otter Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I have a 2005 Aj that I bought new this January. I have noticed that the middle four bridge pins lean toward the soundhole. (The tops lean toward the soundhole, the bottoms point toward the belly). The two E pins lean a little, but they are fairly straight. i have a decent bulge behind the bridge of 1/4 inch on each side. I looked inside with a mirror and I see no damage to the bridge plate or loose braces. Is this leaning typical of the narrow bridge coupled with forward shifted bracing or a sign of a problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballcorner Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I recently posted about work I had done to my 2005 AJ under warranty. I chose to have a bridge plate buddy (a small, thin brass strip) installed and this got the bump out of the top. I only had one bridge pin that was askew - the low E - and this hole is drilled slightly north of the other five pin holes with no explanation. It is still working on something other than a 90-degree angle. Since I had the work done, the guitar is better than ever. It plays like butter and has that amazing sound! So, I recommend that you have it looked at by a qualified tech. Where you have more than one pin askew I would suggest you have a minor bridge plate issue (not uncommon on this model and year). Forward shifted bracing, as we find in the AJ and other pre-war spec guitars, was considered normal bracing prior to the war. The braces were moved toward the lower bout to strengthen guitars around the time of WWII, as I understand it. Any guitar you own with this forward shifted bracing style is much more prone to belly roll and other top malfunctions - a risk you have to take to get the tonal benefits. I own several guitars with forward shifted bracing. Some are original pre-war instruments and some are current models. With the exception of one guitar, all of my forward shift braced guitars have had some repair work related to the top, belly roll or neck angle. In a nutshell, these are great sounding guitars. They also tend toward being rather delicate. In my case, I have perfect temperature and humidity control, backed up by two generators (in the event the first cuts out) in a purpose-built guitar room my wife refers to as the vault. I still experience these kinds of problems with forward shifted bracing. Martin was the first company, as I understand it, to decide this bracing style wasn't durable enough. Concerned with warranty issues, they changed to the style we now consider standard bracing - that being about 2" from the sound hole instead of 1". Nostalgia, and values in the vintage markets, drove us back to these pre-war specifications and they are amazing guitars -- but you have to wonder if the wisdom of the late 1930s and early 1940s was tossed out the window when these vintage spec guitars started cropping up in the 1990s. Today, I simply won't buy forward shifted bracing in a guitar because I am too concerned about the future of the instrument. The only guitar I own with forward shifted bracing that has never been repaired is my 1934 HD-28 Martin. It is nothing short of miraculous that this guitar continues along on its original neck set - an absolute accident of the perfect pieces of wood and perfect amounts of glue ending up on the same bench in the same week. I am certain I will be long dead before that guitar sees any serious surgery, and it is an absolute fluke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul E Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 On forward shifted bracing guitars, can one prevent top bellying by detuning the guitar when not in use ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballcorner Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 On forward shifted bracing guitars' date=' can one prevent top bellying by detuning the guitar when not in use ? [/quote'] There are people who will contend that detuning any guitar helps the aging process, but I am not a fan of this practice. First of all, you are putting tension on the neck, then taking it off, then putting it back on - what guarantee do you have that your structure travels the same distance each time or responds to the changes well? I am reminded of scoring metal and then bending it back and forth - eventually it snaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayla Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 Plus, it would be one hell of a hassle to have to detune and retune every time you want to play the guitar. That said, I generally detune 1/2 to 1 whole step if I'm putting the guitar away for a month or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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