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Topic: Question about Oahu square neck guitar bridges? |
Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 12 Jan 2023 10:31 am |
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Are the wood Oahu guitar bridges (like the one pictured below) glued down? I ask because I’ve seen Oahu guitar for sale ads stating that a lifting bridge was reglued. I have started to think that these bridges were not glued down in the first place. That a little gap between the back of the guitar bridge and the guitar’s top is going to happen when the strings are tuned to pitch. That a little gap is expected because of the bridge design. And, that a slightly lifting bridge is natural and is not an issue needing to be addressed. I have had the chance to look at a handful of Oahu square neck guitars. And, the wood bridges on all of the guitars that I have looked at thus far did not appear to be glued down. They all appeared to only be held in place with two bolts. I haven’t been able to see any glue residue between any of the slightly lifting bridges and the tops of the guitars that I’ve looked at. Does anyone have a definitive answer on this?
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Nick Fryer
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 13 Jan 2023 3:54 am
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Ryan -
I have a Squareneck for sale right now on the forum. I can take an upclose picture and post it. The bridge is held down by bolts. Not sure if any glue is used. It’s slightly lifted but hasn’t moved at all since I’ve owned it. Don’t quote me here, and I’ll double check, but I’m pretty sure the bridge is metal. I’ll confirm that.
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www.fryerguitarpickups.com |
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Nick Fryer
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 13 Jan 2023 4:31 am
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Metal bridge, bolted down. No glue that I can see. Right and left side lifting but middle is flush. Very stable. I realize that you are specifically asking about wood bridges but thought this might help regardless.
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www.fryerguitarpickups.com |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 13 Jan 2023 9:23 am
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Hi Nick,
Thanks for the info and the photos. I haven’t seen a metal bridge Oahu in person for some time. I had assumed that they were bolted on without glue. The interesting thing is, although I still believe that no glue was used, it looks as though your guitars top is lacking finish under the bridge (unless that is dust that I see?). I am not sure why this would be done if a bridge wasn’t going to be glued down? Maybe it has something to do with the metal possibly harming the finish because it would react to temperature and humidity changes differently than the wood? The guitars with wood bridges that I have recently looked at in person, which also didn’t appear to be glued down, also didn’t appear to have the finish removed beneath their bridges. |
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Chris Clem
From:
California, USA
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Posted 13 Jan 2023 8:14 pm
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When I had my shop and worked on vintage guitars. There we many that had a similar set up on the bridge with the bolts being covered by the pearl dots.Gibson from the 30s & 40s built many guitars like that. On those guitars they were always glued. The bolts were only there for alignment and keeping the bridge from sliding around when you glue & clamp them. I just don't think the bolts would be enough to really hold it tight to the top.
Now that metal bridge is a different story, you can't really glue metal to wood very well at all.
Not sure about Oahu,but if it were my guitar it would be glued....it would sound much better.
Also when bridges get loose (they look just like that) with only the bolts holding them. The problem is they start to tip the bridge forward and then they can start to sink the top in front of the bridge and you don't want that. |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 14 Jan 2023 3:00 am
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| Chris Clem wrote: |
When I had my shop and worked on vintage guitars. There we many that had a similar set up on the bridge with the bolts being covered by the pearl dots.Gibson from the 30s & 40s built many guitars like that. On those guitars they were always glued. The bolts were only there for alignment and keeping the bridge from sliding around when you glue & clamp them. I just don't think the bolts would be enough to really hold it tight to the top.
Now that metal bridge is a different story, you can't really glue metal to wood very well at all.
Not sure about Oahu,but if it were my guitar it would be glued....it would sound much better.
