Simplifying Guitar Bridge Placement - You're overthinking it!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ก.ค. 2024
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Welcome back to the channel! For those new here, I'm Seán and I am a luthier and guitar-building teacher. In this video I will show you how to easily position the bridge on your guitar. I will cover the three main types of bridge here: Hardtails, Trems and Tune-O-Matics.
Make sure to like and subscribe, and leave a comment about whatever I talked about; if you agree, disagree or have any other ideas yourself. I'd love to hear them!
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Social Media Links:
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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:08 Centreline and Scale Line
3:44 Hardtail Style Bridge
4:24 Intonation Explanation
5:54 Back to the Hardtail
9:10 Trem Bridge
13:27 Tune-O-Matic Bridge
17:45 Conclusion/Outro
Check out some of my other video playlists:
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GGBO 2020 - LP Style - • LP Style Greenheart an...
How to Build a Guitar Cab - • How to build a 1x12 Gu...
Homemade to Handmade Guitar Rebuild - • Homemade to Handmade -...
Short Tips, Tricks and Tutorials - • Short Tutorials
I am a guitar builder (and now teacher) from Ireland, but currently based in the South of England working with Crimson Guitars. I am a teacher and a luthier and I am currently loving my job and the direction my life is going. My guitars are built by hand, from the heart and with love in every shaving.
If you like what I am doing here on the Tube, please like and subscribe to our channel. This is another of hopefully many more videos, cataloguing my journey forward into the world, and I hope that you might share this journey with me!
Thank You for being a part of this. - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Hi everyone! Thank you all so much for checking out my video, but I have a small favour to ask. About 95% of recent viewers aren't actually subscribed to my channel and I will be putting out more similar videos in the future. If you enjoy the videos I'm making, please consider hitting that subscribe button as a show of support. Thank you again!
This is the second video of yours I’ve seen. Very clear and concise with no bs. Keep up the good work definitely subscribing!
Man you have done a great job explaining scale length and intonation. I'm serious my friend. This is the best explanation of intonation I've seen anywhere. Nice job brother. ✌️
I know a lot of the theory for installing bridges and I know almost everything about the physics for it but you made me understand how to do it so much better, much more confident doing it after this. That was awesome, thanks
Glad to hear I could help!
That's the greatest explanation of bridge placement I've ever heard. I'd love to hear your process on neck pocket depth.
Neck pocket depth is on the list, don't worry! Unortunately, the list is currently quite long... I'm glad you found this one good!
"When I first started building, bridge position is something I really stressed out about..."
Ok, so it's not just me! Excellent! Happy to know we all go through the same process :D
I just found it was never explained properly! Like anything, if you haven't a clue then it's just so confusing
This is great man. Thanks for making this.
Brilliant! Thanks for the education!
Great explanation man, will be using your advice for my build, thanks
Great tips for us kit builders. Many thanks.
Exactly what i needed! Thanks!
this makes things so much clearer, thanks.
Many thanks for this Sean, really helpful and very much appreciated. Added to my build playlist
Thank You, that was concise and easy to understand.
Indeed, i was stressed about placing my tune o matic. Thanks for the relief mate 🤌
So many of my questions answered in this great video. Thanks alot!!!
Very helpful, thank you! Positioning the bridge is always one of the most stressful parts of a build for me, hopefully with this information it’ll be easier
excellent explanation, glad to say I now understand the concept a lot better than I did
Nice tips and that guitar hanging in the background is gorgeous!
Thanks so much. I'll be back to watch this when I get to my bass bridge.
Very good! The information is priceless, I'm try to start making a few
Nicely done.
A good amount of information about bridge placement, intonation concerns, and reasons for specific positioning.
Great explanation 👍 Thank you very much .
Thank you for that explanation. It makes everything far easier to understand.
this is incredibly helpful. Thank you!
Absolutely, glad to hear it's helpful
Brilliant stuff Seán ! As a beginner Luthier this was ALL very relevant for me. Thanks. (..now back to my 2nd guitar build...)
Amazing video, really love it. Will help me a lot on my GGBO build (tuno-o-matic)! Thanks!!
Peace and Long Life! 🖖
That helped a lot, thank you!
Superb video, this has saved me countless headaches and time. Awesome job and I’m going to be digging through your others.
Keep up the great work.
