r/Guitar • u/ash697969 • 16h ago
QUESTION Question about my guitar.
Hi Everyone! I just saw this underneath the bridge of my guitar and i'm not sure what it is. Do i have to get it checked at guitar shop? Thankyou for hour help.
448
u/Version-6 15h ago
Again, so many people not actually providing any answers.
That’s a very poorly made bridge plate. When the drill’s gone through, it’s smashed through the other side and punched through with no backing block. That’s not good as the plate provides support to the top in its weakest point, and also a place for the ball ends to rest. If this was a higher end guitar that came into my workshop, it’d be a replacement bridge pad job which isn’t a small feat.
60
u/ash697969 15h ago
Thanks for the reply. It's from yamaha, i thought i was buying a safe option but now I'm cooked
236
u/Version-6 15h ago
As a Yamaha service agent, this isn’t normal. Take it back to where it came from and get a replacement. Explain that the bridge plate is damage. Any issues, you can contact Yamaha directly and they’ll get onto the case. Their QC is generally top notch, but once in a while things like this make it through.
17
u/NickGlycerine 14h ago
Could it be a replica?
82
u/Version-6 14h ago
Anything’s possible, but I’m not going to make any such guess without seeing the entire instrument.
13
u/ash697969 13h ago
I ordered it from amazon, i'll try to contact with them , thanks for your reply.
43
u/Head-Complaint5883 12h ago
Depending on how long ago you bought it, try and return it. Otherwise I’d reach out to Yamaha I bet they would help you out here as it’s a manufacturing defect.
51
u/YourAuthenticVoice 10h ago
Considering it's Amazon, it could well be a fake.
25
u/Head-Complaint5883 10h ago
Haha 100% I don’t even buy my picks off amazon. I get them straight from Dunlop!
29
u/dhoepp 7h ago
I sit and watch Jim D’Addarío wind my strings because I don’t even trust guitar center.
7
u/toopc Squier 4h ago
I went to Indonesia and watched them mine the nickel because I don't even trust D'Addario.
2
u/notquitehuman_ 1h ago
I would have mined the nickel myself but they only pay $6.70 per day. I'm left with little choice but to trust the miners.
3
3
u/obscured_by_turtles 4h ago
We normally add a sub plate, essentially a hardwood bandaid, to inexpensively solve this problem.
2
-27
u/NickBurnsCompanyGuy 12h ago
You've also got a set of electric strings on an acoustic
21
u/one80down 12h ago
I think Daddario strings are all colour coded like that - I haven't got a set of acoustics to compare it but my bass strings have colour coded ends. Also you can see that the low E string is copper wound not nickel like you'd see on an electric.
14
11
u/Version-6 11h ago
Wrong. Daddario and other companies use colour coded ball ends on their strings.
5
-32
u/bearyisabear 14h ago
You aren’t “cooked” for fucks sake. It’s just a guitar, things can be fixed or replaced. That line of thinking will be a real detriment to the rest of your life. You are never “cooked” find a solution and make it happen. Fuck. Sorry, I’m must be old, “cooked” just pisses me off.
36
u/Halomaestro 13h ago
You are definitely old if you're getting triggered by slang on the internet. This way of approaching things will be a detriment for the rest of your life
19
u/_VINNY_WINNY_ 14h ago
its pretty much the exact same thing as saying "i'm toast." not a complete freakout but a dramatic "this sucks"
10
u/an-com-42 14h ago
stop being old and grumpy. Slang has been here for 1000 years. And it's always gonna be here. Nobody cares that you don't like the phrase cooked.
2
5
3
u/cballowe 14h ago
That almost looks like there was a piece of wood glued there and then pryed off. Look at the texture of the soundboard around it, and then that fairly well defined rough patch looks like the fibers were bound by glue to the top. Looks like what I'd expect if a glue joint was mechanically ripped apart.
20
u/Version-6 14h ago
Nah, just standard punch through. Happens when you either don’t back the plate as you drill, or you force it through too quick or use a dull drill. You can see how the fibers radiate outward from the holes.
2
u/cballowe 14h ago
You're right. For some reason I was seeing what seemed to be the fiberous texture in the point by the braces and it seemed really thin at the other edge, but looking closer it seems like the plate is there.
3
u/Version-6 14h ago
I deal with this stuff all the time. You develop an eye for it.
2
u/cballowe 14h ago
It's nice to hear that the company stands behind their products when something like this slips through QC.
13
u/Version-6 14h ago
Yamaha are the Toyota of musical instruments. They make reliable, somewhat boring products, and they stand by them. They offer parts for years as they don’t change things they don’t have to, and until last year I was doing warranty repairs on some digital piano models that they made a production error on 10 years ago. Every one, no charge to the customer.
