BB Brown Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I'm working on replicating a bridge from an early 30's L-00 Bridge with out the old bridge and having a hard time finding specs. online. 1x6 inches, but was the string 2 3/8 ? I couldn't find any drawings or prints. The nut is 1 3/4. Any help is appreciated. Thanks BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 2 3/8" (60.325mm)pin spacing on my L-OO Legend, which is a replica of a 1937 L-OO. It also has a 1 3/4" nut. Bridge footprint is 1" x6". Remember, these bridges are tapered in section, not a constant height (I'm not talking about the ends of the bridge). At the 1st pin (high E) the bridge is 1/4" high. At the 6th pin (low E), the bridge is 5/16" high. This means that there is more saddle exposed at the high E than at the low E If you look closely, you can see it in this picture: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB Brown Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Thanks, that really helps. Looks like a great guitar. Love the bridge pins, what are they made from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Love the bridge pins, what are they made from? Aged and stained bone, from Bob Colosi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 From my experience, the standard was 2 3/8" which is my only real complaint with older Gibsons as that is a might skimpy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 From my experience, the standard was 2 3/8" which is my only real complaint with older Gibsons as that is a might skimpy. That's quite a bit wider than the standard Gibson spacing today and in the "modern" past, which seems to vary from 2 1/8" to 2 3/16", depending on the model. I was practicing my crosspicking last night on the L-OO with 2 3/8" spacing (after pulling out to measure before replying to the OP here), and it felt clumsy for that style compared to my 1948-1950 J-45 (2 1/8") or my 1943 SJ re-issue (hard to measure accurately, but seems to be just a tiny bit over 2 1/8"). I've been crosspicking a lot recently, and have been using the two slope J's for that because of their tone when flat-picked near the bridge. Fingerpicking is another story, and the extra finger space 2 3/8" gives you is quite useful when you're as clumsy as I am. As an side to the OP, I forgot to mention that the reason for the tapered bridge of older Gibson was probably to give a better string break angle for the treble strings, by putting their pins lower in the bridge. The angled saddle can give a pretty flat break angle for those strings, depending on the saddle height. It's more work to make a tapered bridge, but not much if you are jigged up for it. For a one-off bridge, it's quite a bit more time, maybe an additional half-hour or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB Brown Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Thanks. Do you know if they were slotted or un-slotted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Thanks. Do you know if they were slotted or un-slotted? Don't know about the originals. The pin holes on my two high-end modern Gibson flat tops are ramped, but not fully slotted. I think that's fairly typical. Ramping is a lot easier on the strings than a straight hole. On most older guitars, the pin holes have "self-ramped" over time due to string wear, no matter what they were like originally. Same thing applies at the nut. You can see the self-ramping effect on this 1968 bridge off one of my Gibsons. I know the bridge wasn't slotted, as the pin holes through the bridgeplate are still perfectly round. It's possible I might have "helped" the ramping on this bridge back in 1968. I don't remember a lot of things I did to guitars in the late 60's..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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