Why you should cut string ramps in a guitar or ukulele bridge Beau Hannam

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Why you should cut string ramps in a guitar or ukulele bridge Beau Hannam

Рет қаралды 10,280

Күн бұрын

In this video, I outline why you should cut string ramps in a guitar or ukulele bridge with drawings and describing the physics of what this accomplishes.
Note- the ramp is an easy curve, not a straight cut.
You can of course route these string ramps before gluing the bridge on, I just don't ever seem to.
To cut the ramps, I use the following:
1- Dremel (or any brand rotary tool)- i use the 100 series (I have 5 !)
2- Small "engraving cutters" bits. For guitars, you might want to use two sizes- small for treble strings, larger for the bass side.
www.dremel.com...
3- Nut file or the like to clean up the ramp. 220-400 grit Sand paper can also be used.
4- "Bridge pin hole slotting saws"- these saws are used on steel string guitars to (a) cut/saw a ramp into the bridge pin hole, and (b) make room for the string to sit inside the bridge pin hole when using a non slotted bridge pin. If you use bridge pins, it is worth having one of these saws (I show the older StewMac version in this video).
www.stewmac.co...
5- I forgot to mention this in the video but i sometime use this abrasive cord to clean up the ramp- it is handy for other tight jobs too.
www.stewmac.co...
Master luthier of luxury heirloom quality guitars and ukuleles.
www.beauhannam...

Пікірлер: 36

@JonseyWales 5 ай бұрын

Excellent and highly useful instruction, many thanks!!👍🙏

@BeauHannamGuitars 5 ай бұрын

Thank you and my pleasure :)

@robertnewell5057 7 ай бұрын

I think it's worth stressing what Beau says in reply to another commentator. The rationale for tonal improvement from ramping relates to break angle. As I said in response to a post from a different luthier on this topic, Alan Carruth did an experiment on this and concluded that the amount of break angle needed (at both nut and saddle) is only what is needed to accurately define the point where the string crosses the nut/saddle and exert enough tension to keep the string from moving about and wasting energy. That's not really very much. See Carruth (he found that on blind testing people could not tell the difference between a break angle of 25 degrees and 6 degrees - that's a lot - provided the strings remained the same distance from the top) but also Ted Woodford's channel for more on this. At the saddle, the issue only arises if the saddle has been lowered to such an extent that Carruth's two criteria are broken (usually in an attempt to lower the action in a guitar which is getting near needing a neck reset). In this situation, ramping is a great thing to do, but otherwise there's no real evidence that it makes any improvement. The reason for tonal improvement is because once the two criteria are broken, tone is seriously degraded, and ramping restores the criteria.

@BeauHannamGuitars 7 ай бұрын

Yep- 👍🏻 forget to say EVERYtHING in a video.

@thadvsoske8087 6 жыл бұрын

So much attention to detail - which all makes sense. Sweet!

@BeauHannamGuitars 6 жыл бұрын

yep

@walterrider9600 2 жыл бұрын

thank you Beau great idea

@frankyduroo7996 2 жыл бұрын

Thx you sir! I'm looking this info for days! Thank you verry much!

@BeauHannamGuitars 2 жыл бұрын

My pleasure:)

@MariUSukulele 6 жыл бұрын

very informative in-depth vid! thank you BEAU!

@BeauHannamGuitars 6 жыл бұрын

Cheers Marius- glad it was helpful. - please subscribe if you like such videos :)

@MariUSukulele 6 жыл бұрын

did! the purfling, btw, is astounding!!!

@BeauHannamGuitars 6 жыл бұрын

thanks :)

@catekatz5855 4 жыл бұрын

Beau, thank you for the video! Beautiful work. I would have liked to see you do the finishing touches on the ramps though. What file or sandpaper do you use to finish them off? Also, are the string holes small because you string the Uke through the sound hole? Thanks for sharing your technique 😊✌️🙏

@BeauHannamGuitars 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks- I think i use a 1/16th bit- just enough for the thick C string to fit through- To finish, i usually use some 220-400 sandpaper wrapped around a nut file.

@medinaredzic9616 2 жыл бұрын

Hi There,have question.Aside of ramping the bridge hole , Do you also recommend to slott the bridge holes inside to, so that you can use unslotted bridge pins and the strings would be sit in in those littel rows/slotts inside ...some of the Luthiers says that this method brings the top to move further more and vibrate more.Cheers Neven

@BeauHannamGuitars 2 жыл бұрын

I would use a combination of the little saw that stewmac sell and a dremel with a small ball end bit.

@medinaredzic9616 2 жыл бұрын

@@BeauHannamGuitars thx 👍

@sa1168 2 жыл бұрын

Does this actually improve the sound of the guitar(like say a bone nut upgrade) or only longevity?

@BeauHannamGuitars 2 жыл бұрын

It definitely improves sound if the break angle is non existent. I do it for sound, not longevity.

@123elvislives 3 жыл бұрын

Hi there l am wondering can you just do two like the two E strings only because the other strings are sitting too close to the white pearl or can you cut into that to Thanks David

@BeauHannamGuitars 3 жыл бұрын

You can do whatever is needed :)

@123elvislives 3 жыл бұрын

Beau Hannam Guitars and Ukuleles Thank you for your reply your video is very informative I had a practice run on one of my guitars a eplphone and l used a roundish file Thanks David 👍🏼🇦🇺👍🏼🇦🇺👍🏼

@KingNeptune151 4 жыл бұрын

Link to nut slot video?

@BeauHannamGuitars 4 жыл бұрын

I dont think ive done a nut slot video- NOw i know what to do next!!!!!

@fzelders Жыл бұрын

What happens if there is no string ramp?

@BeauHannamGuitars Жыл бұрын

The world WILL end!... but really, (1) if the instrument has good neck angle and good saddle height (ie you already have a good break angle), the worst that will happen is the string gets kinked coming out of the hole. (2) if you have bad neck angle and bad saddle height all which leads to bad break angle behind the saddle, the worst that can happen is the instrument wont sound as good as it could.

@fzelders Жыл бұрын

@@BeauHannamGuitars Thank you. Now it's clear to me. 👍🏻 🙏🏻

@2000SkyView 5 жыл бұрын

Wow! That looks a little dangerous. Power tools can make large errors with little mistakes. Always better off making slow changes with manual tools, little mistakes make little errors this way.

@BeauHannamGuitars 5 жыл бұрын

it seems scary and dangerous, but its not. You can also do this before glueing the bridge on.

@DougHinVA 2 ай бұрын

he needs to get someone who can draw and talk ,,, he can do neither one....

@BeauHannamGuitars 2 ай бұрын

I love you too ❤❤❤

@DougHinVA 2 ай бұрын

@@BeauHannamGuitars Snarky sarcasm is not asked for or needed. I posted my comment and did not want a rebuttal...

@BeauHannamGuitars 2 ай бұрын

@@DougHinVA You write a comment like that you get a rebuttal like that motherfucker. You think I’m some robot without feelings. That is how life works you little bitch.