Today, after making sure the plate was in proper position, I dry fitted the bridges to the board, and then dry fit the board to the piano rim. I was then ready to set the bearing. This is done by cutting notches in the oversized bridge cap to the level that I want to plane the entire bridge top to. This is done so that the level of the bridge top is slightly higher than the natural plane of the string when stretched between the upper and lower pressure points, thus creating down bearing on the bridge. This is a situation where I want enough down bearing, but not too much. Every rebuilder has his own recipe as to what that is. Mine shall not be revealed on this page! Also note the picture of the old and new board side by side.