Nice looking bass too
Great video, thanks for posting clear simple instructions, cheers
Of course, thanks for watching. I hope it helped
Fantastic man! Not only you gave me the exact information I was looking for, but you also explained to me in a clear/straight way something I didn't really wrapped my mind around, that is the whole intonation subject. This is the kind of information that is really useful and gives you the basic knowledge to design something with a sense in it and not only copy some measures not knowing why.
This was incredibly helpful! Thank you!
You're welcome, glad I could help!
Perfect!
Thanks!
Thank you for this video.
This makes it easier than ever for a builder to install a Tune-O-Matic bridge and other ones, for example.
I mean it's so easy to understand the way you explain it.
A thousand thanks to you for that
Holy cow. This was amazingly helpful! Thank you so much!
Glad it helped, you're very welcome!
Amazing tutorial dude. Thanks for putting the time in to make this. Really helpful.
My pleasure, I'm delighted I could be of help
Thanks Sean - just fitted my first bridge on my first build tonight. Easy tutorial to follow, and explains the concepts perfectly.
A great explanation for bridge installation. Great information for installing a bridge for a new build.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks Sean! This is an excellent tutorial. Clear, practical, and makes perfect sense.More like this please. How about one for cutting a nut? You could include variants such as cutting for a 12 string.
Hi Awen, thanks for the video!! finally sir someone who explains in detail what I was searching for, Nicely done!!
My pleasure! Thank you for watching
What a great tutorial. You explain yourself very well and are very thorough Extremely easy to follow. I've learned a lot just watching this one video.
Far and away the best explanation across bridge types. Thank you.
My pleaseure, I'm glad it helps
Thanks for the video, especially the part in which you explain how you choose to angle tune--o-matic bridges. I think it should come in useful for my GGBO22 build. But I notice that with the post to post distance of 74mm, with the low e side 3mm behind the high e side, you mark 37mm each side of the centre line. Since the post-to-post is now inclined (think of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle), it's the diagonal distance that is 74mm. Each post would then be 36.97mm from the centre line. While that's close enough to 37mm to work perfectly fine when actually marking 37mm and drilling the holes for the posts, anyone who chooses to angle a bridge much more drastically would probably want to work out distance to mark.
Thank you, ya beat me to it with better math than I could have said!
Thanks for this 🤩
My pleasure!
Top tier info, subbed
This is the best video on the subject of bridge placement.
High praise indeed, thank you!
Right On ! Very Nice Job.....Thanx !
Thanks for swinging by!
I’m about to make my first build, so I’ve been watching videos like this for a couple of months now. I just came across this video and it is by far the best and easiest explanation of bridge placement I have found. Like and subscribed well earned. I can’t wait to jump in further.
Thanks so much, I'm glad it helped you! Thanks for the sub, appreciated
2 things I stress about is the neck pocket and the bridge position. Thanks for clearing up one of these. Enjoying your videos. Thanks 👍🏻
Fantastic video exceptionally clear and simple and actually the best instructions with no waffle ,straight to the point,thank you
Thanks, glad to hear that it helped!
thanks so much for this. I want to build my own bass but this was worrying me. explained really well.
Glad it was helpful! Best of luck on your build
Agree, this explains all you need to know about a confusing subject.
Just subbed after watching 2 of your videos, just to make sure...
Seriously, there should be way many more watching your stuff!
Thanks for the sub, I appreciate it! Spread the word, hopefully we can get more people watching!
Thank you, Sean! I think I got lucky building my first bass. Thanks to this video, the next one might actually involve some skill!
I'm glad you found it helpful! My first couple were pure luck as well, but I'm glad to have gotten my head around things finally
Awesome. I resetted all my saddles to 25" from the back of nut (PRS) to the centre of saddle. Then i intonate each string accordingly.
That helped me a lot. It really did.
Maybe I am a bit nerdy but I would like to mention one thing though (without any malicious intent) . The main reason for intonation is to compensate for the thickness of the string (not for the bending affect). In theory the total scale length is measured from the end of the nut to the tip of the saddle but in reality, any given string won't vibrate right after these pivot points. There will be some dead spot. The thicker the string gauge the larger this dead spot is. So the actually scale length is reduced. Hence the compensation + of course the bending.
I have heard this one before as well, but I don't believe this is the case. While the displacement of the vibrating string will be lessened as it approaches the fixed point (in this case the bridge, or nut), it isn't until the actual point of fixing that the string no longer vibrates.
We can see this if the string slot in the nut is cut incorrectly, or if it has a small burr on the fingerboard edge of the slot. The string will buzz no longer how thick it is. This would not happen if the string was not vibrating right up until the point of fixing, as that "dead spot" would cushion this buzz.
