Dobro bridge insert question

[Rex Krueger]

I just got my first dobro, a used wechter scheerhorn and I'm enjoying playing it, but last night I noticed that I was having to press down pretty hard with the bar to get good tone, so much so that I was getting a little wrist pain.

Today, I was examining the guitar under a strong light and I figured out that the maple and ebony bridge inserts are not even. The bass one is sitting up out of its slot by about 1/8 inch. The last owner had a fancy pickup in there and he pulled it out quick before he sold it to me. He must not have gotten that insert down all the way.

This obviously isn't rocket science. The insert needs to go down. The thing is, I really don't know squat about dobros. Do I just push it in by hand? Does it mean anything that string pressure hasn't pushed it down already? (It's been in the case strung up to full pitch for several weeks because I was too busy to play). Am I going to bend the spider? Do the strings have to come off for me to get this done? They're brand new and I don't want to waste them. Finally, if the insert is too snug to go down all the way, can I sand it a little bit? How snug should it be?

I know that's a lot of questions, but this is new territory for me.

Thanks in advance!

[Greg Booth]

It's important for the insert to be all the way down. I know that some builders press them into the spider for a snug fit, but I think it's fine to sand the thickness until you can do this by hand. You will probably have to take the cover plate off to take out the insert that is too tight. You can keep the strings on, just loosen them enough to undo the tailpiece and put it to the side, then undo the cover plate screws. I think you'll hear a big difference when that insert is fully seated.

[Dave Thier]

I'm a little confused by your description. If one of the inserts is up by 1/8 inch, then those strings will not be in the same plane as the others. Adding pressure via the bar to force all 6 strings into the same plane is not the same as adding pressure for good tone.

Properly seating the high insert as Greg suggests should resolve your problem. Proper setup is critical to getting the best sound out of your resonator.

[Rex Krueger]

Thanks for those replies! I should be able to get this done today.m

As to the question about tone and pressing down. The strings are not currently on the same plane which was leading to buzzing on some strings. I call this "bad tone" and pressing down made the problem better.

We'll see how things sound when I get the bridge sorted out.