Even if you never touch a guitar, this is a masterclass in knowing what you're doing and doing it the best possible way.

I don't play guitar, I play a old P Bass. In fact, I don't even care that much about acoustics and especially repairing their bridges... but when StewMac uploads, I watch. This is great. Cheers guys 👍👍

I have reattached two separate acoustic guitar bridges. Both were budget models I found at thrift stores. Generally, the issue in these cases was the use of heavier strings than the guitars were probably designed for, and in the first case the bridge was warped and falliong off, and in the second case (a WJ-750, in this case a Texarkana brand) the bridge was not warped, but falling off, and when I removed it and looked at the bottom of it I could tell the bridge was not glued well enough at the factory (there was just a figure S of light glue. When I fixed it, I plastered it with wood glue and C-clamped it, letting it set for a few days. Works like a dream 20 years later. The first guitar (an old Kingston) was purchased 40 years or so ago, and the bridge was warped and falling off the top of the guitar. A local luthier told me to remove the bridge completely, and then use an iron at low heat, flatten it that way. Then I reglued the bridge using modeler's glue (I wasn't yet aware of wood glue). It's held ever since. So -- if you have a budget model and the factory, for some reason known only to them, used too little glue to hold the bridge onto the guitar, it's not an impossible task to get your guitar back in playing order.

This seems to be the most complicated and tool requiring job I've ever seen for bridge fixing. Maybe I could buy a new guitar for the price of all the tools in this vid.. lol.

I may not use every pro tip _every_ time, but you must love how Gene so generously shares every last valuable one he knows. A detailed video reference manual on the task. Duly bookmarked, thank you sir 👏👏

Folding over the end of the tape at 8:20... WHY have I never thought of that? Mind blown!

Finally a proper video.

Well done - this answers ALL of my questions. And good heavens, he's even doing it on the same guitar I have - a StewMac OM kit-built. Wish me luck on my re-glue. And you probably did some work on my old D-18 at Woodsong's, many years ago.

Awesome video- very clear and concise instructions that takes the “fear” out of doing this myself. 👏👏

This is therapeutic for me to watch.

I have the bridge caul but not the inside bridge plate one, also that reamer looks really nice. Great job on this, shows us how to take things up to the next level.

I just bought a Hyyyde Gloo tone pedal. game changer

This was a fantastic video. About halfway through the video, you mentioned gluing a flat bridge to a radiused surface---the top. I have seen other luthiers contour the bottom of the bridge to match the top's radius because the saddle slot was already cut flat.

That's clearly an operation with lot of care!!! Congrats, Gene ! I'm also a guitar tech and you give me some nice inspiration to achieve great work.

Good one Dan! I'm sure others have noticed that the beard gives you a more youthful look.

Very interesting, it is cool to see different methods of bridge removal. twoodford uses a small controllable heat pad that is another interesting approach.

I wish I could just come into the stew mac workshop and do some repairs when I need to. To have all those tools would be great. I usually have to improvise. This is a great tutorial, some people rush removing a bridge and that's the last thing you want to do.

If there's one thing I've learned from Stew Mac, it's that overkill is SOP.

Excellent presentation, tips, and execution. Thank you. Gene ....

I did this at age 14 to a nylon classical guitar my gramps passed down to me lmao, used school text books as a heat shield, moms night lamp, a painter blader to pop the bridge off lmao 😂😂😂 - it didnt look good that good but here it is 25ish years later and it still plays perfectly lol

Such detail and excellence in this video, thank you for this. Good as you are at this job, you may have missed your calling as Tom Hanks' voice-over double

Thanks, I have an old Steel strung Acoustic guitar that's sitting doing nowt cos the bridge came off just like in your video. I feel brave enough to fix it....again properly!

thank you. I just got a MIJ Saturn for Can$25 with a lifted bridge. I m going to follow your instructions.

never seen this job done before what a brilliant job and video this is nice one stewMac 👍👍😉

Such a great repair vid. Well done man!! Top shelf.

It’s so satisfying to watch it.

Nice. I learned to use a new heating tool, the infrared lamp. The only bridge I had to reglue on my guitars was a cheapo import. (many years ago). I used a clothing iron, with a lot of masking. The lamp method looks a lot safer and easier to monitor the temperature.