Also when bridges get loose (they look just like that) with only the bolts holding them. The problem is they start to tip the bridge forward and then they can start to sink the top in front of the bridge and you don't want that. |
I agree with you on the Gibsons (and the majority of other guitars with bolted bridges that I have encountered). It just doesn’t appear to me that the wood bridges on the squareneck Oahus that I’ve seen lately were ever glued down. |
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Chris Clem
From:
California, USA
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Posted 14 Jan 2023 7:05 am
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| It would be easy to find out. If they were not glued all you would need to do is take off the nuts inside the body and the bridge should should come right off. |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 14 Jan 2023 10:14 am
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| Chris Clem wrote: |
| It would be easy to find out. If they were not glued all you would need to do is take off the nuts inside the body and the bridge should should come right off. |
I actually looked into doing just that on an Oahu that I own. Unfortunately, it’s not very easy. They used thin square nuts that have sunken into the bridge plate. I think it would be easier to remove the inlayed dots and unscrew them that way. I was just hoping that someone on the forum may have dealt with these bridges before and might have a more definitive answer. |
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Glenn Wilde
From:
California, USA
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Posted 16 Jan 2023 9:41 pm
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| My 66k has that wood bridge, I can check tomorrow, my 65k has the metal bridge and it is not glued, I've had it off before. |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 18 Jan 2023 3:34 pm
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| Glenn Wilde wrote: |
| My 66k has that wood bridge, I can check tomorrow, my 65k has the metal bridge and it is not glued, I've had it off before. |
Sounds good. I’d be interested to hear what you find. Hopefully, I’ll have time tomorrow to take a look at a 30’s Oahu 71K with the same style of wood bridge. |
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Glenn Wilde
From:
California, USA
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Posted 18 Jan 2023 4:57 pm
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Yes, there's definitely glue there, I can't get a blade in anywhere.
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 18 Jan 2023 5:34 pm
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| Thanks for looking. It is a little hard to tell for sure, but it looks like I can actually see the glue on your bridge. The ones that I had looked at were lifting ever so slightly. The lift was mostly on the rear bridge corners. From what I could see, the finish wasn’t removed under the bridges on these guitars. And, I didn’t see any glue. If I have the time tomorrow, I will be able to check out two more Oahus with wood bridges. |
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Glenn Wilde
From:
California, USA
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Posted 18 Jan 2023 8:54 pm
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| Yeah, it's a almost 90 year old guitar so there's no telling what's been done to it as far as repairs, it's pretty clean and original but somebody definitely could have glued the bridge on later. |
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Jeff Highland
From:
New South Wales, Australia
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Posted 18 Jan 2023 10:39 pm
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Just from a builder and repairer perspective, If it doesn't have glue, it should have. Two bolts in the wings of the bridge are not really adequate. Even Gibson when they did their notorious bolted on plastic bridge on the LG series, used another bolt behind the bridge pin holes.
But whether it came fom Oahu without glue I have no idea, It would have saved scraping off the finish as well as glueing, so saving cost may have been a consideration that trumped build quality.
_________________
Duesenberg Fairytale
1949 Supro Supreme
1950 National New Yorker
2008 Highland Baritone Weissenborn
2020 Highland New Yorker.
2020 Highland Mohan Veena
2021 Highland Weissencone |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 19 Jan 2023 1:00 pm
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I was able to trade some microphones for an Oahu 66K and an Oahu 71K this morning. The 66K with the sparkly celluloid pickguard and armrests had its bridge glued or reglued later in life. So, that guitar is of no help in my quest. It sounds absolutely fabulous in open D tuning though (I am going to try and figure out some Blind Willie Johnson tunes on it after posting this).
*The Oahu 66K is currently up for sale in the For Sale portion of this forum. Unfortunately, I have some unexpected bills that I need to pay.
