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

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.

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.

Great value, easy to install without drilling a hole in your bridge. Does what it is designed to do. Used on an otherwise perfect Alverez that had belly bulge. I would install this on any guitar regardless of value. For my lower end acoustic guitars I will install the other cheaper version without brass pins that require 1 hole to be drilled.

fit perfect into my fender 12 string, sounds more loud and bright, and its easy to setup, definitely worth the money if you have a 12 string.

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.

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

Good product

This thing is very difficult to install. I literally had to fight it. First, the hole on the plastic cylinder where one of the bridge pins is supposed to go is too tight, so it’s very hard to tighten the bridge pin in place, and in effect it damaged the middle hole on the system block (loose thread) which, to begin with, was already a bit wider than it should. So upon upon tightening the tension of the rod, the plastic cylinder kept getting pulled out. I had to shave some thin pieces of wood off the chopped off piece of the rod and insert them in the middle hole, put some super glue and then screwed in the plastic cylinder again. And did I mention that I can’t use my guitar while this piece of crap is installed? Yeah, I can’t properly align the holes on the bridge pin because, again, it’s very hard to turn because it’s too tight. I’ll have to wait and observe if this can really flatten the belly. And if it does, only then can I remove this thing and reinstall my preferred bridge pins and the D string. This thing is actually a brilliant idea, but JLD cheaped out on the materials used, especially the wood. It’s totally NOT worth $46. I’m not sure what the effect would be but maybe they can use a more dense type of wood, something that can actually hold the screw. And the bridge pin is really supposed to be this tight, then maybe put a philips screw slot on the bridge pin so it’s easy to put in its place and align its holes. Anyway, yeah, I’m really not happy with this purchase. Nothing against Ike’s Guitar, though. They shipped this immediately. It’s just that the build quality of this thing is very poor. If you think you need to install a bridge doctor on your guitar, I suggest you just take it to a luthier and have them make a bridge doctor system instead of buying this.