I have a bass with a curved body, think Warwick-style, maybe somewhere between a Thumb and a Corvette. The body curves both at 90 degrees to the strings, like a braclet ( falling away at both sides; and along its length, neck-bridge-end, so the bridge-to-end falls away in a curve.
Being a budget bass in it's time, it has a flat bottomed bridge, think a P-bass style. Of course the bridge doesn't sit flat to the body - it's close, but the gap bugs me. The gap shows itself under the rear of the bridge, the part where the ball-ends of the strings are captured; at first I though the bridge was bent, but checking it with a rule, it is the body that falls away.
The solution I'm thinking of is to route a recess in the body to take the bridge. The recess does not need to be very deep, 1-2 mm will be enough to give a flat surface for the bridge to sit on. I'll be replacing the original bridge with a high-mass style, so the recess can be shaped to allow the bridge to "drop in".
To cut the above recess. I'll need a flat plane, or template, for the router to sit on. Any advice for creating the template, or jig, for the router to sit on? (I'll be using a simple hand-held plunge-router for this job.)
Routing a for recessed bridge
in Repairs and Technical
Posted
I have a bass with a curved body, think Warwick-style, maybe somewhere between a Thumb and a Corvette. The body curves both at 90 degrees to the strings, like a braclet ( falling away at both sides; and along its length, neck-bridge-end, so the bridge-to-end falls away in a curve.
Being a budget bass in it's time, it has a flat bottomed bridge, think a P-bass style. Of course the bridge doesn't sit flat to the body - it's close, but the gap bugs me. The gap shows itself under the rear of the bridge, the part where the ball-ends of the strings are captured; at first I though the bridge was bent, but checking it with a rule, it is the body that falls away.
The solution I'm thinking of is to route a recess in the body to take the bridge. The recess does not need to be very deep, 1-2 mm will be enough to give a flat surface for the bridge to sit on. I'll be replacing the original bridge with a high-mass style, so the recess can be shaped to allow the bridge to "drop in".
To cut the above recess. I'll need a flat plane, or template, for the router to sit on. Any advice for creating the template, or jig, for the router to sit on? (I'll be using a simple hand-held plunge-router for this job.)