Last edited by Ryan Matzen on 19 Feb 2023 12:07 am; edited 6 times in total |
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Glenn Wilde
From:
California, USA
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Posted 19 Jan 2023 5:23 pm
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| Those are great, congrats. |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2023 5:28 pm
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| Glenn Wilde wrote: |
| Those are great, congrats. |
Thanks. I was originally most interested in the 71K. Don’t get me wrong, the 71K is fantastic. It looks to have an Adirondack top and Bird’s Eye Maple back and sides. And, it has a very balanced and slightly compressed sound. I imagine that it would record very well. But, I have really been liking the 66K. The 66K just sings. And, I like having the pickguard. It allows me to not worry about the guitar’s top! |
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Glenn Wilde
From:
California, USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2023 6:32 pm
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| Ryan Matzen wrote: |
| Glenn Wilde wrote: |
| Those are great, congrats. |
Thanks. I was originally most interested in the 71K. Don’t get me wrong, the 71K is fantastic. It looks to have an Adirondack top and Bird’s Eye Maple back and sides. And, it has a very balanced and slightly compressed sound. I imagine that it would record very well. But, I have really been liking the 66K. The 66K just sings. And, I like having the pickguard. It allows me to not worry about the guitar’s top! |
It's nice to have a selection, might I suggest a 65k, mine is amazing and I think I like it better than my 66....
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2023 6:59 pm
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| Glenn Wilde wrote: |
| Ryan Matzen wrote: |
| Glenn Wilde wrote: |
| Those are great, congrats. |
Thanks. I was originally most interested in the 71K. Don’t get me wrong, the 71K is fantastic. It looks to have an Adirondack top and Bird’s Eye Maple back and sides. And, it has a very balanced and slightly compressed sound. I imagine that it would record very well. But, I have really been liking the 66K. The 66K just sings. And, I like having the pickguard. It allows me to not worry about the guitar’s top! |
It's nice to have a selection, might I suggest a 65k, mine is amazing and I think I like it better than my 66....
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Is that a 65K on the left in your photo? If so, is that metal bridge original to the guitar? I had thought that the 65K had a wood bridge. Is the only real difference between a 65K and a 66K the size of the guitar (and possibly the bridge material)? |
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Glenn Wilde
From:
California, USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2023 7:27 pm
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| Yes it's got an original aluminum bridge on the 65k, I've had it off and there's no pin holes under it,it's never had anything else on it. |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2023 9:08 pm
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| Glenn Wilde wrote: |
| Yes it's got an original aluminum bridge on the 65k, I've had it off and there's no pin holes under it,it's never had anything else on it. |
Besides the bridge, is the only real difference between a 65K and a 66K the size of the guitar body? |
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Glenn Wilde
From:
California, USA
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Posted 22 Jan 2023 7:22 am
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| Ryan Matzen wrote: |
| Glenn Wilde wrote: |
| Yes it's got an original aluminum bridge on the 65k, I've had it off and there's no pin holes under it,it's never had anything else on it. |
Besides the bridge, is the only real difference between a 65K and a 66K the size of the guitar body? |
The bracing seems a bit stouter on the 65, the guitars are made by different companies, Stromberg Voisinet/ Kay built the 65 and Regal built the 66. |
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Ryan Matzen
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 22 Jan 2023 2:02 pm
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| Glenn Wilde wrote: |
| Ryan Matzen wrote: |
| Glenn Wilde wrote: |
| Yes it's got an original aluminum bridge on the 65k, I've had it off and there's no pin holes under it,it's never had anything else on it. |
Besides the bridge, is the only real difference between a 65K and a 66K the size of the guitar body? |
The bracing seems a bit stouter on the 65, the guitars are made by different companies, Stromberg Voisinet/ Kay built the 65 and Regal built the 66. |
I am curious as to where you got the manufacture info for each guitar? It seems to be quite the convoluted subject! The two 66K’s that I had, and the one that I currently have (all three with bolted wood bridges), all appear to me to have been built by Kay. The 71K with the gold leaf Filagree that I just picked up (pictured in an earlier post) is constructed in a vary similar manner to the 66K’s that I have had in hand. The bridges all appear to be the same. I believe Eric Shoenberg (I may be wrong about this) posted somewhere that the 71K’s were built by Kay for Oahu. |
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