

In article <DAD7f.39516$Ta.2...@read1.cgocable.net>, "H Dickert"
<h...@dickert.ca> wrote:

Harold, surely a wrongly positioned bridge/saddle is clearly a warranty problem.

MJRB

[Diana Tuszynski]

Ya' your right, it is a warranty problem. Just how long will it take to get
my guitar round trip. I could do this myself in an afternoon. I have
already done the same job on an old Gibson, plus cutting the slot on all
those guitars I built.

So I guess the question remains, Should I do it myself or get the guitar
down to the Martin factory. If they want me to take it to a local guy, than
I'll do it myself.

Harold
www.dickert.ca

"Mike brown" <rock...@senet.com.au> wrote in message
news:rockon02-261...@1cust51.tnt5.adl1.da.uu.net...

[Mike brown]

In article <ttY7f.39927$Ta.2...@read1.cgocable.net>, "Diana Tuszynski"
<diana.t...@sympatico.ca> wrote:

> Ya' your right, it is a warranty problem. Just how long will it take to get
> my guitar round trip. I could do this myself in an afternoon. I have
> already done the same job on an old Gibson, plus cutting the slot on all
> those guitars I built.
>
> So I guess the question remains, Should I do it myself or get the guitar
> down to the Martin factory. If they want me to take it to a local guy, than
> I'll do it myself.
>
> Harold
> www.dickert.ca
>

I see your point.

The factory haven't exactly demonstrated their skills on your guitar
either have they.

MJRB