Richard Meyrick Luthier

 

© 2011 Richard Meyrick
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Up
Bridge blank
Shaping guitar bridge
Ebony guitar bridge
Handmade guitar bridge
Spraying guitar sealer
Guitar finishing

Finishing and Bridge

This is the bridge blank, a piece of quartersawn ebony. First I plane it straight and square and to thickness. Then I shape the underside of it to the surface of the soundboard. This is one of the most critical parts of the whole build; if the bridge does not contact the soundboard perfectly all over, then the transmission of sound will be poor and the glue join will be poor and may well fail. For this I use a cabinet scraper and sandpaper attached to sanding blocks. Once that’s done I then mark on the centreline and the outline of the bridge and cut it out roughly to shape on the bandsaw, then use a bobbin sander to get the final shape.

Next I cut the wings out of the bridge using the same tools. I can then shape the top curve of the bridge using rasps and files and then give it all a good sanding to get it nice and shiny.

This is the completed bridge apart from the pin holes. The saddle slot I rout once the bridge is glued onto the guitar so I can get the best intonation possible.

Preparation is the most important thing in finishing. Unfortunately it’s also the most boring! It takes a day to sand the body and neck to the point where they are ready. I start at 180 grit (sometimes 120 if there’s a rough area) and finish at 320 or 400. Then spray on a couple of sealer coats. Then cut it back lightly then grain fill (on this guitar I used sanding sealer to build up enough lacquer so that I could sand it back enough to fill the grain because I didn’t want the grainfiller to darken the light sapwood on the back). This was then carefully wet sanded until everything was flat and looking lovely before the nitro cellulose lacquer was sprayed on.

 

 

Once the lacquer is sprayed on I leave it to dry, the amount of time depends on the weather, but I give it at least 4 weeks in the heat of summer, more in winter.

 

When it’s all dry, then I can begin to buff the finish. First I wet sand everything with 600 or 800 grit paper, depending on how well the lacquer went on, then to 1000 grit. I then get out the polishing compounds, starting with coarse, then medium and finally fine. I leave the back of the neck at the coarse stage, to give it a nice satiny feel and to stop your hand squeaking as it goes up the neck. It doesn’t take long to write but there’s a lot of hours gone into polishing the finish, and a very aching elbow afterwards, but its worth it.