New custom Alembic bridge :: 1999 DeArmond Starfire Bass [9.7 lbs]

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A 1999 DeArmond Starfire bass in for a custom Alembic-style bridge and tailpiece installation.

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The tricky part of this installation requires routing the tone block of the bridge into the arched top.  The photo above shows my custom saddle slotting jig modified with guides sized to rout the mating pocket in the top.

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You can see the original DeArmond factory routs extending outside of the new bridge.  The player and I considered various cosmetic options to hide them.  In the end we decided to just let them show as they are not that much of an eyesore and fit the vibe of this player-grade workhorse. 

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This bass is decked out with a crazy amount of wiring ala Phil Lesh.  The pickups are Fred Hammon "Dark Star" pickups that are based on the Hagstrom BiSonics.  These pickups are recreations of the originals that were popularized by Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane) and Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead) in the late '60s.  Note if you are interested in these pickups, check out Curtis Novak as Fred has stopped producing them.

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New bridge to correct string spacing :: Ibanez SDGR 885 5 string bass [7.6 lbs]

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It seems like more and more basses have been coming by the shop lately.  Here is an interesting one.  This 5 string bass has a narrow neck, almost like Ibanez used a 4 string neck on a 5 string setup.  The outer strings were very close to the edge of the fingerboard and causing issues for the player.  He even made his own notches in the original saddles in an attempt to correct the issue. 

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I searched around for for options, initially seeing if I could use different saddles with the original bridge but ultimately came across this Schaller 5 string bridge.  This bridge offered adjustable spacing fell in a more useable outer string spacing range for this narrow neck.  The only issue was that the new bridge needed to be pushed back further on the body to intonate properly.  You can see the original bridge footprint peeking out in front of the new Schaller bridge (see photo above).  The player was made aware of this and gave me the green light to proceed as he valued playability over minor cosmetics.

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I took these photos before the customer stopped by to check out the new bridge so the original mounting holes were left untouched.  After going through options with the player, we ended up plugging the two holes with ebony plugs on the spot.  I wanted him to see the options in person before proceeding.  The new bridge was just what this bass needed!

Check out the video below for the layout and mounting of the new bridge.

New Tonepros AVR-II setup :: 1997 Gibson SG [7.1 lbs]

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The player of this SG was having issues with the original bridge breaking strings and decided to replace it with a Tonepros AVR-II.  This new bridge came with unslotted saddles so the string spacing needed to be laid out and cut before installation.  See the video below from the daily vlog.

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Mastery, Lollar & Novak :: 2013 Squire Telecaster [8.7 lbs]

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A Squire Tele that recently got decked out with a new Mastery Bridge (and string tree), Lollar Special T pickup in the neck and a Curtis Novak in the bridge.  Quality hardware like this takes a mediocre budget guitar and ups it's feel and tonal response considerably.  She's strung with DR Pure Blues 11-50.

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100 Year Old Restoration :: Lyon & Healy Bowl Back Mandolin [1.3 lbs]

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100 Year Old Restoration :: Lyon & Healy Bowl Back Mandolin [1.3 lbs]

Whew! Finally finished up this ~100 year old mandolin restoration a couple weeks ago. Let's see ... neck & fingerboard reglue, missing soundhole pieces, cracked / loose top bracing, loose back ribs, new inlayed pickguard (courtesy of Dave Nichols Custom Pearl Inlay), new bridge and properly spaced new tuners (peghead had to be bunged & redrilled). A lot of hours into this little fella. Excited to drop it off to it's new owner. I went to high school with him in PA and this was his grandmother's mandolin. Always an honor to work on family heirlooms.

Until I gather everything into a single blog post, you can check out the previous progress of this project here.

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