Repair Services

Here’s a modern Martin version of their older bridge type with the “through saddle”. Martin bounced back and forth between long and short saddles a couple of times in the history of the company. The older “pyramid  bridges” had both short and long saddles, depending on year of manufacture, and the later “belly bridges” and straight bridges did to. The long or “through” saddle was the type that was in use during the ’30s, Martin’s “golden age” by many accounts. The later short saddle bridges are less prone to splitting, and structurally better in some ways, but the allure of the ’30s Martins, I assume, has led Martin to make several guitar models that resemble the older guitars, and many of them have long saddle bridges.
This Martin guitar is labeled Mini Martin or Style 5, and has the long saddle type bridge.

(Click the thumbnails to see larger images.)

Though the bridge looks very similar to the older “through saddle” Martin bridges, The saddle is synthetic (Micarta) rather than the natural material used on the earlier Martins; ivory, followed by bone. The owner of this guitar wanted the saddle changed to bone.

In the older “through saddle” bridges the saddle slot was just a square bottomed slot that was cut right through the top of the bridge and the ends of the slot emerged at the “wings” of the bridge. It was possible for the saddle to slide side to side in the slot. The later versions often have a glued-in saddle, and it can be very difficult to remove. In the past, I’ve managed to get these saddles out by getting them hot enough to release the glue, but it takes so much heat that I worry about the bridge to top glue joint being compromised by the heat.
Many years ago I learned a technique for removing string nuts from their slots when they’ve been set with epoxy or glued too securely. The method involves sawing a kerf through the nut almost all the way through, then pinching the nut with pliers to break both sides loose from the slot. The nut will usually lift right out with no damage to the instrument. For this guitar, I decided to adapt that technique for removing a glued-in saddle.

I taped a couple of “pre-approved credit cards” to the top to eliminate the danger of scratching the top with the saw, put some white duct tape over the wings of the bridge so I could instantly see if I let the saw contact the wings, and sawed a slot into the saddle.

It worked! I got the saddle out with little effort, and no damage to the bridge.

I also found out that the slot is routed into the bridge rather than sawn through like in “the old days”. The slot has stops at the ends, so the saddle can’t slip sideways, and there’s no real reason to glue it, but they did anyway.
I’ve spent some time trying to figure this out: The routed slot has round ends from the end mill that was used to cut it…

…and the saddle has little half-moon-shaped black tabs on the ends to make it look like the saddle in the old sawn-through type bridge.

Without the tabs, the saddle has square ends.

The same “retro” look can be accomplished by the relatively simple task of cutting square ends in the slot. Why did Martin decide to make little black half-moon tabs instead? Do they have some technology that makes it easier to make and install those tabs than to cut the slot ends square? How could that be more cost effective for them?
It remains a mystery to me, but I decided it is much easier for me to cut the ends of the slot square than to re-use the tabs, and besides, I lost both of them on the shop floor anyway.

I used a chisel and a graver (used as a chisel)…

…to square the ends of the slot.

I prepared a bone saddle blank so that it fit snugly but not tight into the slot, and fit well lengthwise so there is no visible gap at either end of the slot. Here it is in place, with plenty of height to work with.

The original saddle was a good height, the action height of the guitar was good, so I traced the outline of the old saddle onto my blank…

…to give myself a starting point for cutting out the new saddle.

First, I cut the arch of the fingerboard radius on the top of the saddle,

then crowned the top edge to the shape of a fret. Here it is in place in the bridge ready for me to string the guitar and check the action height. By leaving the ends high like this, I can lower the saddle by removing material from the bottom edge because I haven’t “swooped” the ends into the wings of the bridge yet.

At this time, I decided to go ahead and finish a couple of other aspects of Martin’s bridge construction. I’ve seen other bridges like this one, on Martins from certain years, with the bridge pin holes drilled and … that’s it. No taper for the bridge pins, no ramps for the strings, bridge pins sitting up high because they won’t go into the holes all the way. (Sorry, no picture, I didn’t think about it in time).
I used a bridge pin hole reamer and tapered all the holes…

…until the pins fit all the way in without binding or tightening, just snug enough to not fall out.

I used this little saw to cut slots in the holes for the strings…

…followed by files of the correct sizes to allow the strings to fit into the slots in the bridge…

…and ramp them toward the saddle.

That’s a “bondo” spreader protecting the top of the guitar in case I slip with a saw or file, so I won’t ding the top.

Here it is strung up and ready for action adjustment.

I adjusted the height of the bridge for good action, then cut the ends of the saddle to merge into the wings of the bridge smoothly. It looks very much like the “old style” through saddle, it is now bone rather than Micarta, it fits the slot well and is not glued in. It will be much easier to deal with when it comes time for repairs in the future.
The bridge pins fit fully into their holes, and the strings fit into their slots in the bridge. The bridge pins are turned “backwards”, with the “flutes” facing away from the strings, so the set-up of the bridge is like the older type with round, non-fluted bridge pins.