@@AwenLutherieCustomGuitars a good point to think about, and I will.
In the meantime, why does classical guitar need less compensation than steel string? Sometime they just place the saddle straight. ( It's because their strings are closer to each other in thickness.)
By the way, I am not trying to say that I am an expert in physics but after watching some experiment I was convinced. I can't insert link but feel free to check the video out on TH-cam. 'Guitar Intonation Physics'
I'm about to do this on my first "build", a parts P Bass with fretless neck and Longhorn pickups/electronics. I've drilled and fitted the neckplate and neck. It was a tad low but otherwise accurate.
This is an excellent explanation as I had already finished the body and was concerned about messing up the finish.
Very good information. Thanks
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for giving me the info I needed I just really wanted to know where to set my high E. Now I know measuring back from the nut set it at which is 25 and a half inches right! And it looks like that will give me a little bit of wiggle room forward towards the nut and a fair amount back towards the bottom of the guitar. And it seems to me that the high E would be the most forward string 😊
I just found you and I must say I find the way you explain what you are doing very much to my liking. I watch several tubes like this but you top the lot. I am in the middle of reviving an old Hohner Strat for a friend and was concerned where to place this new bridge a replacement was not available. All the hardware is being bought to make it fit the body and I am hoping it turns out ok. I will ingest your other work over the week and I am sure I will learn a lot faster. Well done.
Thanks for watching and I'm glad I could help! Best of luck with your projects, rebuilds can be so much fun
Thanks man!
Thank you for watching
I really wish I could afford to go and learn from you in person. This is great. Thank you.
Hopefully one day! For now, I'm glad my videos can help
Truth in advertising! What caught my eye was the phrase "You're overthinking it!" When it comes to doing new projects I ALWAYS overthink it. You have given me plenty to think about, but even more to apply - right away. Your instructions and examples were so well presented that I am venturing beyond the thinking stage and heading straight for a "bridge to somewhere." This was excellent. Thank you SO much!
Overthinking must be one of the biggest problems I see with people. I myself have been paralysed so many times just because I can't get my head around something. I'm glad I can help demistify some things!
The "overthinking it" thing is what caught my eye too. I'm just getting started on my first guitar and I have a tune-o-matic bridge ready to go once I get there... but the prospect of placing it correctly has had me just terrified. I mean, I'm not even sure where the neck will go yet!
I'll be watching more of this channel. This made it far less frightening.
Great help. Thanks and greetings from Germany 🇩🇪 😊
Glad it helped!
Irish luthier content. Nice one!
Good morning!!!lovely video most practical. As for TOM, you could say that forget the saddles and just drill for posts 1mm (treble) away from scale length and 4mm for bass and done??others suggest 1/8 inch further scale length for treble and9/32 for bass
Loved your video.
I'm planning to build an inexpensive headless, weight reduced Les Paul.
Any suggestions you have on bridges & necks would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Again
Thank you very much for this an excellent tutorial. Already for few days I am looking for some clear explanation and finally have found it. Only what I am interested is how to exactly place the wraparound tail piece on les paul junior body. I would appreicate if you can give me some clear instruction for this or I will try to get the point from this video 😊
I wish I had watched this a couple days ago... time to fill those holes and start that part over.
nice explanation, in case you use lighter strings than usual, you have to consider a litlle extra room of adjustment in the first saddle
Very true. This is the reason I always say bring the string forward as far as is comfortable. It should always leave a small amount of adjustment forward just in case. In reality, even 1 gauge strings will not adjust further forward than the scale length.
Thank you , you made it simple... ruler and a pencil never fails
I'm a big fan of the KISS methodology. Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Awesome, awesome explanations, thank you for this video... but, now I just want to know what trem bridge you were using as the demo???
Glad I can be of some help! That bridge is a Gotoh EV510TS - BS. A very very nice trem!
StewMac's Fret Position Calculator , put in the numbers... Done!!
I will add that with a 25.5 scale length and a Gotoh 510 FE1 tremolo it gets 8mm from the scale line to the front edge of the tremolo cavity that you need to route out
Thank you
I’m building my first guitar and got desperate when I realized my neck isn’t perfectly align to m the center lign of the body.
Thanks to your méthod it got a new center line, and the bridge is just 1,3mm off the center of the body.
I can live with that, especially thanks to your intro when you say it happens to have a center line a bit left or right. I did everything with hand tools.
I’ve been recommanded to screw the neck before positioning the bridge, do you recommand it ?
