SJ-200 New Saddle

[jchabalk]

When i last had my guitar set up several years ago i was favoring the action a little on the low side. It's started to bug me a little bit lately so i bought a new saddle from mr. colosi.

 

It showed up tonight and i've started to dial the fit in. I've read up on this a lot in the past but I never really found too much great info about it - and it's been a while. any recommendation on, "high" action with out totally wrecking the intonation of fretted notes? I don't really play a whole lot above the 7th fret without a capo involved.

 

I fitted the saddle at it's maximum height and while it's a little higher than i like the thump came back pretty strong, especially when i lay into it.

[onewilyfool]

Try 8/64th's on low E and 6/64th's on the high E....see how you like it then ry 7/64th's on low E and 5/64th's on the high E....you can always go lower

[Hogeye]

Each guitar is different. The real guys just shim up the old saddle until it's just right. Measure it and then fit that measurement to your new saddle. I have three saddles for each of my J-200's. Low,medium,and high. Sometimes I change gauges of strings and then I will try a different saddle with the new gauge. We have a motor supply here in Bozeman and I just buy shim stock from them as it comes in different gauges. Works fine and if you get lazy you can use it and not alter the saddle. Don't try it if you have a under the saddle pickup.

[jchabalk]

thanks guys,

 

owf - those heights you recommended, are they at the 12th fret?

[RusRob]

The reason you got the thump back is because you changed the ramp angle. That is the angle the strings have from the bridge pins to the saddle. You don't want to get it too steep because that will put a lot of forward pressure on the saddle which could end up splitting your bridge. But a higher saddle will give you more volume and more high and low tone because it puts more tension on the saddle which puts more tension on the sound board.

 

Here is an article at Frets.com that covers saddles and break angle.

 

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/Saddle/saddle01.html

 

 

Same site about making a new saddle

 

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/MakeNewSaddle/newsaddle01.html

 

 

 

Something to be careful about it how the saddle is shaped. If you don't get the ramp angle and the shape of the crown of the saddle correct you will be more prone to break strings.

 

Here is a good explanation of what I am talking about (Again at Frets.com).

 

 

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/GenSetup/StringBreakage/stringbreak1.html

 

As far as hight, It really is a matter of personal prefrence and how you play. The measurements at the 12th fret that onewilyfool posted are the recommended measurements but if you like higher or lower action then that is a variable.

 

When I set up a guitar I usually ask the customer how they play and will sometimes ask them to play for me so I can see how they are strumming the strings. Hard or soft, over the neck or at the sound hole or even back at the bridge. The strings will take a lot more abuse if you strum hard right above the bridge. I take all that into account when I do the saddle. I think the above articles will discuss that. Frank Ford is a very knowledgeable guitar repair guy.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Bob

[guitarstrummer]

thanks guys,

 

owf - those heights you recommended, are they at the 12th fret?

Those measurements would be on the 12th fret.

[guitarstrummer]

Hogeye has the best suggestion. It all depends on your playing style. If you're a heavy strummer like I am, you may want your saddle higher, so for that reason I wouldn't automatically sand yours down to the measurements that OWFool gave you as those measurements may end up being wrong for you. Once you sand it down you can't go back.

[jchabalk]

thanks for the suggestions here. i was out of town for a couple of days but was able to spend some time on this this evening.

 

I'd left the saddle where it was a bit too high for me to play comfortably but i could really wail on the guitar and there was no fret rattle. I checked my measurements and i was somewhere between 9 and 10/64 on the lowE at the 12th fret. The highE was at about 8/64.

 

I brought it down to pretty much right at 8/64 on the lowE and corrected for a minor leveling problem (both side-to-side and front-to-back). I brought it up to tune and it measures almost dead on 8/64 on the lowE and just less than 6/64 on the highE (.090).

 

I'm going to play this for a while and see how i like it - i think i'm close, if not right where i wanted it.

 

There's very little neck relief, i don't have a good way to measure it but fretting at the 1st and 12th there's an extremely small gap at the 7th between the fret and the string (i didn't change anything with the truss rod).