sanding down a saddle

[eyesore]

Can someone show me their method of sanding down the saddle. I glued a piece of rosewood to it [shim] and now the action is too high. Neck is dead straight.

[bnjp]

Put the saddle in and string it up. Measure the action at the 12th fret. Figure the desired action difference at the 12th. If you want 5/64th and it's currently 7/64th, then that's 2/64". Take double that amount off the bottom of the saddle. (4/64" or 1/16th)

[Russ C]

What bnjp said is right - then just put on your best pair of glasses and mark your desired measurements both ends (I like to rule a fine pencil line too) and sand away. Ok, of course take it easy - I’m confident and accurate with my bench sander and it always rules a perfect flat base on a saddle.

[Silly Moustache]

So how do you sand the bottom of the saddle and keep in straignt and even?

[jacot23]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

So how do you sand the bottom of the saddle and keep in straignt and even?

I use a Adjustable Guitar Nut & Bridge Sander Luthier Tool I got on Amazon

https://a.co/d/fBT2c66

[jonfields45]

I had a local machine shop grind the top of my bench vice flat. I then use relatively fine grit sandpaper to remove the exposed saddle bottom.

[redi]

Originally Posted by jacot23

I use a Adjustable Guitar Nut & Bridge Sander Luthier Tool I got on Amazon

https://a.co/d/fBT2c66

These work well but I found I had to take the rubber bit out of them to keep the saddle square, and also keep the top adjusters from moving (with your hand works fine). A good tool but in does require some care. I like it especially for the price.

[Mbroady]

Originally Posted by jacot23

I use a Adjustable Guitar Nut & Bridge Sander Luthier Tool I got on Amazon

https://a.co/d/fBT2c66

I picked one of these up. It works. It is not what I would call perfectly machined but it works. There are more expensive ones that have zero tolerance ($30 vs $200), but the cheap one does better then using your hands, especial if you need to lower the saddle a lot.

[Fathand]

Originally Posted by jacot23

I use a Adjustable Guitar Nut & Bridge Sander Luthier Tool I got on Amazon

https://a.co/d/fBT2c66

I got one of those from aliexpress but I find it quicker to double stick tape the saddle to a piece of scrap wood and put on the belt sander. Somestimes I just hold the saddle on the sander.
Of course mark the work first so you know how far to go.

[Mandobart]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

So how do you sand the bottom of the saddle and keep in straignt and even?

I have a few leftover pieces from a granite counter top we put in many years ago. They are dead flat, polished and parallel. I set one perpendicular to another, giving me two heavy flat surfaces with a right angle between them. I tape a piece of fine sandpaper to the horizontal surface and sand the bottom with one face of the saddle against the vertical flat granite piece.

[Robin, Wales]

I have shaped up very traditional round topped saddles for my guitar's (I think that I get more mellow treble strings compared to compensated saddles). What it does mean is that I can take height off the top of the saddle and re-round it easily. I don't have to work from the bottom all the time. Once the bottom is perfectly flat I can make all the final adjustment from the top.

[warfrat73]

I usually just put a piece of sandpaper on the coffee table or the work bench, depending on what's closer (usually the coffee table).

Keep even pressure, make sure its staying perpendicular, and switch directions once in a while.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by eyesore

Can someone show me their method of sanding down the saddle. I glued a piece of rosewood to it [shim] and now the action is too high. Neck is dead straight.

I take the saddle out, and with a sharp pencil I draw a line about 1/16" from the bottom. I actually use my fingertips holding the pencil as a gauge to keep the line straight.

You can make it less or more, but the line is there for your eyes to gauge how much you've taken off.

The problem in your case is that rosewood is fairly dark, so unless you have a white pencil, a visible line may be hard to come by.

In any event I then take the saddle in my left hand, and draw it across a mill file, or a piece of sandpaper, grit side up, on my table saw table, and just keep comparing it to the line I've drawn.

I also will put pencil all over the bottom of the saddle to make sure I'm removing material evenly.

This is not rocket science, and you really don't even need measuring devices.

Your hand told you the action was too high, correct? Take some material off, put it back in, give it a feel, and repeat as needed until you're where you want to be.

HE

[phavriluk]

Originally Posted by eyesore

Can someone show me their method of sanding down the saddle. I glued a piece of rosewood to it [shim] and now the action is too high. Neck is dead straight.

Am I missing something here? A shim was glued on and the saddle's too high. Why not thin or remove the shim? A lot of chatter about altering the top of the saddle when the problem that wanted fixing was at the bottom of the saddle.

[pcf]

a quick job with a belt sander. it's like a hair cut though. you can always take more off but you can't add it back so hedge on the side of leaving it higher.