Hello! Bridge and Scale Length

Firstly Hello!

Ive been lurking on here for a while before finally deciding to sign up and start my own build!

I previously have put together a partscaster strat (see my profile pic) but this is the first time I am attempting a body and possibly (not decided yet) a neck. I am a design and technology teacher so I have no excuse and access to a full workshop.

I am in the process of creating my body templates and planning everything out. I have ordered and received a bridge and control plate from axesrus and i have been using the excellent Terry downs schematics for the body shape and scratchplate.

I have come across my first set of questions thats hindering progress. The bridge I have has the string holes in front of the fixing holes and the Terry Downs drawing has them the opposite way around. When I lay everything out on my mdf template the string holes have obviously moved forward, is this going to mess up the scale of the guitar etc or is this governed by the neck??

I have not bought (or created) a neck yet and I was hoping to complete the body first.

I have attached a couple of pics which will hopefully make my query a bit clearer!

Keep up the good work on this fabulous forum, i'm hooked already!

David

If the bridge has string holes different from the drawing...ignore the holes on the drawing. Assuming you are using a 25.5" scale length.

This is how I approach it. Adjust your E string saddles to the forward position and then back off a turn for some wiggle room. The top dead center of the saddle where the string breaks over should be at the scale length. I sometimes will measure from that break over point to the front edge of the bridge base, subtract that amount from the scale length, and draw a perpendicular line across the centerline of the body ( assuming all routs are equidistant from the centerline). Then I lay the bridge on that pencil line, measure to make sure it is centered on the centerline, and mark the holes. Centerpunch and drill to follow.
I myself was a tech teacher for 30 years.

scale length is of major importance. everything else comes after. Best way to go about is to rout the neck pocket, fit the neck and then determine the exact location of the bridge to the required scale length. location of string through holes depends on that.

Thanks for the quick replies.

Am I right in thinking that i am going to have to get a neck before i can find the scale length and position the bridge?

You should have all your parts there before you start routing and drilling....That way everything fits. One of the common problems a lot of folks encounter is the neck is bigger than their neck cavity.

So just to check:

1.Get neck and route neck pocket
2.Place neck in pocket
3.Measure from nut to 12th fret then x2 to get scale length
4.Measure this distance from nut and mark scale length
5.Set bridge and saddles as per guitar builders advice and align string break over point tdc with string length

Measure from the fretboard edge of the nut to the center of the 12 fret and double that. Use an accurate machinists's scale too. An accurate centerline on your blank is pretty useful too.:-).

As is posted in the template "sticky" (but it is hard to find), the TDowns drawing is for the "vintage" bridge. What you have is the "modern" bridge. The mounting holes are the same, the scale length obviously is the same. The string holes are different, because with a 3 barrel bridge the strings come from the rear of the saddle, with 6 saddles the string must come up from the bottom of the saddle slot

As guitarbuilder said;

If the bridge has string holes different from the drawing...ignore the holes on the drawing

As has been said, mount the neck first, then mount the bridge off of that. You can't go wrong :smile:

Thanks for all the help so far!