Query About Guitar

Sounds right to me. You refer to your bridge. The B and E strings being staggered means it is a compensated bridge. That is good. It should be a little higher on the side of the thicker strings.

The plastic piece that fits into the bridge is the saddle.

Sounds right to me. You refer to your bridge. The B and E strings being staggered means it is a compensated bridge. That is good. It should be a little higher on the side of the thicker strings.

Phew... :wink: ...I thought I'd had it wrong! but it's OK as it is? - The high E string looks to be lower down than the B string next to it. The hi E also looks to be further apart than the other strings. Ok, I've put 4 strings on and ran into a spot of bother but seem to be doing OK. For the first three strings hi E, B and G I wound the string tightner / tuner towards me with the face of the guitar facing towards me. On the D string I had to wind it away from me as it messed with the next string slot (if that makes any sense) for the A string which I'm about to put on!!!

Any tips on putting new strings on?...

Here's a great walk-through from one of our own... http://home.nycap.rr.com/nils/GuitarStringing.htm
There's some other goodies on that site, too. Other than that, slow 'n steady wins the race!

while we are talking bridges and saddles may I ask a somewhat on topic question?
why are some saddles slanted and some are not?
I imagine it is because of the thickness of the bottome three strings EAD in standard tuning.

how then is intonation accurate if the saddle is slanted?

I've also noticed that the saddles are angled so that the bass-string end is further from the neck than the treble-string end. Maybe it's the combination of the two angles that serves to keep the strings at a relatively equal height?

ETA: I found this on Nils' site:
"Adjusting the intonation is relatively simple on guitars that have individual string length adjusters like the Tone-O-Matic bridge on a Les Paul, or Fender bridges, and many other electric guitars. The length I am referring to is the distance between the nut and the saddle not the physical length of the string. No matter what type of adjusters you have you need to lengthen the string if your 12th fretted tone is sharp (needle right of center) and shorten the string if it is flat (needle left of center). "

So that's where intonation comes from. I remember reading somewhere that the 12th fret is halfway between the nut and the saddle.

Here's a great walk-through from one of our own... http://home.nycap.rr.com/nils/GuitarStringing.htm
There's some other goodies on that site, too. Other than that, slow 'n steady wins the race!

Slow n steady, thats how it was changing the strings... :wink: ...minus a couple of errors. Not played much today but wanted to concentrate on changing the strings, which is done!

BTW, thanks for posting the walkthrough link, I'll look at that later on.

Hi,

On the main body of the guitar there are the six circular things where you insert each string and just in front of that there is a thin beige plastic thing that sits in a ridge and is removable. On the plastic thing that the strings rest on (sorry I don't know it's name) it is higher towards one end than the other. I'm wandering if this has been the wrong way round. Currently it's higher in height for what looks like the low E through to the G, then for the B and E the shape changes for the top two strings (in pitch)

I hope this hasn't confused anyone, if so.... :) too bad...only joking...

Thanks

The 6 circular things a the pins, they hold the strings in at the base. The plastic thing is a saddle that sits on topof the bridge, the strings go over it and cause the top of the guitar to vibrate which makes the sound. Saddles are usually not even across the top, because each strings needs to be at a specific lenght to vibrate at the right frequency. Check out Frets.com for technical info about guitars.
Eric