Cannot get Bridge Height Correct

[mike drasin]

First post!

If there's no buzz and it feels good, does it matter how high or low the bridge is for my TOM?

I tried the standard 5/64" bass and 3/64" treble and it's so high that I'm afraid that the bridge posts are going to bend out of and remove the bushings.

I've settled on 3/64" for bass and 2/64" treble -- no buzz, good intonation, good feel -- but still feel that the posts will bend over time.

Any advice, because it seems that almost every tutorial I've watched is set on 5 & 3 to 4/64ths as the best setting and 66% of the TOM's I've tinkered with look like they're going to bend at these specs.

Thanks!

[Art Davila]

I had a low cost Dean that had this same problem.
If it is a bot on neck you can shim the neck.
If it is a set neck you can un glue and try to tweak the neck angle. Not an easy thing to do.

If like my Dean it was a neck thru.
I used my router in a jig to plane the archtop flat and then glued a new maple top with the arch high enough to be set nearly on the body.
It was a big project not worth the cost of the guitar but I wanted to see if I could do it.
Answer Yes, but it was a lot of work and preplanning. I used the bottom of the bridge pick up cavity as my zero point for measurements, and used modeling clay to work out how high the arch would be. Somebody with better confidence and skills might have done it differently but that was how I did it, and it worked.

[michael o'malley]

What Art said--it's likely an issue of the neck angle. If it's a bolted on neck you can take the neck off and add a shim in the neck pocket at the body end, so the neck tilts a little bit back towards you. That will fix it. If it's a glued in neck then you have to disassemble the neck joint, not an easy or trivial job. If it's a neck-thru then you are reallyu out of luck.

Have you tried adjusting the truss rod? If the neck really straight, or does it have a back-bow?

[Gordon Bellerose]

In the past, I have sanded the heel of a bolt-on neck to lower the angle slightly, rather than installing a shim.

If it is a set neck, then there is no choice other than removing the neck to change the angle. Not an easy proposition.

You might be able to find a bridge that sits a bit higher, to replace yours.

[Peter Wilcox]

How about a picture or two? Flat or arch top? Bolt on or set/thru neck?

You might be able to more easily raise the whole bridge and studs rather than change a set or thru neck angle.

[Eric Baack]

Can you add more of a raised bridge similar to an arch top type? Maybe a silly idea, but maybe not.

[Art Davila]

Can you add more of a raised bridge similar to an arch top type? Maybe a silly idea, but maybe not.

I actually like that idea. Wish I had though of that for my project.......
They sell tuneomatic's on a wooden base. So it is not like you would lose intonation.