Official Luthiers Forum!

Are there any advantages / disadvantages to using a 1/8" thick saddle instead of a 3/32" saddle?

Tone, sustain, ?

Just Curious.

Mike

More room to set the intonation up. some have switched to a 3/16 wide saddle just for this reason although I think 1/8 is adaquate.

I don't think the extra 1/32" would make any difference in tone or sustain.

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

I have noticed that many of the Somogyi students use very wide saddles, they look almost 1/4" wide.

I have also noticed that Mike Doolin does too as well as some other notables.

Perhaps some of these folks who are OLFers would enlighten us as to the theory behind very wide saddles?

Thanks!

If you have a player tht what to sometimes set up for slack tuning and other times for standard tuning a thicker saddle allows you to intonate two different saddles for the play

What Somogyi says on the subject is here http://www.esomogyi.com/principles.html

It's about a third of the way down, in the paragraph with the image link for "figure 3".

_________________
http://www.chassonguitars.com

There was a recent discussion over at the UMGF about this.

Is it okay to link to a discussion from that forum?

_________________
Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I may try a wider saddle on the next one?

Mike

Sure. Link away.

(BTW, I use a 1/4" saddle, and I also tilt the slot back 3 degrees)

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

In the past, when I decided to intone my guitar,the original saddle was 3/32 so to avoid widening the slot I started with a 5/32" saddle and used a router to thin the portion that fit in the slot.That gave me all the upper surface I needed for the adjustments.

I am a 3/16ths guy for the reasons mentioned above. It is really nice for a 12 string when you want to intonate the octave strings

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Of course, there are arguments in favor of the thinner one. Who woulda guessed?

Pat

_________________
formerly known around here as burbank
_________________

http://www.patfosterguitars.com

The thicker the saddle, the more room you have for intonation adjustments and the more surface area you have for string contact. Also with a thicker saddle you're adding extra mass right where the strings put their energy into the soundboard which is another tool you can use to shape the sound of an instrument.

I think Somogyi's arguments sound valid, so I'm planning to go 3/16-1/4" wide on my
next couple of instruments.

_________________
Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

anyone having trouble cutting the wide saddle slot with one pass? i smoked a brand new bit. i also have a 10 degree back angle, so can't take multiple passes without stair stepping. was using a down spiral bit which may make it worse. anyone have bit advise?

Jason;
I use 3/16" saddles & you're right... It's not easy on router bits. Nor is it easy to avoid chatter.
I do mine on the drill press, using an angled jig against a fence. I do three or more passes to get almost full depth with a 1/8" bit, then move up to the 3/16" bit. Two passes will usually do the job for me. I use 3/16" down spiral bit to keep the slot as clean as I can. The 1/8" starter slot I cut with a standard carbide dado bit.
Works fine for me... Until I think of something easier / better.

Thanks Daniel. Using a smaller bit first will help a bunch. Good idea.

Jason