JLD Bridge Doctor, Brass Pin Mount, for Flattening Bulging Guitar Soundboards

This product just works. Beautifully! I installed this on my wife's vintage 1966 Gibson B-25. Her father bought it for her new at that time. The guitar was unused for many years and when I inspected it found a dip between the sound hole and bulge below the bridge. Found this device and decided to go for the brass pin model because I didn't want to drill a hole in the guitar. Well it arrived a couple days ago and realized its a good thing I got the brass pin model because there isn't enough room on the bridge to drill a hole. Well this went right on, took about 30 minutes. Once installed, I just tightened the set screw and like magic the top flattened out. Strung it up and it sounded pretty good, I figured it needed some time to settle so the next day, I played it a little, sounded good but not great with silk/brass strings. Decided to put some 80/20 Brass strings on it to brighten things up. After getting the old strings off, I found a couple of the brass pins a bit loose, especially the low E. Well, I tightened everything up, straightened out the alignment of a couple and lowered the saddle a bit. Well after I got everything back together and played this thin I was shocked at the beautiful sounds that were coming from this thing. I understand it may take a few weeks for the guitar to really settle in and reach its final destination but right now 2 days in I am amazed at the quality of the sound. The action is still a bit high for me, not much and because of the pin height and how the string breaks over the saddle at a low angle, I will need to contemplate a final solution but its a minor issue as I only need to lower the action about 1/2 mm. I was ready to spend up to $500 to have this fixed by a luthier but now I think this is a better solution because it is a permanant fix. I highly recommend this product.

FAR easier to install than I had anticipated and the difference it made is absolutely astounding. This was a last-ditch effort to save a cheap 12 string with serious bridge peel-back and belly bulge. This completely fixed both issues, and it not only sounds better than it did new, it sounds nearly as good as some of my solid-tops. It dramatically enhanced the tone and sustain of the guitar. I was initially concerned by the price, but it is worth every single penny. I could not be happier with the results.

My old Fender acoustic's top was bellying, and the finger board had a high spot where it ran from the neck onto the top. In the hands of a good luthier, this product cleaned all that up. It didn't seem to alter the instrument's basic tone. In my situation, I did not need the brass pins that came with it. If you are having trouble with the bridge coming loose, the pins might be a good idea. Otherwise, save some money and get the version without them

This does what it says it does--but it took some work to get it installed. If you use strings that are not light gauge you may need to open up the holes in the replacement bridge pins to allow the ball-ends to sit properly. I found it helpful to dry-fit it in both available positions because of the fairly narrow bridge plate. Once installed and strung it worked as advertised. I did not attempt to flatten the top completely, just turned it a half turn past initial contact and let it sit for a few days. Like tightening a truss rod it continued to improve over time. I am very happy with the results--reflections in the top show very little distortion and are nearly uniform across the entire surface. After a month, I am even more impressed by the JLD Bridge Doctor. I have not adjusted it since I wrote the review above, but the soundboard has continued to flatten to the point that there is almost no trace of warping above or below the bridge--reflections are almost perfect everywhere on the soundboard (I hang it near a window with Levelor blinds and have watched the reflection change from wavy to perfectly straight parallel lines). As a result the neck angle has changed so that the action is much too low all the way from the first to the 12th fret. I now need to make a new saddle that is almost 3mm taller (25.6" scale). This device is worth it's weight in gold--it did the job of a neck reset and fret leveling for less than $100.

Quality control is absolutely horrendous. The block itself had all kind of tear out in the wood. Upon attempting to install, none of the pin holes align straight through and the size of the holes are all different. They aren’t drilled an even distance from the top of the pin. So some of them are set too low into the bridge where there isn’t even room for a ball to fit in without hitting the top of the bridge. The nylon stud that the anchor pin screws into is too wide to fit between the nuts on the adjacent pins, on a very common string width J-45. I haven’t used a bridge doctor in over 10 years and this is incredibly disappointing. I saw the brass pin option and was excited to have an option that didn’t require drilling any holes. Not at all happy with what I received. The attached photos are from the front and rear, without rotating the pins. Those holes are just how terrible the accuracy in drilling was.

I used my Bridge Doctor to restore my 1975 Takamine 12 string guitar. I am not easily amazed but I am amazed at the difference. My old 12 string had a bad case of "belly bulge" from the tension of the strings on the bridge. After looking at every video I could find about the subject, I took the leap and installed my Bridge Doctor. I chose this model because it did not require that I drill a hole in the bridge. The rear dowel simply mounts in the D string hole. It was nerve wracking to install it since I had never worked on an acoustic and this is my baby. The most time consuming part was installing the brass pins in the other holes in the bridge. After installing and adjusting I just had to set the guitar aside and leave it for a couple of weeks. I wanted the wood to adjust to the tension. When I did look at it again, I was sincerely shocked. The bulge was gone. There is still a little difference in height, the face of the guitar is still a bit higher on the bottom side of the bridge and a bit lower on the upper side of the bridge. but it is fixed! The sound is brighter and a bit more full. Hard to explain, but I am so glad I used this device. Also, The action was raised a tiny bit. I wish I had measured before and after. I like a low action on this guitar, and I would consider it still low the way i like it. I had heard that this unit has saved many guitars and that is certainly the case with mine. i highly recommend he Bridge Doctor.

TL;DR - Works like a charm. There are a few caveats, so please read on! I came upon an old 000-sized Takamine from 1979 but it had been left tuned up to tension for years, causing the bridge area to “belly”. I ordered the bridge truss not knowing what to expect. It was easy to install with the hardware (which made the strings top loaders, more on that in a bit). I say easy, meaning as easy as it is to get your arm inside the sound hole to put the nuts on the brass posts. If you have large Popeye Forearms and big, meaty Sausage Fingers, you may need to have a pro or maybe convince your wife to do the job for you. I chose the add-on style with the brass bolt-on posts as I was not sure it would do the job. I do build and modify guitars, so I am not afraid of putting one under the drill press… I just wanted to be sure the truss would solve the situation. Boy, it exceeded my expectations! The belly was GONE within just a few days, with me taking a slow approach and making incremental changes. Another reason I used the bolt-on style was that this guitar still had a working factory piezo pickup under the adjustable saddle (it screws up and down to change the saddle height), so I didn’t want to disturb or damage that in the process. The top mount brass posts do change the tone a little bit, but it’s not bad sounding at all. I should have put a little thread lock on each of them as I do have to go and retighten them occasionally. Again, it’s a little tight to get my arm and a socket in position, but maybe I will do that on some rainy day when I have the time and patience to fiddle around with it. If you have an acoustic guitar with the physique of a middle aged beer drinker, give this thing a try! Hope my review has helped you and brightened your day! Thanks!

Be prepared to do multiple returns on your items until you actually get a working and quality product. 1st item = broken mount pin. 2nd item = hole drilled to low on a pin