Taylor Action

[songman]

After checking out many many Taylors from several different stores, I realized that the saddle hight left on a new taylors seem very short(low) compared to other guitars, especially the treble side of the saddle. I'm sure one of the reason behind this is the fact that most Taylors have great low action and the neck angle which they are attached.

However I have played few other brands such as Larrivees, Collings, etc and found few of their guitars to have action just as low as Taylors, but with more saddle to work with incase you want to lower it even more.

I usually like to have bit of saddle to work with incase in the future I need to sand the saddle to maintain desired action.

So couple questions,

-What might be the reason for Taylor guitars to have such a short saddle sticking out of the bridge? Yes it can be a neck angle, but could it also be neck/fingerboard radius?

-Is neck reset covered in Taylors Limited Warrenty?

thanks!

[mdunn]

Taylors are shipped from the factory ready to play. They are tuned to pitch, put in the case, put in the cardboard box and out the door.

If you are the original owner and you need a reset the guitar can be sent to Taylor and they will do it for free. Neck resets can be done by authorize service centers as well. It is quick and simple and would be a low cost repair.

Saddles can be purchased from Bob Colosi and there is a link to his site on the AGF. I can highly recommed his work. All 6 of my guitars have upgraded Colosi saddles.

Any compentent guitar repair shop can install a saddle. Or you can do it youself. It is just a sanding process.

[KMHaynes]

It all has to do with the geometry of different guitars. A guitar with low action but short saddle means that the height of the bridge is higher compared to the corresponding height of the fingerboard. If you take 2 guitars and place a long ruler and set it on its edge on top of the frets, running parallel with the strings and see where the ruler hits the bridge, you can compare the height ratio between the bridge and the fingerboard.

Different makers have different opinions and theories on that ratios, so you will see differences in the amount of saddle showing on different guitars, ALL of which might have the same low action.

Also the depth of the saddle slot varies with different guitar makers as well.

If you have to get your saddle really low to get the low action you want, that's fine, usually. As long as the neck will stay straight over the years, then you shouldn't have to worry about a short saddle.

Also, Taylors made since late 1999 (with the NT -- bolt on -- neck) don't need a typical "neck reset", that has to be done with glued in necks. The Taylor NT neck is bolted on and thin wooden shims can be added, shaved, tinkered with, etc. to change the neck angle. Easy stuff.

[stucker]

I think many guitar makers angle the neck with the headstock more towards the back of the guitar. Then a higher saddle is required to keep the action from being too low. The advatage of this method is that over time the neck will be pulled up by the string tension and that higher saddle can be lowered to keep the action like it was when the guitar was new.

Taylor doesn't have to be so concerned about setting the neck angle this way because of the bolt-on NT neck. If the action starts to get high the neck can be reset by a qualified Taylor guitar tech for about $70 and the saddle doesn't need to be adjusted.

A neck reset on most other guitars is a tedious and somewhat risky process that costs over $300 since the neck and fingerboard must be un-glued from the body and top.