My mistake comes from a badly drawn center line at the 24th fret
Always a bit of an enigma placing a bridge. I hate installing Tune-o-matics!
I think your Tune-o-matic spacing would be a bit too long, if measured the same distance form the centerline, since it is offset by 3 degrees. I mark the treble side at 37, then use calipers to mark 74 from that point (at whatever angle), for the other post. Essentially, the angle determines where the bass side post goes, not the centerline.
Great video though, and thanks for posting!
You're right - I think it would be 74.0608mm between the holes (he's using 3mm rather than 3 degrees). I'd imagine you can get away with it because it's such a small difference. Would marking from the treble post mean that the bridge would be ever-so-slightly offset towards the treble side? Either way, I'd imagine the inaccuracy of measurement when working is greater than each of these numbers anyway😀
@@NickBrown33 Yeah, I meant mm not degrees (oops, measure twice LOL). it would be closer to the treble side, and I guess I might be splitting hairs! Ultimately slotting the saddles will make everything right.
And I thought I knew all about intonation🤣
The more I learn the less I know.
I solved my tune-o-matic problems by using Nashville bridges,
which has a wider setting range than a standard ABR-1 bridge.
Nice grain on the guitar.
Is that swamp ash (my favourite)?
Thanks for the really useful and well presented info.
I will definitely check out the rest of your stuff 𝄢🎶
5:04 It makes sense, but then I wonder... why the D string saddle needs to be adjusted closer to the nut than the G string? It also happens in my bass so it's not because of the wound/unwound strings of the guitar as one might think.
Thank you so much for the very good video. It clarifies a lot.
I have had to look into this, but the short answer is that intonation is also accounting for something called "inharmonicity", which is compensated for differently than the bending effect of fretting the instrument. Inharmonicity is basically the fact that harmonics don't line up properly or perfectly across every pitch, and thicker strings need more compensation towards the nut (opposite to tension adjustment, which goes the other way). The D and G strings just happen to line up weirdly like that, effectively.
So super short answer - They just don't. Very disappointing.
@@AwenLutherieCustomGuitars Thanks a lot. Very interesting.
Great demonstration, Sean. When marking the screw holes, do you just eyeball the centre of the holes to make a mark for drilling or do you use a centre punch?
A good while ago I had to hang a bazillion doors (he said not exaggerating at all) so I got myself a set of 3 self centring pilot bits. Work brilliantly and well worth a punt.
I'm adding a trem block to a body where the routing is already done for the block, but no mounting holes for the bridge screws...so use the same 'high E saddle all the way forward' system?...find the scale length point using the high E saddle all the way forward, then square and center the bridge, and...voila...correct?...mark where the screw holes shall be drilled and that should be the correct spot for the trem bridge...
Also, do you have any videos on how to set the spring/string tension for a Strat-style floating tremolo system that will ultimately stay in tune? Just discovered your channel, you explain it in easy to understand terms...thanks! Subscribed.
Great video!
I wish you had in hand the original roller bridge of the Red Special by Brian May, cause it’s a bit different from other bridges on the market.
And Brian’s guitar has zero fret.
I'd love to get my hands on the actual red special and have a chat with the man himself about it, that would be so cool!
In theory at least the placement of the bridge should the same as any other, and the zero fret don't make any difference, it just replaces the nut as the 0 point of the scale length.
I appreciate your video. One question I was left with was after getting your measurement for where the TOM bridge goes, how do you figure out where to place the tail piece that a lot of TOM bridges come with?
The maths would say that you want the lowest angle from the tailpiece to the bridge as possible, without hitting the bridge itself. You could draw this all out and measure it like that.
Alternatively, measure another guitar with that setup and copy roughly that. Or eyeball it and realise that it doesn't matter all that much.
I put it about 45mm from the scale line, but really it doesn't matter all that much so long as you don't put it way too far back and it looks about right.
Oops, I'm late to watch this video. I just finished my first LP-type guitar; and although the instrument can be calibrated correctly; it would have been better if the bridge had been a little forward. It will come out better in the next project. Thank you very much for your video.
Very informative clip ! So , let me ask you , does wide TOM should be install offset or ? Regards !
A TOM is installed offset like that because it doesn't have a huge range of intonation adjustment. If your bridge has a better range, then it doesn't necessarily need to be installed offset.
@@AwenLutherieCustomGuitars By logic , it is as you say but i wanted to be sure and asked you es an expert , thanks for info !