Wow, I’m not a luthier but amazing care and a fine touch. Note the use of the chisel held vertically to scrape the top, pulling away from the bevel side. The lowwww pressure he used when gently scraping the bottom of the bridge. Carefully breaking just the surface of the finish before starting the heating. A lot of very sensitive work going on that’s not obvious.

yep! done it a million times!

The rear side of the bridge is lifted. Slide a piece of paper underneath, trace the contour/shape of the bridge. Cut it out and use that as a guide to draw the shape onto the cardboard shield. Thats faster and accurate.

I had a Martin OM CX guitar - made from laminate with a plastic bridge and plywood neck - it was a very nice guitar with a lovely tone both acoustic and plugged in and I used it for gigging as it was pretty much scratchproof. One day in summer , the Aircon failed while I was away and the bridge pulled off. I stuck it back with white glue but even after a week of curing, it just pulled off. I emailed Martin and was told they used Titebond - well that didn't work. I tried various types of epoxy and cyanoacrylate - nothing would last - even with really scrubbed clean and keyed surfaces - nothing worked. I ended up clamping the bridge in place with a couple of nuts and bolts through the bridge pin holes, then drilling through the wings on the bridge and using four heat blackened stainless allen bolts to clamp the bridge down. I replaced the bridge pins with turned brass bolts drilled to take the string from behind. I had to reposition the bottom three pins to allow for break over the saddle. When polished up, it looked very industrial and very cool.

New vids are always good. Would like to hear from Dan tho !!

Great and informative video! “What you find on a lot of budget guitars is too much finish under the bridge” unfortunately I see that a lot on >$4000 American made acoustics too…

"You can't beat hide glue for its tone"..... LOL 🤣

Thanks

Stewmac people.. just awesome

HB Woodsong's in Boulder... I remember that place! 😃 That was an awesome shop.

3:05 tone glue. Ladies and Gentlemen, the birth of TONE GLUE...

How great. Ty

This was waaaaay harder than i thought.

Check for burrs on the edge of your bridge removing tool. Should also be using made for metal sandpaper, bit wood type. Could you use a temperature controllable heat gun or wand instead of the heat lamp? Does it help the glue to soak into both wood surfaces by slightly moistening the surfaces?

Very instructive.

That was a great job Sir well explained. How much does it cost to re-glued the wood bridge only? No strings labor. A friend gave me two guitars with the 2 wood bridges separated only to do the re-glue work. Thank you.

What about Titebond II ????

Looking at the amount of clamps required into the soundhole and the possibility of damaging the edge of it each time you're getting them in and out I'd like to see a better option for that. For example: a three-pronged clamp with a single adjustable slider? Also, when reaming the bridge holes. I tend to use a container inside the guitar to catch the particles that are released in the process.

We all have our ways, I disagree that anyone can squeeze out all the glue or that it can make the joint weak I've never had one do that twice, thanks for uour time

Great video! I have a couple questions. I come from an aviation background where the oil from your hands can affect a glue up, is that a concern with wood glue? Does using water for cleanup affect drying times? Is there a concern with creep using a PVA glue? Once again thanks and I hope to see more from Gene!

Hello, great video. I have an old Kay parlor guitar. The bridge was bolted down on top of the guitar's finish with no glue. It has lifted up and I have removed the bridge. I want to glue it down and re-bolt it. Is there a glue that will bond the wood bridge to the guitar's glossy finish, or should I remove the finish (fairly thick)? thanks for your help.

Great video! Just curious, would a heat gun be suitable for this task?

I didn't have the right clamps to do this but I did it without the clamps and everything came out fine.

So what are the draw backs of using a close iron

🙂👍. Great Job ..

Excellent video. Thank you.

Nice work.

Thanks man for this video, excellent job! I see where I went wrong the second time I removed the same bridge. Went quite deep under the grain and now I am wondering what would be the best way to repair that. I am thinking of gluing it with CA glue and then level it. I am fixing a problem I made myself when regluing the bridge and accidentally glued the caul (inside the body) to the bottom side of the backplate under the bridge and now want to get it out. Any advice?

Never thought my chicken hobby would overlap with my guitar hobby....

Hello, is it possible to glue it without a clamp? I put around 3kg of weight above it

How much would a luthier charge for this repair?

Great video. Thank you

Just a friendly correction - radiation, including heat, does not dissipate exponentially. It follows an inverse square relationship, which is different than exponential. Thanks for the video!

Great job!

If the bridge becomes separated taking the finish with it do you need to remove the finish or just re glue without removing the finish?

