Guitar Bridge Saddle- The saddle is a thin piece of plastic, bone or other material that sits directly in front of the bridge pins on an acoustic guitar.
The position of the saddle affects:
The placement and crown affects string length and intonation
The height of the saddle affects string height (action) and can affect intonation
The material from which it is made affects the tone of your instrument
Types of Saddles
DROP IN SADDLES A drop in or "short saddle" sits in a routed slot in the bridge which encloses it on every side. These are fairly easy to remove and install and should not be glued in place. Martin began to use this style of saddle around 1965. A stubborn or snug fitting saddle can often be lifted from it's slot with a pair of end nippers, careful not to squeeze to hard!
LONG SADDLES A long or "set saddle" passes thru the crown of the bridge and actually extends into it's wings. The saddles slot is cut right thru from one wing to the other, exposing the very tips of the saddle. They are usually glued in place. Gluing the saddle in place helps to stabilize it as the strings tension tries to pull it forward. The more shallow the slot, the less support it gets and the more prone it is to leaning. These require more skill to adjust and replace.
LONG, DROP IN SADDLES At the end of 2004 Martin began routing the slot for their long saddles, thus we see what I will describe as drop-in long saddles. Instead of the slot being cut straight thru the bridge like the Long Saddle mentioned above, the long slot is routed. These saddles sit in a deep slot and are not typically glued in place.
ADJUSTABLE SADDLES An adjustable saddle can be raised or lowered via screws making height adjustments a snap but...they provide very poor contact and coupling. It is not uncommon to have this style of bridge replaced with an upgraded bridge which incorporates the set saddle. See bridges for more info.
Acoustic Guitar Saddle Materials
What is the best material to use for a bridge saddle...bone, ivory, Tusq, plastic?There is no doubt that if you do allot of reading you are going to hear many opinions about which material produces the best tone and I'll leave that to the advertisers and spin doctors. In my experience I have seen many instruments greatly improved by bone and ivory, while others seemed to me to take on a harsh overtone of brightness. While I will be happy to discuss this with you it won't take you long to figure out that tone is truly subjective. And while I would love to be able to give you a sure fire formula for the best possible choice, many times the only way you are going to find out if YOU like the tone is to try it and see.
Undersaddle pick-up's and saddles - When a guitar is fitted with an undersaddle pick-up (Fishman Matrix/Martin Thinline for example) it is important that the saddle be able to compress the pick-up beneath it while maintaining equal and continuous pressure along it's length. When making or fitting new saddles I prefer them to fit tightly to prevent leaning and provide solid surface to surface contact. However, when an instrument is fitted with an USP (undersaddle pick-up) the saddle must have the opportunity to compress the pick-up on which it sits. Therefore, bridges with these types of pick-up's will require their saddle to fit a little differently, not sloppy...but the saddle should not become wedged in the slot preventing compression. It has also been my experience that some, but not all, instruments with USP's benefit from the use of a synthetic saddle. Why? I believe it's because most synthetics are more flexible than bone and are able to bend a bit with the bridge slot bottom if need be to insure more equal pressure across the pickup.
Brands and Materials Used For Guitar Saddles
Bone/ Ivory saddles- You are likely to hear a good amount of admiration for bone and ivory saddles particularly amongst Martin flat top players. Many prefer it for it's tonal characteristics and high quality bone/ivory is quite durable. All bone/ivory saddles are carved from scratch and made to fit the instrument in hand.
Tusq® saddles- These are high quality, polymer saddles which are available in standard 3/32" width and also in the 1/8" wide width. They are available straight or compensated and are used by Martin, Taylor, Gibson and many other manufacturers. If you are a do-it-yourselfer looking to replace your own acoustic guitar saddle Graph Tech™ provides more sizes of pre-made guitar nuts than anyone I know of. I stock all popular sizes of Tusq saddles for on sight replacements.
Micarta® saddles- Micarta® is a composite material used heavily in the past by Martin® and other companies. It is most often seen in an off white, creamy color but black has also being used.
Corian® saddles- Corian® is probably a term you've heard before. Martin has used Corian frequently for nut material but I will occasionally encounter it as a saddle material.
Compensated saddlesCompensated saddles have a specially formed top crown that alters the spot at which the string comes into contact with the saddle (for or aft of center), this in turn changes the overall string length affecting the intonation. A compensated saddle can be made from any of the above materials.
Check your saddle: A saddle should fit snuggly in the bridge to prevent tilting. Movement affects string length and intonation. A well fitting saddle provides good coupling and transference of string vibration to the bridge and top. (Instruments that have undersaddle pick-ups will require their saddles to fit a tad bit looser than those without since the saddle must have freedom to exert pressure and compression on the pick-up.) Saddles that have developed small grooves and wear should be replaced or, when possible, sanded and polished to prevent binding and intonation problems.
Saddle Height and Action
When we use the word "action" we are normally referring to the distance between the strings and the frets. As any player knows having an instrument set up properly makes them sound and play better. The saddles height greatly contributes to the instruments overall action and string height. At times however action can be improved by changing the radius of the saddle, not just it's height. There are a few manufacturers that truly over-radius the saddle in my opinion and replacing these, or reshaping them when possible, really makes a difference in playability.
Lowering or raising a drop in (short) saddle - When lowering short / drop in saddles, the saddle is removed from the bridge and material is usually removed from the bottom to avoid having to reshape the crown, this is particularly helpful if the saddle's crown is compensated. While using shims beneath the saddle will raise it's height I prefer to simply replace them.
Lowering a long (set) saddle - More expertise is necessary here as material is removed from the crown of the saddle while it is still glued in the bridge, the crown must then be reshaped. More Raising a set saddle requires replacement.
Upon observing many different instruments you will begin to notice a wide range of saddle heights. Because the shape of an instrument will change over time the saddle gives us the ability to lower action that has raised due to increased top arching and other changes that occur with time and tension. The angle at which the neck is set will also influence the height of the saddle and those in need of a neck reset often have very little saddle protruding above the bridge.
The saddle is very low but my action is still too high, what do I do? As I stated above time and tension can begin to affect an instrument and eventually result in an increase in action. Many instruments will eventually meet their limits, meaning the saddles height has been reduced as far as possible and the action is still too high. On a high quality instrument neck resetting is usually the remedy, but for owners of inexpensive, "camp-fire" guitars, the price to reset the neck may be far too great of an investment or simply not possible. In an effort to salvage an otherwise unplayable instrument a couple of modifications can sometimes be performed to lower the action. One such modification is to thin the bridge so the saddle height can be reduced even further, there are limitations however and an inspection is normally necessary to determine the feasibility. Some bridges are so thick to begin with that thinning is hardly noticeable, others are simply too thin to be modified. Another useful modification is string ramping. One major problem encountered when lowering the saddle is the loss of string break angle over the saddle, there must be a fair amount of saddle crown protruding above the bridge or we create other problems. If the saddle is so low that the strings do not angle downward and exert pressure on the saddle before entering the bridge pin hole an odd twangy sound is heard, which I call the "sitar sound". Creating a "ramp" in front of the bridge pin holes helps increase the strings downward angle and allows a saddle to be shortened even further in some cases.
Check your saddle: 