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Saddle Slot

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 7:27 pm
by nehsgolfer
Has anyone ever filled in a saddle slot and routed a new one in the bridge?? I have a Seagull whose saddle is too far toward the nut. I think the simplest thing would be to remove the bridge and make a new one. Any suggestions??

Re: Saddle Slot

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:37 pm
by MaineGeezer
It may depend on how tall the saddle is. If it's fairly tall, moving it back is going to give you an extremely sharp break angle for the srings going down into the bridge, which may be a problem. If the saddle is really low, you might get away with it, but I don't think it would look very good. The proper way to fix it of course would be to take the bridge off and move the whole thing back.

Re: Saddle Slot

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:52 pm
by phavriluk
Any possibility of routing the saddle slot for a thicker saddle by opening up the rear of the saddle slot? Doesn't do a thing for the break-angle topic, but it does move the saddle effectively to the rear without needing to remove the bridge.

Re: Saddle Slot

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 6:30 am
by MaineGeezer
Yes -- how far do you need to shift it? If the current saddle is 3/32" and you made it 1/8", with the strings making contact at the back edge, that would get you some amount of shift.

Re: Saddle Slot

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 4:04 pm
by Ben-Had
With the right tools/jig it is an easy job. I do it all the time in my repair business. If you make a new bridge you have to incorporate things like proper size to cover the old footprint, bridge pin location, filling the old holes, etc.

Re: Saddle Slot

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 6:37 pm
by phavriluk
If this is a readily and easily performed job (for someone who's done it before, professionally), perhaps OP would be well served to contact his local friendly luthier and ask that the saddle slot be enlarged for a thicker saddle, and adjust the intonation? I am allergic to learning new skills on something I don't want to do a lot of harm to. The professional might be able to determine the likelihood of success of the saddle enlargement before the work becomes a blind experiment.

Re: Saddle Slot

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 6:46 pm
by tippie53
done it many times

Re: Saddle Slot

Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 5:34 pm
by Diane Kauffmds
Your options are to move the bridge, replace the bridge and saddle, fill and route a new slot, or make the existing slot wider and fit a wider saddle. Your choice will depend on how far off the saddle sits and how comfortable you are with each option.

How far off is the saddle? If it's just a little bit, just widen that slot, on the bridge pin side only, toward the soundhole, and replace the saddle with a wider saddle. You can shape it so that you gain scale length.

A replacement bridge should be oversized enough to cover the old bridge area, as well as the edge of the finish thats around the old bridge. I just got done making an inlaid bridge for another luthier with a similar problem.