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Now that I can fit the neck in place, its time to layout the bridge location. I tape the ruler in place at the nut end and use a square to mark off 24" (remember, this is a short scale designed from the outset for slide playing).
Here's the scale length marked off. I also exteneded the sides of the neck just for visual reference.
I've adjusted the bridge saddles to about the half way mark and lined up the point where the strings will sit on the scale length line. I square it up, center it by eye using the 2 middle saddles and the neck extension lines, and trace around it as just another visual reference. The whole point of this exercise is to mark off where the string through holes are located.
I've drawn another line (just beyond the scale length) indicating where the string through holes need to be. I made up a few string retainer blocks out of brass and I still had one left so I decided to use it on this project. That means we need to determine where to route on the back of the body. I measure from the butt end of the guitar to the string through line...
...and transfer that distance to the back of the body.
I use the template for the retainer block to trace the shape, then rough it out on the drill press.
I use the block itself to set the router depth. The brass stock I buy to make the blocks is pretty uniform, but you never know.
After routing, I test the fit. Looks good.
Now its time to drill the string holes. If you asked a dozen people, you'd hear a dozen different ways of doing this. Here's my formula (at least when I'm using a retainer block). I leave the block in place, and drill the FIRST hole through it with a brad point bit. I go all the way through to the front. Now I flip the body over and see how accurately I transfered that distance from front to back. A little wander / a little off on the distance transfer, all in all not to bad!
Using that one hole as an anchor, I square the bridge up and mark the holes for its screws. I pre-drill the holes and screw it down, then mark the remaining string holes.
After removing the bridge, I drill part way through the remaining string holes from the top, and part way through from the back. Here's what we end up with.
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