Saddle Relocation and New Bridge on Gretsch Soprano Ukulele, Phase Three

Armed with my trusty clothes iron and some foil, I am prepared to remove the bridge from the little ukulele.  This has been a great learning experience, but I am a little weary of looking at this thing.

I used the setting a notch or so below the hottest heat level.  This is the basic technique.  Although, I did tape around the bridge after this picture was taken.  The heat from the iron tends to make the finish 'blush' a bit.  I forgot about that until right after I started. 

I heated the bridge for about 30 seconds at a time, then tried a separating knife (paint palette knife) on the seams.

After a few rounds of heating, I can get the knife under the bridge.  It's coming off very cleanly and easily. 

There you have it!  Came off perfectly.  The bare wood on the top will help when I go to align the new bridge.

The old bridge does appear to be mahogany.  Originally the plan was to carve a new on from a hunk of mahogany bracewood I have, but I had second thoughts.  I just ordered a handful of bridge blanks from LMI, and I think I'll be using one of them instead.

You want a hardwood for the bridge, and mahogany is not as hard as, say, rosewood or ebony.  I figure I may as well do an 'upgrade' while I have this thing apart.  So I'll wait until the shipment arrives and go from there.