HTS Saddle Slotting

Cutting a saddle slot on an Acoustic Guitar is quite a common practice, you may have just made a new bridge or you have modified a guitar from a Right handed version to a Left handed version or intonation is poor.

This guitar has a broken Bridge, as such we are repalcing it and then cutting the saddle slot, once it has been strung up and tuned to pitch.

Time to repair approx 1 hr

Bridge needs to be changed, so we start with removing the bridge

We make a new bridge from a block of wood but we do not cut the saddle slot as intonation was checked and not the best at the start of the job.

New bridge is glued and fitted.

After 24 hrs remove clamps and prepare guitar for saddle slotting.

String guitar to pitch

At the bridge end we have no saddle to intonate.

I have brass rods laying around of different heights.

Inserting a piece of brass rod under the string, I raise my string.

Nice Guitar, however the bridge is split through the saddle slot.

Intonation is out as well, could be because of the split or just could be badly made to start with.

Up close and personal, we can see it has split right through the ends, one of the causes of this other than a loose saddle is the undercutting of the wing area of the bridge for a visual aspect.

Bridge gone, clean the surface of any residual glue.

At the 12th fret I check the height, I use a thinner or thicker piece of brass to achieve the desired action.