Classical Guitar Bridge Maintenance

[Chayton McNamara]

Haven't played this in a while, was cleaning frets and restringing, noticed the bridge.

Any suggestions? Is there a specific way I should proceed, type of glue etc.

Thanks.

[Todd Stock]

Pull bridge using as little heat as possible to minimize finish damage. Prep bottom of bridge, edges, and bridge patch...reglue with 315g hide, then refinish as necessary...if high gloss poly, easier to do any touch up off the guitar. Also a good time to do 12 or 18 hole mod to address any break angle issues.

[Chayton McNamara]

Great, thanks!

[Michael Lewis]

I would flood the gap with hot hide glue and clamp it well. Do clean up before the glue dries on the surface. Have your clamps and cauls ready to go before you apply glue.

[Waddy Thomson]

The only problem with that is that you don't know what kind of glue is there already. Also, there may be dried glue in the gap that would keep the joint from being tight.

[Todd Stock]

Doubt the bridge went on with hide, so likely dead PU, Titebond, or similar nastiness there...needs to come off to see. Even if you torch the bridge finish pulling it with heat lamp or (better) silicone blanket (make sure to score finish around edge), replacement classical bridges are cheap and come prefinished and a little oversized from some vendors. I have a box of 25 Aria bridges from the 1980's that I bought for about a buck a piece...better than most of the bridges I pull off low-end classical, so an upgrade. Also might trash that saddle and make up one in bone that fits.

[Michael Lewis]

It's worth a try. Classical guitars often have cedar tops, which has notably low strength to resist pulling surface material off in a glue joint like this. If there is wood fiber on the glue on the bottom of the bridge it will very likely glue up very well with hide glue. Obviously if there is only glue exposed (not likely) it would need to be cleaned off before applying new glue.

If the bridge was originally glued directly to the finish then it does need to be removed and the surfaces cleared of old glue and finish. Take a look in that opening, if you see wood fibers on both surfaces it means the wood gave up,not the glue. Just glue and clamp it. If you see glue and not wood fibers the bridge needs to be removed and gluing surfaces cleaned.

[Todd Stock]

Looking at the OP's situation again, I have to agree with Michael - if it's your guitar, you don't need to worry about protecting your reputation as a professional repairman, so no harm done if/when the quickie repair fails. No - not what a pro would do on someone else's instrument, but a) not someone else's instrument, b) if it holds for a bit, you have avoided a much more intrusive repair job and c) you have not screwed yourself any worse than you where when you discovered the problem.

[Chayton McNamara]

Thanks a lot for the input guys, I will take a look...

[Chayton McNamara]

So its a little hard to tell, but looks like some wood there. Seems like maybe they attached the bridge and then did the finish over everything?