From - Wed May 21 17:48:17 1997 From: kawika@ilhawaii.net (David C. Hurd) Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.builders,rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic Subject: JLD Bridge Doctor Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 17:52:14 GMT Organization: Ukuleles by Kawika, Inc. I recently had the opportunity to install a JLD Bridge Doctor on a Yamaha FG-230 12 string guitar. Since this device has been the object of periodic discussion, I thought I would add my experience to the collective text. Before installation, the instrument was unplayable to the owner. The truss rod had been correctly adjusted, a neck reset had at least been attempted and medium to light gauge strings had been used for some time. However, the belly below the bridge was badly bowed, causing the bridge to tilt toward the fret board with the result that many of the bass strings rattled badly from lack of vertical pressure on the saddle. The area around and above the sound hole was slightly depressed resulting from neck leverage. Still, since the owner had received the guitar as a gift and wanted it fixed to whatever extent possible, I volunteered to install the JLD only for the cost of the device and shipping (plus phone calls to order it from the originator) -- $60. I opted to use the JLD model which does not require drilling holes in the bridge. That is, one of the threaded brass bridge pins that comes with it holds the device on sufficiently well that additional screws and such are not necessary. The device arrived from JLD promptly with a great article about the founder, another about someone using it in a "Guitarmaker" magazine article and no installation instructions. Fine. Go to the JLD website, which is excellent in terms of clarity and detail for instructions and download all the necessary pages. I don't know what someone would do if they didn't have access to this information... The device initially installed in about 15 minutes and within a day the top had settled down fairly well for string installation. A 3/16" Allen wrench is needed for adjustments and does not come with the device. The brass pins that come with the JLD have holes in them for the strings to go through, so I put all the bass strings went through these. It may be a peculiarity of the Yamaha 12 string, but the lower portion of the bridge is relatively thick and even when the top had resettled, all the bass strings still rattled badly when going through the holes in these brass pins because there was virtually zero string angle behind the saddle. Sigh... Took all the brass pins out and ground a groove in the nylon pillar that accepts the threaded brass pin which holds the device on and replaced other brass pins with the original plastic pins in order to obtain a usable saddle angle. Success! The action at the 12th fret is still a little less than 1/8" which is on the high side of acceptable, but the instrument feels pretty good at this point, is clearly much improved from its earlier state and sounds at least as good when it was working well. It's too early to tell whether the instrument is louder than before, but if the owner tells me that's what happens, then I'll report back to the groups. I give the JLD a qualified OK in terms of solving a difficult (to me) top problem, but express concern about the lack of documentation and putting the strings through the brass "bridge pins" because of the above-mentioned saddle angle problems. I intend to contact Breedlove Guitars, who install these devices on all of their instruments, for more information about the device since I feel that the device or some modification of it may work for some of the difficulties that occur in some 6-string and many 8-string tenor ukuleles. aloha, Kawika -- David C. Hurd aka Kawika Ukuleles by Kawika, Inc. 1626 Kino'ole Street, Hilo, HI 96720-5021 kawika@ilhawaii.net http://www.ukuleles.com -- "There is no product that one man can make that another can't copy or reproduce with less care and quality at a lower price. And those who consider price only are that man's lawful prey" John Ruskin =================================================== From - Wed May 21 17:53:35 1997 From: Bob Henderson Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic Subject: REVIEW: JLD Bridge System - VERY LONG Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 12:33:50 -0700 TITLE: Review: JLD Bridge System AUTHOR: Bob Henderson, guitarzan@bigfoot.com POSTED TO NEWSGROUP: RMMGA (Recreation.Music.Makers.Guitar.Acoustic) DATE POSTED: 5/16/97 OVERVIEW The JLD Bridge System (AKA "Bridge Doctor") is a patented (US PATENT 5-260-505) removable wooden device that is installed inside an acoustic guitar, underneath the bridge. JLD Guitar