# How to mount a hipshot bridge?



## Enselmis (Aug 6, 2014)

I'm finally getting around to finishing my warmoth project guitar but I've run into a problem. This is my first time doing anything like this and I really don't know how to correctly place and attach the bridge. I've figured out how to find the centerline on the guitar and find the intonation point but the bridge didn't come with any instructions as to where it should be placed. Where exactly do you drill the holes, and how do you make sure it's dead center on the guitar? How far back do I put it?


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## sehnomatic (Aug 6, 2014)

Let's say your scale length is 25.5" for example.

Attach your neck and measure from your nut to 12th fret, it should be half of of your scale length, 12.75" in our case. Otherwise, if it's some other value, measure that value down from the 12th fret to wherever your bridge is supposed to be. Place some masking tape down and scribe a line at your scale length ends. 

Now, scale length =/= intonation length as the intonation length is different for every string, the lower strings tend to have a longer intonation length than the guitar's scale length. Set the saddles on the bridge almost as far as they can go forward, then back off a millimeter or 1/16" so you're not ripping out that one bit of thread that's hanging onto the saddle. This allows for the lower strings to have some leeway to intonate.

Attach your high and low E strings to your tuner and bridge. Tension them so that yours saddles, almost completely screwed foreword, meets your scale length line. 

Seeing how much fretboard edge space you have with your strings on, you can now position your bridge.


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## Enselmis (Aug 6, 2014)

Thank you! This makes everything so much clearer.


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## rockskate4x (Aug 6, 2014)

sehnomatic said:


> Let's say your scale length is 25.5" for example.
> 
> Attach your neck and measure from your nut to 12th fret, it should be half of of your scale length, 12.75" in our case. Otherwise, if it's some other value, measure that value down from the 12th fret to wherever your bridge is supposed to be. Place some masking tape down and scribe a line at your scale length ends.
> 
> ...



This is the only way to do this. Legit.


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## Enselmis (Aug 6, 2014)

rockskate4x said:


> This is the only way to do this. Legit.



It's surprisingly difficult to find any information on the subject. I spent several hours on google but all I could find is fragments of information here or there. Everyone just says "go install your bridge" without actually detailing the process.


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## immortalx (Aug 6, 2014)

Enselmis said:


> It's surprisingly difficult to find any information on the subject. I spent several hours on google but all I could find is fragments of information here or there. Everyone just says "go install your bridge" without actually detailing the process.


I noticed that too but I guess it's not without a reason :
Among other factors, the main ones that determine the need for intonation range (and therefore bridge placement) are scale length, string gauge, action and how heavily someone frets the notes.
On the common 25.5" scale length, using a standard set of 9s and with very low action, the high e saddle falls almost exactly at the scale length's point (in practice a tiny bit beyond that).
If someone wanted to put a set of 13s and preferred to have ridiculously high action (for some reason some people like it that way) and if he has a heavy touch when fretting, he would certainly need to move that saddle (and all others consequently) way beyond that point. On bridges with limited intonation range that could be a problem and maybe that's why there aren't any standard measurements for bridge placement. Stewmac has some info about bridge positioning, but I guess they are average measurements and not optimal (depending on the situation as per above).
Just my 2c.


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## Deegatron (Aug 6, 2014)

I believe there is a fancy calculator on stewmac.com that tells you exactly how far back to drill the holes for just about every bridge they sell. it's rather handy....

STEWMAC.COM

Yes, this is it....


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## Enselmis (Aug 8, 2014)

The answer seems to be about 2cm past the measurement from the 12th fret. I'll give that a go! At least the guitar this is going on is only being oil finished so if I goof it, repairing it is only kind of a huge hassle rather than a full on debacle.


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## Enselmis (Aug 14, 2014)

Adding on to this thread, does anybody know if there's a consistent way of drilling string through holes without a drill press? I've got a dremel and a couple different hand drills and that's about it.


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## sehnomatic (Aug 14, 2014)

When I didn't have a drill press, I used what's called something along the lines of a "hand drill press". Remove the saddles from the bridge after locating, mark and drill out the E strings through and the rest half way. Flip the body over, locate the two holes with the bridge plate again, mark and drill.

Try looking for one of these, not these as it wouldn't reach.

Same idea, just on the back, use the drill by hand:

... and then ferrules are an entire different story.


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## callankirk (Aug 15, 2014)

When I saw the subject "how to mount a Hipshot bridge," I was going to be the smartass that said...

With screws.



Listen to everyone above; spot on. They're smart fellas. I just make sure that my saddles are at about 50% in/out when mounting for some intonation wiggle room.


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## Renkenstein (Aug 15, 2014)

I'll be working on this very project this weekend!


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## JuliusJahn (Aug 15, 2014)

For mine, I put the mounting screws 22mm behind the scale length, so when the high e saddle is 80% out, it's exactly on the scale length and the low e is easily 3mm behind the scale length. I also drill only the center screw, then mounted it on the guitar. With a caliper, I locked in a distance and aligned the bridge to be square to the humbucker route and then using a self-centering hinge punch, marked the centers for the other 2 screws (should be 1.75" apart) and then screwed those in; I then followed by using the punch to mark the string through holes and that seemed to work flawlessly for me.


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