Hey TGers--I am about to sand the bone saddle down on my 000-28EC in order to slightly lower the action on the upper frets. I am going to mark a line 1/32" and sand down to it (I measured the action I wanted). I am attaching the sandpaper on a hard, flat marble tile and then working the saddle back and forth with my hands until the desired point is reached.
Anybody out there have any last minute pointers/suggestions--especially anyone who has sanded a saddle before?
Last Minute Advice?...
Hi gingold
My advice would be to only sand part of it, upto the line and not the line itself, you can then take more if you wish at later date.
you carn't put it back on
This approach works well when dealing with woodwork, you always get a better fit.
RicksPick
My advice would be to only sand part of it, upto the line and not the line itself, you can then take more if you wish at later date.
you carn't put it back on
This approach works well when dealing with woodwork, you always get a better fit.
RicksPick
RicksPick wrote:
Excellent point, RicksPick. I do plan to be on the conservative side when sanding. One of my main concerns is keeping the bottom of the saddle flat and even.Hi gingold
My advice would be to only sand part of it, upto the line and not the line itself, you can then take more if you wish at later date.
you carn't put it back on
This approach works well when dealing with woodwork, you always get a better fit.
RicksPick
Don't guess at how much material to remove from the saddle, unless you have spares. Measure the clearance between the twelfth fret and the bottom of the low E string, and do the same for the high E string. Subtract your target (no pun intended) action heights. Double the differences, and that's how much material needs to come off the saddle.
If you can mark the saddle with something a little sharper than a pencil, such a scriber, you can get pretty accurate the first time. Even better if you have the resources is using precision tools such as dial calipers.
My Yamaha FG700S guitar came from the factory with .125" at the low E string and .110" at the high E string. I lowered the action to .078" and .062", and it became easier to play with no fret buzz. In all honesty, lowering the saddle did little to mitigate the shredding of my beginner fingertips at the first three frets. I lowered the nut from .025" and .020" (low E to high E) to .010" and .005", and the difference in playing comfort defies description. Still doesn't buzz, either. This guitar is nearly as easy to play as a well set up electric guitar.
The rate at which material comes off is highly dependent on the grit of paper you use. I've seen articles that said to use 150 grit, but if you have a lot of material to remove, use 60 at first quickly remove material, then finish at 150. In the numbers I showed above, you will see I had to remove about 3/32" from my saddle. 15 minutes with the 60 grit.
Good Luck,
wrench
If you can mark the saddle with something a little sharper than a pencil, such a scriber, you can get pretty accurate the first time. Even better if you have the resources is using precision tools such as dial calipers.
My Yamaha FG700S guitar came from the factory with .125" at the low E string and .110" at the high E string. I lowered the action to .078" and .062", and it became easier to play with no fret buzz. In all honesty, lowering the saddle did little to mitigate the shredding of my beginner fingertips at the first three frets. I lowered the nut from .025" and .020" (low E to high E) to .010" and .005", and the difference in playing comfort defies description. Still doesn't buzz, either. This guitar is nearly as easy to play as a well set up electric guitar.
The rate at which material comes off is highly dependent on the grit of paper you use. I've seen articles that said to use 150 grit, but if you have a lot of material to remove, use 60 at first quickly remove material, then finish at 150. In the numbers I showed above, you will see I had to remove about 3/32" from my saddle. 15 minutes with the 60 grit.
Good Luck,
wrench
Thanks all for responding. I just finished sanding the saddle down. I duct taped some 150 grit sandpaper to a marble tile and worked the saddle back and forth until I reached the line I drew (1/32"). I checked often to make sure I was sanding it evenly. I was done in about 5-6 minutes! The verdict: success! The action is definitely more friendly from the seventh fret up.
Hey wrench, I heard you're supposed to double the difference in the amount of material to take off also. Do you know why that is?
Hey wrench, I heard you're supposed to double the difference in the amount of material to take off also. Do you know why that is?
Yes, the twelfth fret is half the distance between the nut and the bridge. If the string remains stationary at the nut, and you want change the height by x at the twelfth fret, then the change in height at the bridge is 2x.
Congrats on a successful action adjustment. Now you need to find the time to play longer!
wrench
Congrats on a successful action adjustment. Now you need to find the time to play longer!
wrench
Aah, makes sense. Thanks again for the advice.
I usually don't do much to my acoustics other then change strings and clean them. This I thought was a straightforward adjustment that I could save some $$ doing myself.
My electric guitars I have no problem getting into adjusting the action, intonation, etc.
I usually don't do much to my acoustics other then change strings and clean them. This I thought was a straightforward adjustment that I could save some $$ doing myself.
My electric guitars I have no problem getting into adjusting the action, intonation, etc.
congrads on the successful result. I am contemplating doing this to one of my guitars. I have a classical with action in the stratospher. But looking at the saddle which in this case is cheap plastic. It is bevealed this way and that at the second and third string. Versus the other strings. So if I did mine I would take this piece out and remove material from the bottom to maintain the angles on top. Did yours work anything like that or was yours more uniform across the top. I have heard this is helpful with bar chords.