JLD Bridge Doctor Horror Stories Wanted

[paganskins]

I'm considering trying a JLD Bridge Doctor to hopefully rectify my Guild F212's sunken top and belly or at least stop the problem getting worse.

Browsing the web the worst I've heard is the system not working, does anyone have advice or horror stories I should hear before going ahead?

I've left the digital camera in work but I'll post a pic of the top tomorrow.

[doug osborne]

While drilling a hole to install the countersunk screw, I drilled all the way through the bridge and top.

 

My solution on this $100 Yamaha 12-string? Fat machine screw and washer. The JLD then functioned as-planned. The hardware looks ugly, but so did the guitar!

[Freeman Keller]

There are two models of JDL Bridge Doctor - one attaches by drilling a hole thru the bridge and screwing it on, the other uses a funky bolt that goes thru one pin hole so you don't have to drill any holes. On the first kind you use your standard pins, on the second kind the pins are replaced with brass bolts with holes thru the heads. The ball ends of the strings go through the holes. The StewMac catalog has a pretty good picture of each

 

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Special_tools_for:_Bridges/1/JLD_Bridge_Doctor/Pictures.html#details

 

My old 12 string had developed a pretty bad belly in the lower bout and the bridge was starting to pull loose - I reasoned that a JDL would fix it. Since I didn't want to drill any holes thru a 25 year old martin (and on the advice of the guy I talked to at JDL) I ordered and installed the second kind. On a 12 string it mounts thru the back set of pin holes.

 

If you look really carefully at the picture you will see the string break angle is greatly reduced. In fact on my guitar the back string course barely touched the saddle at all. It was simply unplayable - not to mention butt ugly with the balls of the strings sticking out like that.

 

Did it fix the belly? Somewhat - tightening the compression rod did rotate the top slightly, but it was still there. I took it out, had the bridge pulled and reglued (as it should have been), and had the neck reset. The belly is gone, the bridge is tight, the action is right where I like it, the JDL is in a drawer, and life is good. Thank god I didn't drill any holes thru it.

 

Now, Neil, it's your turn.....

[kwakatak]

I recently put the cheaper model on my 30+ year-old Takamine. While it did flatten the belly/sinkhole around the bridge, reinforce the bridge's hold on the soundboard and arguably helped the tone out it didn't come without a price.

 

On a prior repair I had a tech plane the top of the bridge because it was tilting forward (but only beginning to come loose) and causing the action to become uncomfortably high. The result was that the bridge is actually thinner in the area where you have to drill the hole for the mounting screw. I found out later that the bridge was warped along with the top.

 

Initially installation went with few problems. Sure, it kind of hurt to drill the pilot hole straight through the bridge/top but I was as meticulous as my limited mechanical inclinations could be. A second run was required to widen the very top of the original pilot hole to accommodate the top of the screw and the decorative MOP button.

 

This is where I began to have problems. Because the bridge was planed down, there was less mass to drill through.

 

When it came time to install the mounting screw I probably proceeded too quickly as well. In addition to increasing tension on the the internal truss, I also torqued the mounting screw so that the screw sat further into the indentation.

 

This is where the real problems started. As I torqued down both the truss fitting and the mounting screw I hear miniscule "ticking" noises. I also noticed that the formerly flat plane of the bridge's top was taking a concave characteristic.

 

At this point I should have stopped and eased the tension off slowly, but the realization that the top was now flat had me feeling euphoric. It wasn't until the next day that I noticed that a lateral crack on the bridge that intersected all the pin holes had formed. I took a many photos under varying light sources and determined that the crack ran all the way through the bridge along a grain in the rosewood.

 

EDIT: here's a picture taken that day:

http://users.adelphia.net/~nkwak/content/IMG_0191.jpg

 

I figured at this point the damage was done so I elected to keep the JLD installed. I did however take the strings off, sealed the guitar in its case and put it in a cool, dark place (underneath my basement steps). I had just received a Larriv

[d28andm1911a1]

I put one in a old lawsuit Tak and it worked fine.

[kwakatak]

Yeah, I certainly wouldn't say that my experience was the norm. I think my guitar's pre-existing condition and my own inexperience were the catalysts for what happened.

[Tony Burns]

that is one neat little device , but id worry about it putting more tension on the back and giving you some problems back there , or possibly cracking the sides on a solid wood instrument - any problems in that department ?

[kwakatak]

As far as I know there is no stress put on the back. The internal truss does not exert direct force on the sides, either. The only points of contact are the underside of the bridge plate and the heel block.

 

From what I've heard the truss is actually designed to break first, but my experience is otherwise and I'd recommend care with regards to applying stress to the bridge.

[mjt11860]

i installed one on a daion caribou, whose top had bellied, making it hard to play. it worked fantastic! it played like butter, w/nice low action & n buzzing. i would make sure ur guitar is not starving for water & if it is, take a month or so to humidify it, before installing a jld, to avoid any cracking.