Im in the process of rehabilitating my old peavey indianola ae acoustic guitar. I lent it to a relative to learn on and sadly it waz treated terrible. So to make a long story short i need to replace the MISSING saddle, so i picked up a generic trim yourself saddle from guitar center to replace it, but im looking for some advice about installing it. I have always wanted to learn how to repair guitars so this is my starting point. I know most people will say bring it to a shop, but i would like to learn how to do this on my own, so any advice would be great. I wish the original saddle was there so i could compare the size.
The trick to shaping a saddle is to make sure the surfaces are flat. The bottom edge of the saddle has to make full contact with the bridge to transfer the vibrations.
The first step is making sure it fits the slot. I like saddles to be snug - you can push it in, but not effortlessly. The second step is to get it to seat properly - most often, this will work itself out (because the base of the saddle should be flat to begin with), but in some instances that needs some work.
When you're sanding a saddle piece to fit, keep it FLAT against your sandpaper. Use even pressure, and avoid putting your fingers over the saddle edges. This will keep you from inadvertently taking more material off of one side.
If it rocks back and forth (side to side) once it's seated, there's a problem. Examine it, and the bridge slot, closely - where is the high point? That's what needs to be leveled out... with the saddle you use sandpaper; with the bridge slot a Dreml tool can do the trick. But go easy with the Dreml - taking too much off may mean replacing the bridge.
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I'm sure stewmac.com will have some good tutorials on that. What note boat said all jived but its nice to see some pics too. Stewmac.com has tones of repair and building articles and resources and I suggest signing up for their free newsletter email. Unfortunately, all of their merch is hugely over priced.
