Diy Tele style Brass bridge plate

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Jedi Clampett
Posts: 164
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 12:55 am

Diy Tele style Brass bridge plate

Post by Jedi Clampett »

I am thinking of trying to make my own tele style brass bridge plate. I am hoping not to reinvent the wheel.
I would use a traditional tele bridge as a template, but think that I get thick plate and then machine it down with a router or drill press to get the back of the bridge that will drill holes for the saddles.

I am guessing I would anneal the brass first
then drill the holes for the bridge plate
then machine the thickness so that the back part is full thickness and the thinner part is machined down.
Then temper the brass if possible, I could talk to some traditional blacksmiths about this.

Of course many of you may have experience.
Michael Lewis
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Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 1:22 am
Location: Northern California USA
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Re: Diy Tele style Brass bridge plate

Post by Michael Lewis »

I'm not an electric guitar guy mostly, but isn't the original Tele bridge made from sheet/plate material? Brass is easily available and fairly easy to work. If you have the equipment and requisite skills machining from billet can be a sturdy way to go, but bending the part from brass sheet or plate uses much less material and probably would take much less time to make.

I have made several types of tailpieces for mandolins and archtop guitars so I have some experience working brass. I would first anneal the area to be bent, and after the bend I would continue to hammer it a bit to work harden it. If you are machining out of billet just do it without any annealing, as you would need the strength after the part is made and I don't know how you would work harden a machined billet part. Both brass and aluminum can be worked with tool steel or High Speed Steel and a bit of lube. Sharpen your cutter(s).
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