JLD Acoustic Guitar Bridge Pins (#AN3695)

The media could not be loaded. 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!

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.

I had a "user error" installation problem, after contacting the seller "on a Sunday" he emailed me explaining what I was doing wrong, after fixing my installation error, everyrhing went smooth. It pulled my belly bulge flat...FYI, if you have to pull massive belly bulge from a cheaper grade guitar I recommend checking your annotation at the 12th fret and making proper adjustments as needed.. After installing the complete JLD bridge kit and a good setup my guitar plays and sounds better then it did when it was new.I would recommend installing this kit in any new guitar you purchase "no matter the price range", to protect your investment. It also makes it much louder, crisper and overall better sound.. you won't see one of my acoustics without this kit..

Overall really easy to install, and look amazing especially on my Takamine GD37 Pearl White 12 String, but the only issues I have is the whole sizes vary, and although the string fits, when it reaches the end it struggles to go through and I’ve had to do a slight modification to my strings to make them fit again. I didn’t have a problem with belly bulge to begin with, this was just a preventative measure since I use two sets of extra light (10-47) strings instead of the regular strings. Anyone who plays regional Mexican or uses double 10-47’s I recommend this, but just be aware that in some occasions the pins do not come with the same size hole.