Official Luthiers Forum!

Owned and operated by Lance Kragenbrink
It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 3:12 am


All times are UTC - 5 hours


Forum rules


Be Nice to our new friends! Remember, everybody starts somewhere!




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 3 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 4:26 pm 
Offline
Walnut
Walnut

Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 7:49 pm
Posts: 12
First name: kev
City: Conroe
State: Texas
Country: USA
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Any special considerations for making a compensated saddle for a classical guitar? I will be working from a bone blank.
Thanks,
kev


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:06 am 
Offline
Walnut
Walnut

Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:51 pm
Posts: 4
First name: James
Last Name: Horton
City: Orlando
State: Fl
Zip/Postal Code: 32810
Country: USA
Focus: Repair
Status: Amateur
How did this work out? I was planning on making a compensated bridge for my Prudencia classical as all the strings are sharp with the G string noticably so beyond the 7the fret or so. I had two ideascan

#1) Use my dremel/routing attachment to widen the slot behind the G string. Glue a small piece of bone material to the saddle to fit and the cant the saddle as needed to correct the issues.

#2) widen the entire slot to the rear so a wider piece of bone could be used to give ample area for compensating the individual strings.

I also intend to compensate the G string at the nut. I have done this on all of my electrics and it really helps intonation in the first position.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 1:50 pm 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood

Joined: Fri Nov 03, 2006 6:50 pm
Posts: 2711
Location: Victoria, BC
First name: John
Last Name: Abercrombie
Status: Amateur
It's always a lot easier if the maker designs in reasonable compensation when the guitar is built, but mistakes happen.

Classical bridges sometimes don't have a lot of 'extra wood' to play with so you need to be careful with routing away to widen the slot.

My approach would be to do a 'temporary' saddle to get an idea of the amount of extra compensation needed.
Keep the slot the same and use CA to glue a small 'doubler' to the back of a new saddle blank- the new bit will be above the wood of the bridge. Be sure to glue the saddle and doubler together on the bench, not in the bridge- CA 'gets everywhere'.
Then you can shape the new wider saddle and doubler to see the amount of change needed to get the compensation 'right'.

(Do this with good strings, and with the action height set where you want it.)

You may find that the 'temporary' fix is 'good enough', or decide to rout for a full-depth wider saddle at a later time.
The benefit of this approach is that the guitar is not altered until you know what is really required.

I'm assuming that you have already changed the 'bevel' on the saddle top to move the contact point back as much as possible. This usually requires shimming up the existing saddle if you are changing its shape- another argument for using a new saddle blank for experiments.

Cheers
John


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 3 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
cron
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
phpBB customization services by 2by2host.com