Next Steps

Now that the block is in place, I can install the bridge.  This is a scary part for me, as I need to figure out how to be sure the ferrules are in correctly, and once they're in, les jeux sont faits, as we swamis say.

I read a post by Ron Kirn where described his approach, which I think can be explained like this:

• Put the bridge in place, and move all the way to the left.  Draw a vertical line along the edge.
• Do the same on the right
• Push the bridge as far as possible towards the neck.  Draw a vertical line along the edge
• Do the same, pushing away from the neck

Then the idea is to center the bridge horizontally and vertically, based on the lines.  I haven't figured out the most practical way of doing this yet - I'll have to look at the bridge. How about this

• Push bridge all the way to the left, draw vertical line along edge
• Push bridge all, draw vertical line along edge
• Draw line exactly between the two
• Do the same thing but on the horizontal axis

Once I have that done, I'll attach the neck to double-check that things are lined up ok:

• Attach neck
• Put on low and high E strings loosely
• See how it looks with the bridge on the middle lines
• Measure to check scale length

Once that's ok, the big question is where to drill the holes for the ferrules.  On the horizontal axis, that's easy - it's just the midpoint of the areas where the post will touch the bridge.  Vertically, it's tougher, but I can probably do it by taking some measurements of the post when screwed into the ferrule, looking at the distance from the circumference of the ferrule to the circumference of the circle where the bridge touches the post.  How in the world did I do this last time?!