Research and Development, Inc. claims that the device will flatten the top on your "bellied" guitar, prevent your other guitar’s flat top from ever bellying, improve your guitar’s balance, make it louder, and improve its sustain. This review is the result of my buying and testing the JLD Bridge System in my own guitar. CONSIDER THE SOURCE First of all, here’s some background on me so you can "consider the source" of this review. I am 41 year old microcomputer consultant. I am not in any way employed by or related to JLD Guitar Research and Development, Inc., marketers of the JLD Bridge System, or James Oliver, the inventor and patent holder of the JLD Bridge System (he’s the "J" in "JLD"). I will get nothing from JLD for having written this review. I will get nothing from JLD if someone decides to buy the JLD Bridge Device. I personally paid full price for the JLD Bridge System that I installed and tested on my own 1978 Guild F-512 guitar for this review. I also personally paid full price for the JLD Bridge System that I will be installing and testing in my brand new, incredibly-sounding $4400 custom-built Taylor 955-CE that just arrived last week. I have been playing the guitar for almost 29 years (boy are my fingers tired); however, since I am self-taught and play by ear, I’m sure that many of you who have been playing for ten years are better guitar players than I am. I’ve followed the RMMGA Newsgroup since 1994, and have gotten a lot of good guitar advice from many of you, including Charles Tauber, Tom Loredo, George C. Kaschner, and even Bob Taylor (though I haven’t seen him here in awhile). This review is my contribution to RMMGA. THE JLD BRIDGE SYSTEM - MAKE ONE BY HAND Stretch your arm out full length with your palm facing up. Now, curl your fingers and thumb into a "U" shape that points up from your palm. You should now have four fingers side-by-side, making one side of the "U" while your thumb makes the other side. Next, use that hand to reach into your guitar through its end pin. Put the tips of your four fingers right under the bridge saddle and the tip of your thumb right under the bridge pins. Install five threaded brass bridge pins into the bridge, using small metal nuts on the inside of the guitar to keep them in place and to keep your guitar’s bridge from ever pulling off. Insert a sixth threaded brass bridge pin through the D-string hole of your guitar’s bridge and screw it into the tip of your thumb. Now, keep your arm really stiff, and lower your elbow. Notice how you’re using your entire arm as a lever to push up the saddle side of the bridge and pull down the bridge pin side of the bridge, flattening your guitar’s bellied top. Finally, cut off your arm at just the right length to allow your arm bone to push against your guitar’s end block. If you’ve done everything correctly, your severed arm will keep the bridge from ever bellying again. Congratulations -- you’ve just made a human version of the JLD Bridge System. It may not be pretty or high-tech, but it’s the perfect solution for anyone who’s ever said, "I’d give my right arm to be able to fix my old vintage Sears Silvertone guitar…" THE TEST GUITAR The guitar I used for this review was a 1978 Guild F-512 jumbo 12-string that I’ve owned since early 1979. At the time I bought it, it was the top of the line Guild 12-string guitar. Guild still builds a version of it, that lists for over $2000 and is available for around $1500. Mine has Brazilian Rosewood sides and back, and a nicely-aged honey-colored Sitka Spruce top. After trying several types of strings over the years, I settled on John Pearse 80/20 lights (.09-.47 gauge) a couple of years ago, and I keep them tuned up to pitch. The set of strings on the Guild were about 7 months old and sounded pretty dead. I hadn’t changed them because I had been expecting my new Taylor guitar any minute (it ended up being delayed for a few months due to abalone supply problems at Taylor) and I didn’t feel much motivation to put new strings on the old guitar. The Guild’s top had about 3/32" belly behind the bridge. THE AGREEMENT In the past week, I’ve spent about 8 hours on long distance, talking to James Oliver, the 52-year-old inventor of the JLD Bridge System, to learn more about his invention. He told me that Taylor Guitars has been using a version of his Bridge System to repair bellied Taylors for years, and Breedlove Guitar Company builds a version of the JLD Bridge System into every single one of their handmade guitars (you can confirm this by going to Breedlove’s home page at http://www.breedloveguitars.com/. Mr. Oliver says he has personally installed about his Bridge System in about 6,000 guitars over the years - even some of them in the guitars of famous guitar