Classical Guitar Bridge Placement

After the guitar is assembled the shape of each guitar may vary by one hundredth of a millimeter.

Classical guitar bridge placement. Adhesive is not used to attach the nut and saddle. Also in a chapter on the classical guitar that Jose Romanillos contributed to a book on making musical instruments he states that he glues the bridge on the unfinished top strings it up and makes adjustments for sound with a scraper before he applys the finish. When the bridge is placed in the top the intonation compensation is adjusted by moving the bridge towards the tail end of the guitar.

The main purpose of the bridge on a classical guitar is to transfer the vibration from the strings to the soundboard which vibrates the air inside of the guitar thereby amplifying the sound produced by the strings. But what about designing and building your own guitar adapted to your own ideas and needs. See Figure 7 In the 1930s in response to musicians wanting a more fully accessible fingerboard steel string guitar makers discovered that players could have an extra two frets worth of fingerboard by making a fourteen-fret-to-the-body neck.

The choice of these numbers has to be based on the playability of the guitar for the future owner. The nut should be leveled flat and the cow-bone shaved so that its height and shape fit the guitar perfectly. Flip the bridge back over so the backside with the glue is facing down.

Hold the bridge around the edges so you dont disturb the glue or get it on your hands. Of course this is a comfortable starting point and different guitars and players may require a higher or lower action. Pull the classical guitar string up above the bridge and wrap it underneath the right side of the string.

Further from the 12th fret. Historically the bridge was placed smack-dab in the middle of the lower bout of early guitars with a twelve-fret neck sticking out of the body. The bass side often gets nudged slight farther down the face of the guitar and is in fact not at a pure 90 angle to the center line.

Press the bridge carefully in place on the guitar body. A standard string height on classical instruments is 664 on the bass side and 564 on the treble side. To get it I simply use a rule to mark out the position either side of the finger board.