Yeah, that was about as difficult as I thought it would be ... still to hard for me! #noskills #stilllovethesevideos

Lemon oil doesn't hydrate the wood. In order to hydrate the wood, you need to add moisture. The oil just makes the moisture content of the wood change more slowly

When you have an acoustic guitar that isn't going to be played for a while, is it best to loosen the strings?

Was identifying runout direction prior to removal mentioned?

How do you fix a 1963 00-18 Martin guitar that has it's original bone saddle collapsing & pulling towards the nut?

What brand of reflector wrap did you use and where can it be purchased?

Is walking still legal in Canada or do you need a permit.

Hi, I have rosewood neck and it is a bare neck. what oil or stain should i treat it with?

Can you use any strong wood glue, PVA PolyVinyl Acetate, Gorilla?

This was a great video. Would that heat lamp trick also work on the neck pocket? The only thing I've seen is the steam method, but this would be much easier if it worked.

Just gave me a use for my snake's old heat lamp.

Why copper tape? Can aluminum foil tape work also?

That's a big production. I'm self taught and my system is so easy and has never let me down. Just tape around the bridge ..... heat up a wide thin putty knife with a heat gun. ... it takes 5 or 6 attempts but you can feel that hot knife slowly push under the bridge. Easier ... no heat lamp or towels or blankets. Your welcome.😂

Wouldn't a contour gauge be an easier way to lay out the contour of the bridge onto the mask?

What about a lifted bridge area on the soundboard?

Can i use fevicol glue to reglue bridge sir

Close your eyes and you’ve got a great “Tom Hanks as luthier” asmr video here

26:47 please, What's that white thing (on which the strings rest) called?

Nice.

Wouldn’t it be easier if the bottom call had threads through each pin hole and a set of wing nuts to draw it down to top. No need for clamps. I’ll take my royalties now…

You don't need a lot of glue. In fact, less is more in wood joint gluing.

Wouldn't you want to put some self adhesive sandpaper on the body where the bridge is supposed to be and put the bridge on top of it and sand it so you know you will have as proper a fit as possible? To match any bulges that the top might have gotten over the years.

Is that a torrefied top?

@ 25:25 FYI: Backwards = counterclockwise.

What a great way to remove the bridge. I've seen guys doing this with a hot clothes iron directly over the wood. What a mess.

seems like overkill with the light-heater. heating iron would do the trick without all the drama

Mark Knopfler has gone on record to say he used a cocked Wah pedal for the sound

This is a great tutorial on the subject. And I love Stew Mac tools but this in essence is a SM commercial. And out of the dozens of these I've done only a couple have come off that clean. The clean up is the real work. I'd like to point out the starved glue joint myth he mentioned. I've been a wood worker cabinet maker most of my life and pushing 25 years in guitar repair, although part time. Many articles have been written on this topic and it has been debunked. But people still believe it. You'd have to have a hydraulic press to exert enough force to starve a glue joint. pretty impossible on top of an acoustic guitar.

That was in tune? Wow.

You forgot tiny sunglasses for the guitar so you can have a guitar solarium

spinal tap?

Great informative video! (Except for the damn bloody annoying music!! Is it compulsory???!) Thanks again!

how is the infrared light tiring your eyes, if your eyes can't even see infrared light?

Wagner heat gun with temperature control could make life a bit easier

Boy all that caution and u still have all those grains torn up fr the sound board on the bridge

Этот ролик про то, как открыть банку с пивом, при помощи атомной бомбы

Dude reminds me of Justin Long.

I hate hide glue. Acoustically, you need to have the ears of a cat to hear the difference. Over time it becomes very brittle and organically breaks down to make for an almost guaranteed joint failure. It is also clumsy to use. I believe the only advantage is to keep everything "traditional", for whatever that's worth. Titebond aliphatic resin glue is superior in almost every respect. From Wikipedia.. Fine Woodworking magazine ran a number of tests to evaluate the mechanical resistance of wood joints with different glues:[29] Glue Joint strength as a percentage of Type I PVA glue: Type I PVA glue 100% Slow-set epoxy 99% PVA glue 95% Liquid hide glue. 79% Hot hide glue 76% Polyurethane 58% The type I PVA glue was Titebond III, a waterproof glue. The epoxy was from System Three. The PVA glue was Elmer's Carpenter's glue. The liquid hide glue was from Old Brown Glue. The hot hide glue was J.E. Moser's. The polyurethane was Gorilla brand.