A sure-fire way to address mild to moderate belly bulge on a 12-string guitar, is the JLD Bridge Doctor. There are lots of great blog posts and YouTube videos that walk ya through the installation of the Bridge Doctor. I want to give y’all a little heads-up on the common issues you run across when installing the Bridge Doctor, so to keep your cussin’ in check and you can stay comfortably ‘within spec’ for Sunday-go-to-meetin’.
Ya ever had a cat that just couldn’t quit scratchin’ furniture? In every other way, kitty was an affectionate and welcome participant to the nuclear family unit, but the cussed critter couldn’t keep its claws out of the couch! THAT is a perfect simile to life with a 12-string guitar. They-just-have-issues. Maybe they break the forward X-braces loose and get a sunken spot twixt the soundhole and the bridge, or excessive neck relief, maybe the bridge comes loose or the dreaded belly bulge that can contribute to all of the above!
My latest bellied guitar repair
My wife has this one specific 12-string that she loves. It’s a Takamine with a solid Sitka top, a solid Sapele back, and stacked Sapele sides. It has great action, full dreadnaught presence, and the electronics are very true to the acoustic sound. In the last year or so it started developing a belly. We have always kept our 12-strings tuned down a step and we capo them to pitch… You already know a 12-string will belly at some point, so knock it down a whole step first thing and reduce the tension a bit. Yet, alas… this one was getting a belly pooch like I do after my wife puts the fire to a mess of ribs.
The bridge Doctor is EASY!
The quick and effective way to take care of the belly was to install the great JLD Bridge Doctor. The single bolt option is super easy requiring only minor drilling in the bridge and the guitar top, and the brass pin version is even simpler and does not require drilling. The bolt-through-the-bridge model costs about the same as a good set of strings, and the brass pin style is more-less the same as a set of chrome Power Pins.
When you have your ninja luthier skills working, the Bridge doctor can be a 10-minute job.
- To manage expectations = I set aside an hour.
- Realty = Two hours later the guitar was ready to play.
Here is a list of everything that slowed me down… This is offered, not s a complaint to JLD, but as a series of “learning moments” to help out any brothers and sisters tackling this effective repair process.
To start with, I should level-set a bit. I decided to use the style of Bridge Doctor with the six little brass pins. This is mostly because there wasn’t enough room to comfortably drill the bridge for the bolt and to place the pearl cover dot in a way that would look aesthetically correct. That also meant that a string change would be in order since the brass pins would replace the current bridge pins with six of the 12 strings threading through them. Lastly, I have always hated the bridge pins in this guitar. So the remaining six white plastic pins were to replaced with rosewood pins with little abalone dots in them. This would match the bridge, match the position markers, and hold much more reliably than those slippery little devils that came with the guitar.
To familiarize yourself with the general installation of the JLD Bridge Doctor please see their website: https://www.jldguitar.net/
Lessons Learned
Oops = Laying out may tools. I needed to find a safety pin to use as a wrench to bolt the brass pins in place. I finally found one that was being used to take-in my wife’s shirt (sorry sweetie). This is simple, but a real “for want of a nail” kind of moment.
The holes in the brass pins, that associate with any of the unwound strings, are teeny. So you need to bend flush the trailing end of the string (that works it’s way around the ball-end then winds around the string). That is work that is mostly done with your fingertips. It’s like trying to teach a minuscule crab how to use his claws.
Lesson = When laying out your tools you will need the safety pin. As sturdy as you can get that will fit in the micro-holes in the little brass pins. You also need two (count ‘em TWO) needle-nose pliers. One to hold the unwound string securely on the wraps just past the ball end, while the other pliers help you crimp down the left-over winding the sticks up. It ain’t-a-goin’ through those holes in the pins.
Oops = A mirror. I used a book light to see what I was doing inside the guitar, but I couldn’t locate my dental mirror.
Lesson = You can use your cellphone’s back-facing camera. It does a great a great job, but it took me a while to figure out that it was a functional equivalent of the little mirror on a stick.
Oops = Cutting the tension rod wrong. There is a wooden dowel rod that that goes through the system block of the bridge doctor and gently pushes against the tail block of the guitar. You just have to do a trial fitting and cut it to length – EASY! However, I had it up against part of the end pin electronics jack. Oopsie! I cut the rod a full inch too short. (No matter how often I recut it – it was still too short! I’m kidding about that.) Fortunately I bought a Bridge Doctor system with the screw, and one with the pins as well. So I had a second dowel rod to fit the right way.
Lesson = You should buy a dowel rod at the hardware store and have it as a spare before you start your repair. I am not the first person to admit that we needed a second one. Just make sure to shape the end that engages with the tension screw the same as the factory dowel rod.
Oops = Bridge pins, and strings. I had to fit the six rosewood bridge pins by reaming the bridge and sanding the pins a bit. That takes quite a bit of time. Also the little brass pins that come with the system are a challenge for large hands to install. Many – many – many – dropped lock nuts and fumbled pins.
The strings. There are 12 of them. And that cat that I mentioned that likes to claw the furniture, also loves to play with the strings, and bridge pins, and the little plastic winder… It’s just all a great old time for him!
Lesson = Any additional work you need to do while working with the Bridge Doctor needs to be considered when budgeting your time. For me, it was bridge pins and strings. For someone else, it might be re-gluing a bridge or a brace.
If you own a 12-string guitar, you should be ready for the eventuality of a belly bulge repair. Thankfully, installing a JLD Bridge Doctor is a straightforward and rather simple process. The efficacy of this repair is remarkable, the product engineering is exceptional, and the cost of the materials is very reasonable.
If you have a well-stocked guitar workbench, this could easily be a 10-minute repair. If you are setting up to work from the kitchen table, like I was, it is going to depend on how well you have anticipated all the little foibles that an instrument repair can deliver.
Please take some time and look at the JLD Bridge Doctor at these links…
Pin/Bolt-Mount Version (the one I used):
Single Bolt-Mount that uses original bridge pins:
Please visit the NekkidMusic YouTube Channel to hear the guitar after the Bridge Doctor repair.
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Thanks for stoppin’ by today! Ya’ll come back and we’ll do some pickin’.
TH