How To Remove Guitar Bridge

Audio-visual Guitar Bridge Removal

June 26, 2022

Upwardly until now I accept had the luck of receiving ii guitars that needed bridge work simply the bridge had already popped off and ane guitar that I had to remove the bridge from. It struck me that seeing my learning procedure and just the procedure of removing a bridge from an acoustic guitar could be helpful. So I had an former R S Williams built parlour guitar that is non worth repairing but that has a couple of parts I can employ… including a bridge. For the procedure, you need a clothes iron, a damp rag, a sharpened putty pocketknife, a razor knife and painter's tape.

First you will demand to remove the strings and pins, of form, then advisedly score (cutting into the peak a picayune to ensure the finish is penetrated) around the span keeping your razor knife right up to the spot where the bridge meets the tiptop of the guitar. This is washed so that the finish won't skin upwards with the bridge. Adjacent mask around the bridge with painter's tape to protect the top when you kickoff to work your way under the bridge (as y'all will run into, I larn in my experiment that it's a good idea to get almost 2 rounds with the tape).

Lay the damp rag over the bridge and then use the fe to oestrus it up, focusing on the end you want to get-go from. Now advisedly work the putty knife under the border of the bridge (here I learned that the hilt of my putty knife makes me have to approach the span at too steep an angle and I marked the top). Re-apply rag and heat and then continue to work the putty knife nether and across toward the other side.

I didn't stop up using a hair dryer at this point, I merely started the procedure once more on the opposite side of the span where information technology was nonetheless fastened. Information technology popped off so easily it surprised me.

So pretty much a success, although with a couple more lessons learned. I need to trim the handle of my putty knife so I can keep the knife closer to parallel with the top. I also need to expand the footprint of the tape to prevent water/heat damage.

Notation: Having done a couple more bridges since, I take learned some more and I will be doing a new bridge removal video. I had tried 2 slightly different techniques that seemed to be the two most prevalent online. Some demonstrators did not utilise the damp rag and you lot can see in this demonstration why. It'southward very easy to damage the summit cease if you accidentally employ heat to the cloth while it is in contact with the top. I have since institute it much safer in the long run to simply do away with the rag.