Epiphone Olympic bridge / buzz question

[willward1]

I have what I believe is a 1941 Epiphone Olympic.

Love the guitar but am now trying play more above the 15th fret and getting some buzz/ fretting out.

No problem, just adjust the ol' bridge height, right?

The only problem is I can't figure out how!

Here is what my bridge looks like. It does not have the little knobs that I'm used to to adjust the bridge height.

Can anyone let me know what is going on here?



Do I need to replace the bridge? Or is there some way to adjust this that I can't figure out?

I don't think I need to mess with the truss rod as the neck looks pretty straight for me.

But open to any and all suggestions on fixing the buzz.

Thanks!

[sgosnell]

To check the straightness of the neck, fret the G (or another, doesn't really matter) string at the first fret and at the 14th fret. The string then forms a perfect straight-edge along the neck. It helps to use a capo on the first fret, so you don't need three hands. Check the frets underneath the string. If there is relief, you can see the space under the string. The correct amount of relief is a matter of preference. I like none, but others like a little. You definitely do not want backbow, and the string should just barely kiss the middle frets, or be a little above them, as you prefer. As for the bridge, a thin shim between the base and the saddle would raise it a little. It probably won't take much, and it can be difficult to find wood that thin. Something like a playing card or a thin plastic piece might work. Thin washers could work, if you can find some thin enough, perhaps plastic or nylon or such, but there are metal washers that could be thin enough. It depends on how much you need to raise the saddle. If absolutely necessary, you could use thicker washers or shims, and take some off the bottom of the saddle, but I would do that only out of real necessity, and would prefer a thinner shim by far. It's possible that the upper frets need leveling, and it's not the bridge height. Check that by fretting as above, but at the last fret or beyond it instead of at the 14th.

[daverepair]

Your '41 Olympic, when new, would have had the adjuster wheels on the bridge. Someone, in the past, removed them, to further lower the action. That indicates that the guitar needs a neck reset, a not uncommon condition on an 80-yr old Epi. A neck reset would reestablish the correct neck angle, allowing for a proper bridge height of about 7/8-1" tall, with adjuster wheels. Neck relief is a separate issue.
However, to avoid a reset, many past owners have removed the wheels, and/or shaved down the bridge top to lower the action. However, the lower the bridge(after a certain point), the greater the loss of tone and volume.
It's also quite possible that that the fingerboard extension is no longer in line with the neck, and is, as we say, 'rising'(that is, the fingerboard over the extension is not in a straight line with the rest of the fingerboard), That condition will also cause buzzing lower down the neck. A 'rising' fingerboard extension can also be corrected by a neck reset.
I've repaired numerous vintage Epis with the same issue.

[zizala]

Dave does great work and knows his old Epi's!
I own one of his excellent restorations of a '43 Ritz that I'm sure had similar problems.

I was hoping he'd see this and jump in....and I've held back hoping he would!
He does a great job of explaining a fairly common situation with old Epiphone archtops.

[Bezoeker]

Your '41 Olympic, when new, would have had the adjuster wheels on the bridge. Someone, in the past, removed them, to further lower the action. That indicates that the guitar needs a neck reset, a not uncommon condition on an 80-yr old Epi. A neck reset would reestablish the correct neck angle, allowing for a proper bridge height of about 7/8-1" tall, with adjuster wheels. Neck relief is a separate issue.
However, to avoid a reset, many past owners have removed the wheels, and/or shaved down the bridge top to lower the action. However, the lower the bridge(after a certain point), the greater the loss of tone and volume.
It's also quite possible that that the fingerboard extension is no longer in line with the neck, and is, as we say, 'rising'(that is, the fingerboard over the extension is not in a straight line with the rest of the fingerboard), That condition will also cause buzzing lower down the neck. A 'rising' fingerboard extension can also be corrected by a neck reset.
I've repaired numerous vintage Epis with the same issue.

Ridiculous that one can only “like” a post once. I count 13 different ways in which this post illuminates (vs. the usual ‘inter web’ guesswork).

Many thanks for this.

[Bezoeker]

Also note that whatever “Daverepair” quotes you for a well-done reset, it is a joke compared to the skill and dedication (and ownership of the results) that this job requires.

[daverepair]

Thanks for the kind words. Vintage Epiphones are my favorites. I have a Facebook page, David Richard Luthier, where i post photos and videos of the numerous Epis and other instruments I've repaired, or 'resurrected'.