Hi Rich

tailpiece was installed first and then guitar was strung, and then bridge was placed in and moved about until correct intonation was found - wondered if anybody has tried it that way?

Thats exactly the way I did it. I packed up the tunomatic with washers to allow for the height of the posts. That allowed me to mark the centres down through the bridge holes. Having done that, it land within a bee's bollock of the 1.5/4.5 intonation line that I'd already drawn.

i'm ready to drill the holes for my Tune-o-matic bridge and tailpiece and wondering if i should mark 1.5mm back from scale length for high E and 4.5mm mm back from low E string for correct position?

That's right - you got it! Make sure to drill test holes in scrap first - drill pilot holes - check THREE times 😛

also saw a You Tube video where tailpiece was installed first and then guitar was strung, and then bridge was placed in and moved about until correct intonation was found - wondered if anybody has tried it that way?

No...

I would not have the patience for that 🙂

Make sure the bridge is centered so that the strings will be even distances from the edges of the fretboard.

If the intonation is a little out you have the adjustment screws.

Here is the link to the course video - I think it works for any bridge?:

https://guitarmaking.co.uk/lesson/drill-the-bridge-holes/

Thats exactly the way I did it. I packed up the tunomatic with washers to allow for the height of the posts. That allowed me to mark the centres down through the bridge holes. Having done that, it land within a bee's bollock of the 1.5/4.5 intonation line that I'd already drawn.

But you need to assemble the guitar to do this and it is not neccessary. Not such a bad idea tho...at least you will know for sure - but once you have done a few you realise it is not so difficult...

To

ok thanks for advice

i will go with the bridge first and mark 1.5mm/4.5mm form scale length line

cheers

rich

Fingers Crossed for ya...let us know how it goes... 😎 

Hi Mark

But you need to assemble the guitar to do this and it is not neccessary. Not such a bad idea tho...at least you will know for sure - but once you have done a few you realise it is not so difficult...

I've had a long life as an engineer not trusting people and feeling the need to prove things for myself. Imagine if someone told you just to trust them that 17.817 is a magic number, thank you for the detailed explanation. 🙂

Hey Mark

just caught up on Saturdays live stream - thanks for encouragement and the bridge holes did come out where i planned. Looks all good but as i haven't fully assembled the guitar yet they may still turn out to be in the wrong place! I've been spraying the guitar today as i figure there's kind of no going back now - all holes drilled, so should be able to assemble in a day or two. Once those bridge posts are in they're not coming out - hopefully!

cheers

Rich