Low Saddle Height on High E String - New Guitar

[Pickax]

I've seen a number of new or newer Gibson Acoustics lately - mostly J-45s that have low Saddle height on the high E string. The Saddles look to have decent height on the other strings but they really dip down on under the high E. Decent break angle on on all strings except for the high E.

 

Is this fairly common? Could it be the result of a bad factory neck angle/neck set? A Saddle slot in the Bridge that is not level? These Guitars all played fine but from a visual, it looked a little odd.

[Jinder]

It's quite common, almost every acoustic with a 12" radius neck that I've owned has been that way. The top E tends to be the string you can go skinniest with in terms of action-too low on the bottom few strings and you'll get ungodly clanging rattles and clacky sounds when strumming, but the top two plain strings can be teased down a little more before things start getting silly.

 

My former Guild GAD30R had a 14" (or 16", I don't remember precisely) radius fingerboard, and that had a strong break angle over all strings. It's just a design thing...unless a guitar has no break angle at all to speak of, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

Because of the long stretch betwen pins and saddle on the honking great moustache bridge on my SJ200, The break angle was very shallow...I had by string slots ramped by my luthier, and the result is night and day, tonally-especially when plugged in.

[Swicket]

My 2000 J-45 has the same low break angle on the high e. I tend to agree with Jinder that this is just the way Gibson designed them.

[drathbun]

Same with the SWD. I don't find a problem with it in playing... just visually I have to get used to it.

[onewilyfool]

Well, if it is too pronounced, then the problem is a twist in the neck...sighting down the neck to the headstock, you can see it sometimes......I have also seen some new Gibsons at our local store with the low saddle not just on the E side, but just a low saddle period!!! This drastically speeds up the time that a guitar will need a neck reset, and I avoid those guitars at all costs...

[onewilyfool]

Well, if it is too pronounced, then the problem is a twist in the neck...sighting down the neck to the headstock, you can see it sometimes......I have also seen some new Gibsons at our local store with the low saddle not just on the E side, but just a low saddle period!!! This drastically speeds up the time that a guitar will need a neck reset, and I avoid those guitars at all costs...