Bridge Plate
Repair
Ball end of string is eating away at the bridge plate.
As the bridge plate is worn away by the ball end of the string,
the string no longer locks securely in place against the bridge plate. Instead
it is being drawn up into the plate and must be wedged or jammed in place.
If it continues to chew away at the bridge plate it can eventually cause other
problems. The bridge pin above would be
a pain to get seated as it was slowly
trying to creep out of the hole and fly across the room. It's wedging affect on
the ball end of the string is the only thing keeping that string anchored
and the damage continues.
In this case the bridge pin is doing all of the work!
Here you can see the ball end
damage to the plate and the string's ball end winding clearly approaching the saddle.
Any closer and we have tuning and/or intonation problems and may likely chip our
saddle.
Wear on the bridge plate can make it
extremely difficult for the bridge pin to stay seated in the hole when replacing
strings. It is often helpful in these situations to bend a slight hook into the
ballend of the string which helps it lock itself around the edge of the bridge
plate.
CORRECT
That's what we want to see, the ball end locked properly in place.
When the ball end of the string is seated properly against the bridge plate it
is often possible to remove a bridge pin without the string pulling out of the bridge. I wouldn't advise trying it but I
often do it to illustrate my point. The bridge pin should not be doing all of
the work!
The string's end windings are no
where near the saddle now.
TIP: Many may find it
helpful to put a small bend (hook) on the end of the string when re-stringing,
this helps the string catch the edge of the plate. Then place the bridge pin in
the hole, give the string a slight upward tug to seat the ball end and lock the
bridge pin and beginning winding the string around the post.
Related Articles:
Bridge Plate Replacement
Bridges
Intonation
Saddles
Bridge Pins
