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A nice fellow dropped off his beloved Breelove because of a fret buzzing issue that was driving him ( and anyone who was listening ) nuts. After my intial inspection I found the nut to be sufficiently fitted and a saddle that was already shimmed and is standing proud of the bridge by 1/8". The neck looks fine except for the 12th clearances. 1/32" on the high E string and 1/16" on the bass. It does have bridge doctor in which I have no expierence working with them. Are these things adjustable? He did admit to a 30% RH in his home. I sent him home with a "in-the-case" humidifier for a week. So back to my question; is the bridge doctor made to be adjustable? And has anyone any ideas that I may have missed? The buzzing starts on the second fret and by the time you get to the 12th, nothing!

Thanks, Clinton

I have never worked on one, but from the description and pictures I have seen of them, the bridge dr is there to prevent the bridge from tipping forward, or to correct a top belly. If the top doesnt exhibit this, then there is nothing to adjust.

the low RH is certainly a factor - the top has sunk .... I would advise him to run the shower hot for a 10 minutes, close the bathroom door, no fan, and leave the guitar sitting on a stand in there .. maybe two or three times. It is in desparate need of moisture .. a crack is not far off IMO ...

Once the guitar is well humidified, re-access if there is still an issue. To get to a reasonable action, the top will need to rise about 1/16 at the bridge - that should put the high E at about 1/16, the low E at around 3/32

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Yup, humidity to low.

I have the same issue with an owner of one of my guitars right now. He has had a planet waves soundhole humidifier yet has never used it

Two cracks have shown up in the back, the back has caved in somewhat (noticeable to the naked eye) and there was buzzing in several locations on the neck.

I told him to start using the humidifier (this was a week or two ago now) and actually I just had a call from him saying the cracks have all but closed up, the back is domed again and there is no buzzing.

It's amazing how many people will spend all that time coming up with good, hard earned (in most instances) money to buy "their dream guitar" and yet not bother with a $30-$50 humidifier to take care of it.

I guess this really keeps the repair guys busy though, if that's any consolation

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JLDs are adjustable, but should only really need the initial setup adjustment, unless it's an aftermarket, and you're trying to de-belly a top. I've installed a lot of them.

How's the neck relief?

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how long should the sona sessions last? I should instruct or ask him to do this pronto! THANKS ! clinton

I forgot-the neck relief is good and the fret job looks good as well. I think the guitar was built overseas. Clinton

If that is a Breedlove Atlas, it has a double acting trussrod. But the relief is good...hmmm...

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I've installed only one Bridge Doctor and that's been several years back.
I'm under the impression that it sacrifices some acoustic quality otherwise it would have, by now, become standard equipment on new guitars.
It definitely serves the purpose of straightening the top however.
Nelson

I could easily be wrong but I think Bridge Doctors are installed on some of the Breedloves so the bracing can be lighter. That might also mean that a periodic adjustment would be wise. If it were built in China in a higher than normal humidity, then the lower humidity could certainly be an issue. It wouldn't hurt to raise the humidity and see what happens. Here's a picture from Frank Ford's site. http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/Guitar/XGallery/xgallery4.html

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
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I find just the opposite; I've never installed one, where the customer's face didn't light up, when they played the first chord. I use a strobetuner, and a right angle adjusting tool, to hit the sweet spot where the torque of the strings is counteracted by the JLD.

YMMV, but mine's been consistently in the 50+/hwy range...

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Hi Clinton:

I just installed a Bridge Doctor on a friend's old Gibson that had bellied behind the bridge and caved in front of it. What a clever invention the Bridge Doctor is! This top was badly deflected and it's now perfectly flat. I suspect that raising the caved in top would also raise the saddle and your strings slightly. You can adjust the amount of correction of the top with the Bridge Doctor with an allen wrench through the soundhole.

I haven't put strings back on this guitar yet, but my guess it will increase the loudness and perhaps improve the tone. The website shows some testing that proves it actually increases loudness significantly.

Good luck with your adjustments.

Ken Grunst

Ken,
How did you install the bridge doctor on the Gibson reverse belly bridge? I've found that difficult unless you use one of the brass bridge pins to anchor it which I don't really like. They look kind of stupid and significantly decrease the break angle over the saddle. I used one on a 62 Texan that had been converted to a fixed saddle and had undergone many failed procedures for belly and collapse in front of the bridge. It worked great and didn't really alter the tone a great deal. I wouldn't say it made it sound better though.
Thanks
TJK

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

The company claims the Bridge Doctor will improve the tone of the guitar, but that has not been my experience. I have installed several, and my goal in each case was to correct a bellied-up guitar top without having a negative impact on the instrument's tone. There's a fine line between not enough tension on the device to correct the deformed top, and too much tension which makes the guitar sound a bit nasal. But there's a point in between - that sweet spot someone else mentioned - where the guitar sounds just like it did without the Bridge Doctor.

The first instrument in which I installed a Bridge Doctor is a jumbo 12-string I built knowing that it would need the Bridge Doctor - I braced it very light for a 12 (about the same as I would a 6-string), and made the top about only about .110 thick. I strung it up without the Bridge Doctor to see if I could get away with it, but alas, it was not to be. The guitar started to belly within 4 days after I first strung it up, so I immediately removed the strings and installed the Bridge Doctor.

--Steve

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