Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi,

I am putting on a compensated Bridge on a classical Guitar. For non-compensated Bridges I position them at the scale length (from the nut to the center of the Saddle) +<1mm as measured from the center of the fret board. Should I do the same with the compensated bridge?

Thanks

Tim



https://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-wo ... ompensated

Have a look at this
http://www.byersguitars.com/Research/Research.html
The amount of compensation you use depends on a number of factors, including whether you set your nut forward from the theoretical position (even if it is by half the saw kerf width)
The Lmi page does not say whether the saddle is sloped or by how much so just setting the centre to a certain distance would be risky.

Do Your previous guitars intonate well? you could use them to determine optimal position.

If you really want the bass strings to play in tune all the way up then it is worthwhile to be as exact as possible. Here are two approaches, there are probably many others:
I once took a well used and well loved classic and chiseled out the wood that was holding the saddle. In other words I removed the two areas of wood on either side of the saddle slot so that the former flat bottom of the saddle slot was only part of a flat table of wood in front of the string tying holes. Then I put six individual hardwood scraps in as temporary saddle pieces and strung up the guitar. By moving the saddle pieces I could find where the intonation was best for each string. The compensation varies a lot with the tension of the string and the height of the strings over the frets. Either adjust it for yourself or use average height and average action. In addition it is pretty inevitable that in the first ten years of a guitars existance, any warping that happens anywhere on the guitar will pull the bridge closer to the nut, as the warping is caused by the pull of the strings. I ended up very satisfied with two straight saddle pieces. The bass piece is way more tilted than that for the treble strings.
The other way is if the guitar has no bridge or you are willing to remove the bridge. Get (or make) a metal trapeeze tailpiece as used on a jazz archtop guitar. String up the guitar and put in test saddle pieces. Then you know where to place your bridge. The guitar will sound horrible but you learn what you need to know.

As Jeff has posted;
Go to the Byers site .
It's a real world solution for great Into.

Mike

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Mike Collins