What is Bridge Pinning?
Chet and I flew almost everywhere we went. When we got to a date and opened our guitar cases the bridges would be everywhere. When Chet was playing his Gretsch Country Gentleman the airlines would knock the bridge completely off the guitar. Many times I’ve seen him put it back on so we could rehearse. So we pinned them down and that stopped that. Bridge pinning is a somewhat controversial subject among guitarists but I think you should do it or have it done. Chet and I have done it for years. It keeps the bridge from shifting around. The way I do it is this: I use what they call brads, a small nail that has a small head. My friend, Sonny Thomas, uses a screw like the ones that hold the pickup frames. In either case, you do it the same way. I set the intonation and then take masking tape and tape each end of the base of the bridge. Then loosen the strings so you can take off the top of the bridge leaving the base taped down. Drill a small hole for each of the brads (or screws) on the in