players who don’t want anyone to know that they’re using his invention. On Monday, May 12, 1997, I called Mr. Oliver again to order two of his JLD Bridge Systems. He then asked me to measure the distance between the centers of my two guitars’ back bridge pins and the centers of their saddles so that he could make two Bridge Systems specifically for my guitars. As soon as I finished talking to him, I mailed him a check for $100 to cover the cost of two Bridge Systems, and Mr. Oliver shipped the systems to me with his assurance that, if I didn’t like them, he’d take them back and refund my money. I told him that I was planning to test his Bridge System in at least one of my guitars and then, whether or not I thought it worked, I would write a review about it for RMMGA. THE TEST Yesterday, Thursday, May 16, 1997, the two systems arrived at my home by priority mail. Last night, it took me about 40 minutes to install one of Bridge Systems in my Guild F-512. About half of that time was spent removing and reinstalling the same curled-up dead strings that had been on the guitar. As I finger-tightened the "arm bone" part of the device against my guitar’s end block with the strings removed, I was shocked to see the 3/32" belly gradually disappear from my guitar’s top. When it looked nice and flat, I reinstalled the strings and tuned it up to pitch. Tuning was a whole new experience. As I brought each string up to pitch using my digital tuner, I could clearly hear the other tuned strings "singing along" with the newly-tuned string right when it reached its perfect pitch. Several times, I’d tune one of the strings up to pitch and then mute it, only to hear its note still resonating from one or more of the other tuned strings that had started vibrating sympathetically. At the same time, I heard a lot of overtones and undertones that I had never heard coming from that guitar before. Once I got all twelve strings perfectly up to pitch, the first thing I strummed was a full E major chord. A Guild 12-string is a pretty loud guitar by nature, but mine was noticeably louder than it had ever been. I immediately noticed that it sounded a lot more balanced, with more definition between the different string sounds; a lot like my new Taylor 12-string. Some might argue that it sounded more balanced because it had lost some bass and treble, but it was clear to me that it had simply gained a lot of mid-range, giving it a much more balanced sound than the exaggerated bass and treble mix that I had gotten used to hearing from it. Sustain was improved as well. With a new set of strings on that guitar, I was always able to strum a loud E Major chord, put my ear near the sound hole, and hear it ringing for 20-22 seconds. Last night, I could hear the E Major chord ring for 26 seconds – with 7 month-old strings that had sounded dead right before I installed the Bridge System. I then played some harmonics and was pleased to hear that they also sustained loud and clear for ten seconds or more. The only down side I could see was that I had a slight string buzz on the first fret from a couple of strings when I played it hard. This was due to the fact that when the Bridge System pulled my guitar’s top back down flat, it lowered the bridge (and the action) by the 3/16" that the top had been bellied before. A new saddle will solve that problem. CONCLUSIONS The JLD Bridge System does exactly what JLD Guitar Research and Development, Inc. claims it will do. It flattened the top on my "bellied" guitar, improved its balance, made it louder, and improved its sustain. In addition, it appears that it will prevent the top from ever bellying again. Next, I will be installing one in my new custom Taylor 955-CE. Here’s my reasoning: 1) A 12-string guitar with an Engelmann top is almost certain to belly with time unless it is braced so heavily that it doesn’t sound good, 2) Taylor’s repair department uses the Bridge System to repair bellied Taylor guitars, 3) I can either choose to spend $50 on the Bridge System right now to prevent my new guitar from bellying, or I can wait for it to belly and then send it back to Taylor to have them install the Bridge System. To me, it is well worth the $50 right now to prevent problems in the future. FOR MORE INFORMATION If you want to learn more about the JLD Bridge System on your own, you can visit the JLD web site at http://netrunner.net/marketing/jld/. The web pages haven’t been updated in awhile, so they don’t have pictures of James Oliver’s latest evolution of the Bridge System, but they do have a lot of valuable information about how the System works. Or, if you feel like talking to the inventor of the JLD Bridge System, you can call James Oliver in Avon Park, Florida, at 1-941-452-5239.