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Post by fatfingerjohn on Mar 17, 2014 15:11:36 GMT
Hi,
I'm thinking of fitting a new saddle to my Turner guitar. Can someone explain to me the difference between a plain saddle and a compensated saddle. My Taylor has the latter, the Turner does not.
-What is the effect difference? -if manufacturer has fitted a plain saddle should I leave it as that and not consider a compensated saddle -What is the recommended material for the saddle?
As you can see I know nothing about this ......... (but hopefully soon will)!
Regards
John
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Mar 17, 2014 15:31:11 GMT
Compensation is there to improve intonation. Your Turner saddle, plain or not, gets a degree of compensation from the angle at which it is set, even if it is completely straight. It may not, despite appearances, be straight though - have a careful look at the points where the strings leave the saddle and you'll probably see that these are not in a straight line, and that the saddle has had some further intonation compensation applied to it by having had the top surface filed to allow (especially) the B string to be longer than the G. This is one of many good (downloadable)guides to these issues, and much more, which you might find helpful John - charlestauber.com/luthier/Resources_files/BasicGuitarSetup101-March2013.pdfKeith
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Mar 18, 2014 8:20:44 GMT
Compensation is there to improve intonation. Your Turner saddle, plain or not, gets a degree of compensation from the angle at which it is set, even if it is completely straight. It may not, despite appearances, be straight though - have a careful look at the points where the strings leave the saddle and you'll probably see that these are not in a straight line, and that the saddle has had some further intonation compensation applied to it by having had the top surface filed to allow (especially) the B string to be longer than the G. This is one of many good (downloadable)guides to these issues, and much more, which you might find helpful John - charlestauber.com/luthier/Resources_files/BasicGuitarSetup101-March2013.pdfKeith Thanks Keith. The current saddle is straight but set at an angle; there doesn't appear to be any other compensation. Having said that I do not have a tuning issue either. The only problem is a bit of a buzz on the low E string when hit medium hard or hard. I have this guitar tuned down half a step (as it allows me to sing quite a lot of songs in the key I prefer and also the tone is lovely down half a step) and also have out lighter strings on than when I bought it. It may simply need a tweak on the truss rod. Regarding the saddle change, where I wondered if raising the saddle a touch on the base string side would help, I think I'll leave this; your link to the article is very interesting but looks pretty complex to me; if the truss rod tweak doesn't help I may just get someone to do a set up for me rather than me mess around.
Thanks for your advice.
John
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Post by ocarolan on Mar 18, 2014 9:00:10 GMT
If your intonation is OK then you're probably right to stick with your current saddle.
If the rattle when played hard is affecting how you play, and you don't feel comfortable having to "hold back", then something probably needs sorting somehow though. maybe a slight increase in saddle height towards the bass end if the neck relief is fine, or maybe, as you mentiuon, a truss ross tweak if the cause is neck relief related. The relief needs to be checked and sorted if necessary before you do anything else though.
So, before you tweak the truss rod, some more questions/answers might help -
What is the neck relief at present? - fret bass E at frets 1 and 14 and observe string clearance over, say, fret 6. I tend to set this by eye and feel at around the diameter of a top E string or less, certainly no more.
What is the 12th fret action on your treble E and, especially, bass E string ? - measure with steel rule the distance from underside of string to fret.
What gauge strings, esp the rattly one are on at the moment John?
Keith
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Mar 18, 2014 16:05:22 GMT
If your intonation is OK then you're probably right to stick with your current saddle. If the rattle when played hard is affecting how you play, and you don't feel comfortable having to "hold back", then something probably needs sorting somehow though. maybe a slight increase in saddle height towards the bass end if the neck relief is fine, or maybe, as you mentiuon, a truss ross tweak if the cause is neck relief related. The relief needs to be checked and sorted if necessary before you do anything else though. So, before you tweak the truss rod, some more questions/answers might help - What is the neck relief at present? - fret bass E at frets 1 and 14 and observe string clearance over, say, fret 6. I tend to set this by eye and feel at around the diameter of a top E string or less, certainly no more. What is the 12th fret action on your treble E and, especially, bass E string ? - measure with steel rule the distance from underside of string to fret. What gauge strings, esp the rattly one are on at the moment John? KeithHi again,I did check the profile and it looked low to me. Using your quick guide by fretting 1 and 14, the height visually at the 6th is very tight, almost no space. The strings I have on are D'addario EXP 11 Light; coated 80/20 bronzes, gauge of the bass E is .012. I will do a minor truss rod slacken and see. As I said before it was OK before I tuned down 1 step so its not much.Thanks again. John
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