Chris King's Blog: Washburn J20 Bridge Repair

Washburn J20 Bridge Repair

Hi Folks - this is my lovely Washburn J20 Acoustic Guitar. The bridge has been pulling away for sometime so I decided to completely remove it and re-glue it. I was expecting some trouble when removing it but it basically snapped cleanly off. So I cleaned up both the top and the underside of the bridge and stuck it back on. Actually it took a long time to set it up and get both surfaces true - you need to scrape the underside of the bridge slightly concave so that when the centre is clamped the ends are pressed down.

Here's the photos:

Mask off the top area with card - draw round the bridge to get an accurate mask hole in the card.
Using something like a scalpel, carefully scribe through the varnish (but not the wood) around the perimeter to give a clean edge.

Sand and scrape until both surfaces are completely free of glue and are flat, leave the bridge slightly concave.
A chisel works well as a scraper, always work from the edge to the middle so that you don't accidentally damage the varnish.

I used some scrap metal pins to locate the bridge through the existing holes - accurate re-alignment is jolly important. I figured the glue wouldn't stick to the metal and would be easier to remove.

Clamping
This was the fun part. I didn't have many long throat clamps and I couldn't summon up enough interest to make a caul. That's the block of something that you put inside under the bridge - it needs to have cutaways to clear the bracing glued to the under side of the top. I did a bit of googling and came up with Go Bars - an old technique using sprung bars or timber etc - they are usually used with a frame that has a roof to push against.
Anyway as you can see, I ended up using garden canes cut about 5mm too long and propped them against the garage ceiling.

You need to be careful that it doesn't slide around and also be wary of how much force you can exert on it.