I have a furch durango acoustic. Its fairly well set up in that intones well but with strings lighter than 12 there is some fret buzz. I want to raise the action at the bridge slightly. What is the best way to do this. Do I need to replace the bridge(not sure of the terminology, by bridge I mean the white plastic thing stuck into the wooden "mount"(?)), or can I simply take it out and put something of suitable dimensions and material under it so it's pushed out a bit further. Is the white plastic thing stuck in with glue or just held in place by the tension of the strings?
Ps. I know this will affect the intonation but the adjustment I want to make is slight so I'm not worried about that.
The best approach is to replace the "saddle". That's the white thing sitting in the bridge.
An alternative is to use pieces of hardwood veneer cut to the shape of the bottom of the saddle. Another alternative is pieces of vinyl siding. As long as it is flat and hard it will work well.
And generally, the saddle is not glued in
And, as long as the bridge does not move your intonation should be OK
And generally, the saddle is not glued in
So what do you do when the saddle is glued in??
(This is the case on my martin backpacker-action needs to be lowered)
So what do you do when the saddle is glued in??
(This is the case on my martin backpacker-action needs to be lowered)
You have to very gently try to pry it out with either your fingers or a pair of pliers being careful not to damage the seat. You can wiggle it back and forth and eventually it will come loose.
or you can sand the top of the saddle.. depending on the type of saddle you have... mine's always been rounded so if i want to lower the action i could sand the top... but i dont wanna change the individual string height spacing. I already made that better :D
The backpacker has no fretboard radius, and no compensation on the bridge, so I could sand the top. As for prying it out, i tried that already...
or you can sand the top of the saddle.. depending on the type of saddle you have... mine's always been rounded so if i want to lower the action i could sand the top... but i dont wanna change the individual string height spacing. I already made that better :D
Would this mess up the intonation at all? I've got that rounded, straight, uncompensated saddle on my ukulele, and the intonation is a bit sharp.Do you think it'd fix that as well as the action if I sanded the top?
If you don't know where you're going,
Any road will take you there
Would this mess up the intonation at all? I've got that rounded, straight, uncompensated saddle on my ukulele, and the intonation is a bit sharp.Do you think it'd fix that as well as the action if I sanded the top?
If you sand it down in exactly the same profile then it would not significantly change the intonation unless you sand it way down. In order to change the intonation you need to either shorten (makes it sharper) or lengthen (makes it flatter) the distance between the nut and the saddle.
Conceptually you could remove some off the front of the saddle to lengthen the distance and some off the back to shorten the distance. This would in effect change the relationship of where the seat is on the saddle.
My advice it to never sand the top of the saddle because it is too easy to change the profile which can impact playability quite a bit. Saddles are cheap enough that you could buy one to experiment with and hopefully not destroy the old one taking it out. If you have a glued in saddle do a search on the internet for " guitar saddle removal" and you may find some good advice on how to get it out.
Remember to lower the string height at the 12th fret you need to take double the amount off at the saddle. In other words, to lower the string height 1/64 of an inch you need to take 1/32 off of the saddle. Same for adding, just double the amount to add.
Well, I didn't have to worry about prying the saddle out. When I loosened the strings, it fell out! I sanded 1/16" off the bottom and slipped it back in, put the strings back on. Now it plays so much easier. I might even take a bit more off if I get around to it. Thanks a bunch! :D
If you don't know where you're going,
Any road will take you there
The problem with the backpacker is that the saddle isn't the long kind that are usually glued. It's the short kind that are usually held in by tension. Also, it says in the instructions that the saddle is NOT glued in.
Are you sure your not asking about the saddle?
The saddle is a thin piece of plastic, bone or other material that sits directly in front of the bridge pins on an acoustic guitar. The height of the saddle affects string height(action) and affects intonation, the placement and crown affects string length and intonation, and last the material from which it is made affects the tone of the instrument.
Here's a site that has great information on the subject and you can order them.
Joe
I am talking about the saddle...
It's not glued in on my backpacker -- took it out to shave it down and insert a piezo pup. No problems.
-=tension & release=-
Thanks for the help Nils
Does anyone know of a website where I can order a saddle? A site based in Europe would be best. The furch site seems to be useless.
