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Have you used the Dan Erlewine idea of makeshifting a sort of tailpiece to stretch the strings over the saddle to mark bridge position?

Chuck, I think you mean "over the bridge to mark saddle position." But, no I haven't......

carld05 wrote:Chuck, I think you mean "over the bridge to mark saddle position." But, no I haven't......

In watching the video the saddle iappears to be nstalled

And I have built a bridge, cut the saddle slot and installed the saddle. Now I have to find out how tall that should be as well as find its position. Seems like a couple competing difficulties.

https://youtu.be/U6KtnjoD1N0

Here it is.

That's the type of jig I thought you meant but I've seen it used to locate where a new saddle slot should be routed on an installed bridge without a slot or with a slot that had been filled because of bad intonation or lefthand/righthand flipping of the guitar. Check out the "setting a bridge" topic below this.

not a fan of the stew mac stuff
I know too many that ended up with it in the wrong place
trust a good measuring stick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJG5Frbu78c
no jig needed just some tape and a pencil

I think that some of the StewMac tools are solutions in search of a problem. I think their primary function is to be a separator -- to separate you from your money.

I think they generally work, but I don't think one needs them to get good results.

(Your mileage may vary.....)

That jig is one that Erlewine made for his own use. It's not for sale at Stewmac. It's a simple thing to make. I think it's an interesting approach as a way to double check a bridge placement and intonation. I've always relied on measurements.

Diane Kauffmds wrote:That jig is one that Erlewine made for his own use. It's not for sale at Stewmac. It's a simple thing to make. I think it's an interesting approach as a way to double check a bridge placement and intonation. I've always relied on measurements.

I did something similar with a couple of beginners' kit guitars (the ones with ready-made bodies, ready-made necks and no instructions!) I wanted to devote each of them to unusual tunings with really thick bass strings, so wanted to be sure the bridge was as well-placed as possible for the strings I wanted to use.

I bent a piece of wire coat hanger so that I could hang it on the strap button and attach the outer two strings. Not pretty, and needed a little padding where it went around the corner, but it worked nicely!