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Electrical Aisle bridge

On the latest build I completed, I needed a bridge that would give me two things; low action and a good place to get a ground for the strings because I had built this guitar with an internal P90 pickup.

Walking down the electrical aisle in my local big box store I spied these terminal lugs. I turned them this way and that way and figured out a way I could fashion a bridge from them.

I took them home to my shop (basement) and started fabrication.

It was actually pretty simple. First I took a stainless steel screw and cut the head off.

I loosened the set screws in the top of the lugs and put the screw into the holes - making sure I pushed them all the way to the end for the set screws to sit square and level when I tightened them.

That's is - the bridge was complete.

I mounted it on the guitar and it gave me the nice low action and good ground that I needed. I attached the ground on the inside of the box at the end of one of the screws holding the bridge to the box.

Disregard those two brass screws under the bridge. Earlier attempts to bridge and ground created those holes. I filled them with screws to cover the holes.

The action is nice and low and the sound volume is good from the internal pickup. This worked out well.

There was also another style of lug and I picked up a couple of them and mocked up a different style bridge.

One good thing about these parts was the price, they were only a couple dollars a pack, each pack had 2 lugs.

Loosen the set screws and seat the bridge screw.

It looks a little different from the other side.

In summary these parts seem to be pretty well adapted to use as a bridge and they only cost a few dollars. By changing the diameter of the screw you use for the bridge piece you can adjust the action height a bit. I'm sure there are other tweaks one could do to these.

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Comment by jeffrey ross on November 21, 2015 at 3:37am: I work for an electrical wholesale company and I look at these parts all day. That was genius of you to see them the way you did. It could also create an adjustable bridge like the old Epiphone guitars of the 70s. Nice work!!

Comment by Paul Craig on November 20, 2015 at 12:55pm: Bridge will rest between the screw head and the 1st nut. 2nd nut will lock the post in place when the right height is achieved.

Comment by Paul Craig on November 20, 2015 at 12:53pm: Here it is.

Comment by Paul Craig on November 19, 2015 at 10:36pm: You gave me an Idea for making a bridge on my 6 string LPG, but I'm using different electrical lugs. Here's a pic of my supplies. 1' of 5/16ths"-18 threaded rod, 2 - 4 gauge heavy duty ring terminals, 2 1/4-20 T Nuts and some 1/4-20 x 1&1/4" screws, nuts and washers.

Comment by john w on November 14, 2015 at 5:23am: Its interesting how you see things differently when you are looking for solutions to a problem. I will bet you could find a way to make the mounting screws adjustable for height. I have found that having an adjustable bridge (up down and free floating) makes the whole setup task a lot less frustrating. Great idea.