Taylor Player Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 My question is, has anyone sanded down the saddle on their Advance Jumbo? Due to the open ended design of the bridge, I am a little nervous about adjusting mine. I know I could have my luthier do it, but I am really getting into making my own adjustments for saddles and such. It is a personal goal to be able to keep my guitars all set up. Any advice on sanding an open ended saddle would be appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry K Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 I've never worked on an AJ, but here is my suggestion. Take off all the strings and see if you can pull the saddle out with your fingers. If it's too tight you can try gently (!) gripping with pliers and pulling straight up. It will probably come out pretty easy. Measure it, observe what kind of compensation there is, and buy another one like it. Work on the new one. I'm pretty sure these newer model open saddle slots are not actually glued like the old ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewG Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Obviously its trickier than a closed slot because you can't just take material off the bottom of the saddle without exposing the slot ends; filing compensation is also not very easy (for me anyway). I took mine to my luthier who cut a new saddle from a hunk of bone and had it fitted and filed within ten minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarstrummer Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 I think you're going to have to either make a new saddle from a blank or sand down the top. Also, I believe that Bob Colosi will make you a new saddle by copying your old saddle. If you can't find another solution, you could always send your saddle to Bob and have him make you a newer one, but have him make it slightly taller than the one you send him to copy. http://www.guitarsaddles.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gman Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 It's really not that hard to do.For one they are not glued in. You can take adjustment off the bottom,all you will notice is the saddle does not fill the slot from end to end. You would have to take alot off before it would affect where the position would be compromised I always make sure I have at least 1 extra blank. Second option is adjust from the top again not that hard. For one AJs saddles are not compensated.You can do that yourself if required.Good Luck. Make sure you have the right files for the job. Gman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewG Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 It's really not that hard to do.For one they are not glued in. You can take adjustment off the bottom' date='all you will notice is the saddle does not fill the slot from end to end. You would have to take alot off before it would affect where the position would be compromised I always make sure I have at least 1 extra blank. Second option is adjust from the top again not that hard. For one AJs saddles are not compensated.You can do that yourself if required.Good Luck. Make sure you have the right files for the job. Gman[/quote'] The first option would be unacceptable to me; I think it looks terrible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gman Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 I don't blame you. I had my AJ setup by a luthier right after I bought it .He took the meat off the bottom and shortened the saddle on both ends about 1/8 after that I ordered blanks from StewMac which by the way is pretty good bone. I make my own saddles for all acoustic guitars that I own I just started doing the nuts. Turned out pretty good.Patience is the key and good files. Good Luck on what ever you do. God Bless Gman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gman Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 I don't blame you. I had my AJ setup by a luthier right after I bought it .He took the meat off the bottom and shortened the saddle on both ends about 1/8 after that I ordered blanks from StewMac which by the way is pretty good bone. I make my own saddles for all acoustic guitars that I own I just started doing the nuts. Turned out pretty good.Patience is the key and good files. Good Luck on what ever you do. God Bless Gman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Player Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 I actually had no problem getting the saddle out. It slides freely when the strings are being replaced. I sanded a little off the bottom with no problem. I kept a straight edge ruler against the saddle while slowly sanding on a very flat surface. I had just finished replacing the tusq saddle in my Larrivee with a new bone saddle ordered from Larrivee and had to take quite a bit off that saddle. It worked great so I figured no harm trying to take only a very little off the Gibson AJ saddle. It worked great. Took the action down ever so slightly but much more to my liking. I am a fingerstyle player mostly but have the Gibson for when I play in a group setting or for strumming. I am keeping Medium Elxier strings on it and now the action is perfect for me. There is no noticable difference in the bridge length and you couldn't tell by looking that I sanded the bottom. I didn't want to mess with the top of the bridge. It seemed to difficult to maintain the curvature of the saddle that was there. The guitar is still intonated very nicely and all I did was lower the action about 1/32" or so. I am glad I did it especially since I have always wanted to try to do some setup stuff myself. I had a fairly free weekend so I decided to work on my guitars a little. I first took the gloss off of the neck of the Gibson since I prefer a satin feel to the back of the neck. That and the slighly lowering of the saddle has made the AJ a definate favorite now. I also "glossed" my satin finish Larrivee over the weekend and it turned out outstanding!!! I now have 3 guitars that will keep me happily picking for a long time to come I hope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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