Would this concern you

[Mbroady]

Possible sight unseen purchase. I’m a bit concerned about the saddle hight (or lack of). Assuming the action and relief are close to where I like it would this saddle hight concern you

Ignore the straight edge going above the saddle. The seller misunderstood me.


https://imgur.com/a/MpCLbyF

[Treenewt]

Marcus, it would concern me if I’m reading it right. That looks like less than a 1/16” of saddle?

[warfrat73]

The saddle looks like it might be a touch low, but it's hard to tell from that angle.

But the string height above the soundboard is pretty much bang on 1/2" which usually cited as being the ideal number. So I wouldn't be overly concerned.

[Bowie]

No, because the string height above the sound board is standard. If the action is also good, then it's just a case where they did a Martin-style tall bridge/low saddle.

[Mbroady]

Thanks for the responses. The geometry looks good and a sound sample sounded sweet. The bridge does seem to be thick. The low saddle is a sticking point but I think it’s worth making what I consider a reasonable offer. Gonna mull it over for a few hours

[Quickstep192]

I’d ask the seller to lay a straightedge on the frets and see where the end of the straightedge meets the bridge. If the straightedge lands much below the top of the bridge, it could portend a neck reset.

[phavriluk]

The straightedge trick ignores the thickness of the bridge; it's an irrelevant use of the straightedge until the string height off the soundboard is taken into consideration, just like how much saddle is showing.

[redir]

If the action is low as is then you have nothing to worry about. In fact you could go a bit lower on that saddle, not much, but a little.

[redir]

EDIT: Repeat post

[TheGITM]

Originally Posted by Mbroady

Thanks for the responses. The geometry looks good and a sound sample sounded sweet. The bridge does seem to be thick. The low saddle is a sticking point but I think it’s worth making what I consider a reasonable offer. Gonna mull it over for a few hours

Just want to drop a comment on saddle height. All other things being equal, when you have a thick bridge like that you can shave it down (or have it shaved down) to extend the life of the guitar before going through a neck reset. It works well and is far less expensive (and less invasive) than a full reset.

Sometimes, a guitar neck 'settles' and won't move again for a long time.

[phavriluk]

Major surgery on a guitar seems to me to be like major surgery on a live being. A second opinion AND AN EXPLANATION seem to me to be requirements before any neck gets moved around. It's way to easy to get lost in the weeds of irrelevant dimensions.

[cliff_the_stiff]

String height looks bang on as others have said.
The saddle height looks fine to me because the break angle of the treble’s looks good.
The key measure is the relief

[cliff_the_stiff]

Originally Posted by phavriluk

Major surgery on a guitar seems to me to be like major surgery on a live being. A second opinion AND AN EXPLANATION seem to me to be requirements before any neck gets moved around. It's way to easy to get lost in the weeds of irrelevant dimensions.

This is true:
Last week I was looking at a D18 with a very low saddle and high action at 12th fret.
Way too much relief in the neck.
The high action and low saddle had me thinking neck reset.
The owner (well regarded shop) looked at it and cranked, and cranked the truss rod straightening it to the correct relief, what do ya know?
Neck was perfect and the saddle was too low.
Sold! I brought it home, made a new saddle and now it plays perfectly!