"red and white jeweler's rouge"

I remember my grandmother finishing up her makeup with it before she would take me to a movie. I think the Joker also used it. It should go with black just fine. You might try a little blush, also, Dan.

I got the bowl cut and polished, so I decided to take off all the masking so I could see what it looks like.

Front.



Back.

I'm going to let the back paint cure for a couple of days, then glue the bridge on. While the bridge glue is curing, I'll make the bridge saddle and nut.

It's beautiful Dan. Thank you! That top is awesome in the natural light. You gotta be proud...not to mention feeling a little relief that this restoration is almost over.

You think my Grandma's rouge will make my Grand Cherokee shine like that? 

I decided to glue the bridge down, after all.

Put the bridge into place and lightly scored the finish around it.



Peeled the masking tape up to reveal the bare wood.

Masked around the bare wood and scuffed it with 220-grit sandpaper, then cleaned it with naptha.

Scuffed the underside of the bridge with 220, then cleaned the underside of the bridge really well with acetone to remove the rosewood oils. (pretty greasy wood) Applied a layer of Hysol 9462 to the underside of the bridge and the top wood, then clamped it into place.



I'll pull the clamps off tomorrow night, then start making the bridge saddle.

It FINALLY gets used! That bridge was in the case when I got the guitar. I thought it was cool, but what the hell was I going to do with it? One of the many previous owners had gotten it (along with the kluson tuners) from the MS. One of the previous owners was Nick Black, who use to post here. He said he had envisioned "restoring" it. until he realized what it entailed. He may have scored those or some one else...but what is cool is that it appears evident that many owners of 485 have wanted to make sure that it lived to see another day...and thanks to you, Dan, it will. :-)

The high temperatures we've been experiencing lately really helps epoxy cure faster, so I was able to pull the clamps off the bridge.

Here's the unbleached bone blanks that will become the saddle and nut. I'm using unbleached bone so the finished product will have a nice, vintage look.

Saddle cut to length, sanded to thickness and the ends rounded to fit into the bridge slot.



Saddle sanded to a 10" radius to match the fret board.



Compensation marked with pencil.

Although it's hard to see here, the compensation has been sanded into saddle and the saddle has been polished.

At this point, I'll leave the saddle height alone until I get the nut made and I'm able to adjust the action. I am going to try to get the saddle low enough so that I can put a couple of shims under it to allow for easy adjustments in the future.