Guitar Kit World
5 min read
An acoustic-style bridge glues to the top and its position is permanent. Here is what the part is, the three ways it anchors strings, and how to fit each one on a kit build.
If your kit came with a flat wooden bridge that has to be glued onto the top, you have an acoustic-style bridge. It is one of the few parts of a kit build that is not reversible, and it is the part that decides whether your guitar plays in tune. This guide covers what it is, the three types you will run into, and how to fit each one.
An acoustic-style bridge is a shaped piece of wood that glues directly to the soundboard. It holds the saddle, anchors the strings, and passes their vibration into the top of the guitar. That is the whole job, and it is why it is glued rather than screwed: anything bolted to the top would damp the vibration you are trying to let through.
This is a different part from an electric guitar bridge. An electric bridge is metal, it mounts with screws or posts, and you can move it, raise it, and intonate each string after the fact. An acoustic-style bridge has none of that. Once the glue is dry its position is permanent, and the only adjustment left is the saddle sitting in it.
Which kits use one: acoustic-electric kits, hollow body kits, semi-hollow kits built with an acoustic top, and any kit whose parts list includes a wooden bridge and a separate saddle rather than a metal bridge assembly.
Acoustic-style bridges anchor the strings in one of three ways. Which one your kit is built for depends on the model and the production batch, so check the bridge in your box before you plan the build.
| Type | How the string anchors | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| With pins | A pin traps the ball end inside the bridge | First builds. The standard acoustic setup and the easiest to restring. |
| Pinless | The string feeds through the back of the bridge and catches inside it | Builders who would rather not deal with pins at all. |
| Body-through | The string passes through the body and anchors in a ferrule at the back | Experienced builders who want a steeper break angle over the saddle. |
Before you think about which type you are fitting, position the bridge. This matters more than every other decision on this page, because the distance from the nut to the saddle is your scale length. Glue the bridge a few millimeters out and the guitar will never intonate properly, however good the rest of the build is.
Work out the position, mark it, and mask around it. Then dry fit and check it again before any glue comes out.
The traditional setup. Six holes run through the bridge and the top. You drop the string in ball end first and push a pin in behind it, and the pin wedges the ball against the underside of the top.
Order of work: position and mark the bridge, drill the pin holes, glue the bridge down, then ream the holes to fit your pins.
Drilling: back the top with a support block so the bit does not tear out the underside as it breaks through. Go slow, and keep the bit perpendicular to the top.
On a pinless bridge the string enters from behind and the ball end catches on a shelf inside the bridge. Nothing can work loose under tension because there is no pin to work loose, and restringing is quick once the pattern is familiar.
If your bridge already has the rear holes, there is nothing to drill. Glue it down and string it up.
If it does not, a plain bridge does not become pinless on its own. You have to drill the rear holes yourself, and both the spacing and the angle have to be right or the strings will not sit straight over the saddle. Mark your spacing from the saddle rather than from the edge of the bridge, start with a bit well under your final diameter, and step up gradually. A hole drilled slightly small can be opened up. A hole drilled slightly wrong cannot be moved.
Restringing a pinless bridge, start to finish. Video by Sam McClaren Guitars.
Here the strings pass through the body itself and anchor in ferrules set into the back, the way a string-through electric works. Builders choose it for the steeper break angle over the saddle. It is the most involved of the three and the least forgiving, because you are drilling through the whole instrument.
Order of work:
This step is the same whichever type you fitted, and it is the one you cannot undo.
If a bridge does end up in the wrong place, it is not the end of the guitar. A glued bridge can be heated off and reset. That is a repair rather than a build step, but it is worth knowing the option exists.
Removing and replacing a glued bridge. Video by Tanya Shpachuk.
The bridge holds the saddle, and the saddle is what you actually adjust. Its height sets your action, and the angle of its compensation sets your intonation. Leave both until the bridge is glued and the guitar is strung to pitch.
Doug DeLuca and his sixteen year old son turned a bare quilted maple top into a deep blue burst, and the figure still reads through the darkest part of the rim. Here is the dye versus pigment decision that made it work, why the edges are the darkest part of the guitar, and what you can copy on your own figured top.
Christoph and his son Fionn wanted a deep even black on an open-grained mahogany body with the figure still showing through, and the pores kept drying lighter than the surface. Follow the build from the bare kit to the finished bass, and see how they diagnosed it and what you can copy from their approach.
