Simple Jigs for Making a Pyramid Bridge

by John C. Bartlett

Originally published in American Lutherie #114, 2013



After many years building guitars and mandolins, I had the occasion to build a left-handed guitar for my daughter. She very much liked the pyramid bridge on my personal instrument, a 12-fret 000 slot-head patterned after the 1930s Martins, and asked that I use one on her guitar. That, in fact, was the only pyramid bridge I had ever used on a guitar in over twenty years of building, and I purchased it from Stewart-MacDonald. I’d already decided to use pyramid bridges on my traditional 12-fret instruments going forward when she requested one for her guitar.

Although I’d never actually made one, I thought it would be cost effective to make my own. I knew it would be a challenge, so I did considerable research on the subject. I didn’t find much. One Internet posting called for hand carving, and another showed jigs and techniques for shaper tables and table saws. I don’t have a table saw or a shaper table, so I practiced hand carving methods. The results were OK but not really satisfactory, and it was very time consuming. I’d gone through a number of plywood models before carving my first rosewood and ebony bridges when I decided that if I wanted a reduction in hand work and consistency in my results, I should use the tools I have to solve the problem.