Bridge repair ideas

[Ron Nossaman]

Gene Nelson wrote:
> Hello again,
> Time to show and tell - my first bridge shows the scars of inexperience 
> I am well aware - however, I am attempting to make necessary repairs to 
> the terminations that were damaged from carving.
> The unison in the middle, front, left bridge pin - the veneer layer to 
> the left of the pin - exactly where the string will lie - has been mangled.
> One repair could be to remove bridge pins, drill hole, insert plug made 
> of same cap material, redrill pin holes, recarve etc.
> Would an alternative be to carefully square off the damaged area with 
> razor or carving knife, epoxy on the same veneer and trim to match the 
> termination line?
> Any other ideas?
> Thanks,
> Gene

If the pins are good and solid in that laminated cap, your 
repairs will be strictly cosmetic. There won't be a tonal 
penalty for not having a clean wood termination at the point 
the string contacts the pin. The pin is the termination, not 
the bridge cap. To disguise the glitch, scratching the low 
spot up with an Xacto point (to give it some tooth) and 
dabbing in some thickened epoxy, scraped level after cure, 
should do it.
Ron N