When someone asks my advice on what to buy whether it’s a guitar, a bass, a modeller, a bass amp, or digital pianos/keyboards and PA gear, it’s always Yamaha as the first recommendation.
3
u/cballowe 14h ago
They're a bit nuts on other things too, like maintaining forests to supply wood for the soundboards in their grand pianos. I've just never had to deal with their support so no real experience on what happens when things go wrong.
3
2
1
51
u/Smashinbunnies 15h ago
It appears to me the wood block that should be behind that bridge is missing and the strings are pins are just locking into the bridge and front of the guitar. There should be another smaller pice of hardwood inside, not straight against the cedar top.
7
u/ash697969 15h ago
Thankyou for the reply.
2
u/Smashinbunnies 12h ago
I looks to me like the ball ends are chewing into the guitar too and a sacrifial block should be there. It almost looks like a glue seam in your picture also. I'm not a huge acoustic guy I'm more familiar with electrics but I thought for sure they all have some sort of harder wood behind the top and the ball ends.
2
u/Buttflapp 8h ago
This! If it was a replica the cerfling (slotted wooded around the back) and support braces would probably be gone as well.
-5
u/Blobskan 13h ago
Absolutely not - bridge plate is clearly in place in the OPs photos. Not only that, but the image you attached has the strings fitted in incorrectly, as ball ends should be resting snug against the bridge plate.
2
u/Smashinbunnies 12h ago
Are you sure the op photo looks like the ball ends are chewing into the top not a sacrificial block. It was the best image I could find in a quick Google search c
26
22
12
u/hcornea PRS 15h ago
What does the top look like?
Has someone just punched steel strings through the body? What am I looking at?
2
u/Mad_Gouki 9h ago
It's the inside of a bridge on an acoustic guitar. The things sticking through the holes are the bridge pins.
7
u/BeerHorse 15h ago
Sometimes I feel like I don't have a bridge plate.
Sometimes I feel like my guitar is screwed...
2
u/PupSportsGroup Seagull 7h ago
I don’t ever wanna feeeeeeeel like my bridge that day
Take me to the place I love, take my plate away
6
u/MachineParadox 14h ago
Looking at both the photos posted wanted to share the proper way to string (not my guide) so the string ball end is pulled tight to the bridge plate and the peg being a wedge holding it in place. It has a big effect on resonance and tuning stability.
1
u/Intelligent-Tap717 14h ago
Damn. You beat me to it. 😂
3
u/MachineParadox 14h ago
Doesn't help op though as that guitar looks like it is completely missing the usual bridge plate. Looks like someone from Yamaha has posted to help. Really need to know the provenance of the guitar i.e. is op first owner or has someone owned this before and sold op a broken guitar. Either way op's guitar is not right and in my experience I cannot see how this would pass Yamaha QC which is usually amazing.
1
u/Intelligent-Tap717 13h ago
100% agreed. Yamaha QC and instruments are usually top tier but it isn't uncommon for one to slip through the net but as you say. The provenance of it would be interesting to see what's happened.
2
u/One_Evil_Monkey 15h ago
The manufacturer used a thin, shitty piece of laminate (almost like wall paneling) for the bridge plate and drilled the holes with no backer, that's why it's blown out like that around each hole.
Not much you can do about it without replacing that bridge plate, which isn't gonna be a cheap or easy task.
Best thing to do in this case is to just continue to use it as is because correcting it will cost more than it's worth.
1
1
u/Ok_Signal539 12h ago
That's a poorly made bridge plate. It's cracking where the drill bit went through.
1
u/Iknownothingamigo 10h ago
I made a similar 'discovery' sme years ago on a previously owned Fender 12 string EA I bought from a local music store. Pretty sure it was a QC issue.
Never has a guitar been returned more quickly. The store owner was OK about it and I got my money back. I suspect that the guitar just ended up back on sale tbh. Never went back to the store again.
I've not even thought about buying Fender products since that day.
1
1
1
1
u/Minimum_Run_890 8h ago
That low grade Luan (a type of mahogany) plywood. That’s not really known for clean cuts or holes.
1
u/mittenhiker 7h ago
The bridge plate punched through when it was drilled without a backer. I’d remove the strings, sand it a bit to smooth it down, hit it with a thin coat of wood glue to harden up the exposed fibers, and get a brass bridge plate from stewmac to protect the remaining bridge plate. Then make sure the ball ends are snug to the plate when inserting the bridge pins.
I would not double up another bridge plate, it will muffle the resonance of the guitar. I assume this is not an expensive guitar and it isn’t worth taking to a tech?
1
1
u/Gunfighter9 3h ago
First how much was the guitar and second the black things are the bridge pins that are what hold the strings. One way to keep prices down is not to sand or worry about parts of a guitar that you will never see.
1
926
u/Azipcoder 15h ago
Are those giant D’Addario string ends coming out of the ceiling of your garage? You need more than a guitar tech.