When you say measure from the front of the nut, is that the body side of the nut or the head stock side of the nut, and do you measure to the middle of the 12th fret? Great information, thank you!!
Front of the nut is the fingerboard side. For intonation purposes it is "0", so it could also be a zero fret. To the middle of the 12th fret, yes.
Glad you found it helpful!
Any chance you can tell me were you get your pen, ruler protractor? Looking for good quality ones and the ones you used to demonstrate seem good.
My Pencil is a Pentel Graphgear 1000. I prefer a 0.5mm lead size. They are fantastic because you can also retract the lead-holding end into the body, so if you drop it it doesn't mangle the nib!
The protrator is one from Crimson Guitars and is pretty fantastic, I highly recommend.
P S. Thanks for the great video!
My pleasure, thanks for watching!
Hi Sean , on a Wilkinson WOF01 Hardtail string through bridge there is a set of holes underneath the saddle screws on the rear of the bridge .
They are spaced the same as the holes for string through body , can you put your strings through these holes ? instead of drilling body for string through holes ?
Cheers in advance 😁😁🤘🤘
Hi, yes those holes are for a top-loading option. For those who don't want to use the string through option or don't want to drill for it.
Does the same rules you mentioned for the tune o matic apply if you use a roller style tuneomatic?
Exactly the same. The string will just be making contact on the dead centre of the roller
This video addresses the issue that no other bridge positioning tutorials do.... you are only ever going to need to adjust your saddle away from your scale length because pitch goes up when strings bend.
I have been making guitar bodies for a while and have one that has a cheapy neck on it. I simply could not get the intonation of that guitar to set right. I just measured the cad file and the real on but to no luck they're what they should be. I'm not entirely sure its not the bridge or the neck but i am sure the body is correct.
I don't know about adjusting the high strings as far forward as they'll go... I've got two - TWO - guitars (well, a guitar & a bass) that I can't get the high strings on either of them intonated. Each need to go farther forward but are as far as they can possibly go & they're not intonated on the high strings. I didn't build them nor have I messed with them too much other than trying to set intonation. The bass is a Fender jazz bass....neither are cheap guitars but I mention the bass because it's way, way worse.
So I don't know....
I need guidance, I recently bought a premade guitar body made for FR(already routed), and the distance of the saddle and the line(2x 12fr) is +0.5cm after elevating the bridge to a playable action with cardboard, should i worry or is this not a big deal. im planning on 9 gauge strings
I'm not quite following, I'm afraid. If you are referring to the scale length, the highest saddle should be able to sit right on the scale length line or slightly behind it. If it cannot, then the guitar will not intonate properly.
Cardboard also isn't a good option for shimming or raising anything, as it is too easy to compress.
@@AwenLutherieCustomGuitars i meant as a place holder i put cardboard to estimate the playing height so i can get the most accurate distance to what it would be when set up, with that being said, the highest saddle is +0.5 cm away from the scale length, will it intonate?
at 3:10 when you measure the scale length, the ruler is bending from the height of the neck to the lower height of the body. Doesn't that cause issues with the actual measurement?
Should the ruler stay straight and not bend down?
How do i measure if i am doing a fretless?
I want to know where you got that awesome protractor!
It's a Crimson Guitars one, damn good piece of kit! I used to use a cheap plastic triangular one, but since getting my hands on one of these, I don't know how I managed without it
@@AwenLutherieCustomGuitars thanks
You said to use the saddle as a point of reference. Where should the saddle be set before measuring? All the way forward?
As far forward as is comfortable to adjust them. You don't want the saddle hanging on by a thread
Where exactly on the 12th fret? From the nut to the center of the fret or beginning of fret wire? Center of fret wire??
is that an oak body(probably ash??)??? I've considered using it, but it's so heavy..guess it would need to be chambered and or a thin body..??? I really do want to do an oak build...but I've never built a guitar..though I am a competent woodworker and think I can pull it off.
This is a walnut body with an Ash top. Oak would be pretty heavy alright, I'd consider chambering or thinning it like you say.
There is a wealth of knowledge on the internet nowadays if you did want to try your hand at building!
Was the name of that tool you use for centering the bridge?
Protractor
A Floyd Rose tremolo should have how big of a route for the block, now I usually switch my blocks out and put in a big brass block which is quite a bit thicker than the stock zinc crap blocks! If you see this and can give me a quick answer I would appreciate it I am going to guess and say 1 and 1/8 of an inch? Let me know if you think it should be smaller or bigger...