Stewart MacDonald 5295, Assembly Instructions Manual

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Erase the pencil marks on the saddle, and pencil a new
line on the front of the installed saddle, just as before . The
bridge supplied with the kit has a 16" radius to match the
arc of the fretboard . Remove the saddle and duplicate the
penciled line 3/16" higher on the saddle . This is your initial
rough saddle height . Remove the saddle and file away the
material above the upper pencil line . Smooth the top edge
and round it gently from front to back . Mark the treble and
bass sides on the bottom of the saddle for reference, and
place it back in the bridge slot .
The bone saddle blank must be thinned to fit the bridge
saddle slot . Attach two pieces of sandpaper, 100-grit and
220-grit, to a hard flat surface with double-stick tape . Sand
the flat sides of the saddle blank back and forth on the
papers, and check the thickness frequently by test-fitting
the saddle .
When the thickness is correct, round off one end of the
saddle with a file . Butt the rounded end against the end of
the saddle slot, and mark the other end . Saw off the excess,
round the end, and continue fine sanding the thickness if
necessary until the saddle fits snugly to the bottom of the
slot . To check this, pencil a line on the front of the saddle
along the top of the bridge
(pictured) . Remove the saddle,
measure the slot depth, and compare it to the saddle depth
indicated by the penciled line — they should match . Keep
fitting until they do . You’ll feel the saddle “click” into the slot
when it reaches the bottom .
Fitting the bridge saddle
With the tuners in place on the peghead, mark the mounting
holes with a scribe or an awl through the small holes on the
baseplate . Remove the tuners, and drill the holes with the
correct size drill bit . The tuning machines and screws can
now be mounted . Lightly twist your reamer in the bushing holes on the
peghead face, just enough to clean the lacquer and polishing
residue from the edges . Carefully press the tuner bushings
into the holes . Take care not to crack the lacquer finish (heat-
ing the bushings with a soldering iron can help if needed) .
Installing the tuning machines
no deeper than 1/3 to 1/2 the diameter of the string, just
enough so the strings don’t pop out (the remainder of each
string will fit in the bridge pin groove) . The slot widths should
match the diameters of the strings . Clean the saw marks with
a needle file, and file a slight “ramp” at the upper edge of
each bridge pin hole to soften the angle of the string (see
the blueprint) .
Use either medium or light gauge strings . Install each string
so that it seats into the bridge pin hole notch . The groove
in the bridge pin should hold the string as well, and the
ball end should snug against the bridge plate under the
soundboard . Align the ball end with the string
(pictured)
.
Thread the strings loosely into the tuners .
Seating the strings
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