Left hand build underway but hit a snag.

Hi all. New first time poster here but I've been 'lurking' on this excellent site for a while and am hooked.

I'm currently in the process of building a left handed six string for a mate's 60th birthday in early May. It's based upon an old Amplion 35mm slide case with a bolt on neck and saddle/bridge arrangement donated fron an Art & Luthier acoustic recently 'sat on' (I kid you not) by a rather portly fellow in some moment of drunken abandonment. Anyroad.....I've managed to prise the rosewood saddle off the soundboard but being from a right-handed guitar, the compensation angle of the bridge is in the wrong direction for a leftie. I've tried to find one on the hinderweb without success as yet and was wondering whether anyone knew of a supplier, or if they actually had one for sale. As an alternative, I was wondering, (with my engineer head on) whether anyone could modify this existing one, for a price obviously.I guess that an 1/8" end mill cutter and a vertical miller would do the trick or a similar sized router bit and a steady hand. I, sadly, don't possess any of these.

Many thanks in advance,

Dom

I'm dubious about re-using that bridge. Clearly, given the way the saddle slot is angled and the top is contoured, you can't just turn it around or flip it over. You could perhaps cut it around a lot if you had the tools but I'm not sure the result would be worth the effort.

As for the saddle, it's difficult to tell because your pic shows an "end on" view - I can't see the top so I can't see whether it's cut with individual compensation for each string. If it's just straight (ie. without the staggered bits for each string) then you ought to be able to re-use it in a new bridge angled for a left hander.

If the saddle is cut differently for each string then you can't just flip it around (for the same underlying reason as for the bridge). But left handed bridge saddles can be bought cheaply - a quick search turned up the following for £1.25 on eBay and I'm sure there are others out there.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Left-h-Bridge-saddle-acoustic-guitar-71-5...

However...having said all the above, I reckon people sometimes worry too much about bridge compensation. Almost everything about a guitar involves some sort of compromise. Usually some approximate solution will work fine in practice. Many great guitars have been made with very simple straight bridges where the only effort at compensation was a general slant of the bridge as a whole (ie. without individual adjustment for each string). Many GBGs get by very well thank you with a bolt for a bridge. So if the guitar body is an old slide case then consider a crude and simple bridge (with some sort of tailpiece to anchor the strings).

To some extent it depends how the guitar will be played - if it will be mostly strummed with open-string chords and fretting at the head end of the neck then you can get away with quite approximate bridge compensation. If there's going to be lots of high end widdling around then a bit more work might be needed to get good intonation.

Finally, remember this cigar box guitar thing comes out of the idea of building simple instruments from junk and basic components. It's about character rather than perfection. If you want something which is a perfect equivalent of a normal guitar then maybe you just want a normal guitar.

Replies

Mark March 22, 2012 at 5:34pm

I'm dubious about re-using that bridge. Clearly, given the way the saddle slot is angled and the top is contoured, you can't just turn it around or flip it over. You could perhaps cut it around a lot if you had the tools but I'm not sure the result would be worth the effort.

As for the saddle, it's difficult to tell because your pic shows an "end on" view - I can't see the top so I can't see whether it's cut with individual compensation for each string. If it's just straight (ie. without the staggered bits for each string) then you ought to be able to re-use it in a new bridge angled for a left hander.

If the saddle is cut differently for each string then you can't just flip it around (for the same underlying reason as for the bridge). But left handed bridge saddles can be bought cheaply - a quick search turned up the following for £1.25 on eBay and I'm sure there are others out there.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Left-h-Bridge-saddle-acoustic-guitar-71-5...

However...having said all the above, I reckon people sometimes worry too much about bridge compensation. Almost everything about a guitar involves some sort of compromise. Usually some approximate solution will work fine in practice. Many great guitars have been made with very simple straight bridges where the only effort at compensation was a general slant of the bridge as a whole (ie. without individual adjustment for each string). Many GBGs get by very well thank you with a bolt for a bridge. So if the guitar body is an old slide case then consider a crude and simple bridge (with some sort of tailpiece to anchor the strings).

To some extent it depends how the guitar will be played - if it will be mostly strummed with open-string chords and fretting at the head end of the neck then you can get away with quite approximate bridge compensation. If there's going to be lots of high end widdling around then a bit more work might be needed to get good intonation.

Finally, remember this cigar box guitar thing comes out of the idea of building simple instruments from junk and basic components. It's about character rather than perfection. If you want something which is a perfect equivalent of a normal guitar then maybe you just want a normal guitar.
Dom Kelly March 21, 2012 at 5:18pm

Chaps,

As suggested I've uploaded a picture of the bridge to clarify my predicament. The saddle comes out easy enough with pliers but as you can see, reversing it would have no effect on the compensation.

I've also had a quick look on StewMac's site but can't see anything suitable on there.

IMG-20120321-00001.jpg
- Michael Fred Johnson > Dom Kelly March 22, 2012 at 11:13am
  
  Modify the shape of the bridge and stick it on at the appropriate angle to give the compensation you want
Hayden A Butler March 21, 2012 at 10:28am

Stewmac has lots of stuff klike this - google it. :)
Jez Longshanks Walker March 21, 2012 at 9:30am

Hiya, you could fill the slot with a piece of rosewood and cut another slot but it's be easier to make another one. Does it have bridge pin holes?
Jim Junksville Sharkey March 21, 2012 at 9:27am

hi there.

not sure on the type of acoustic guitar bridge you got there, but ive used these in the past and just pulled the saddle out of the bridge with pliers and just turned it around. have you a picture of the bridge?

This reply was deleted.

The Brits are coming

Replies