Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi - I am new to the group. I finished guitar number 1 on Labor Day. While finishing this up I went to the local guitar shop and saw compensated saddles. I checked the Forum and found some great information on this subject. What I did not see was the proper compensation for the high and low E strings unless it is the same as on the "saddlematic" settings as posted in the jigs section. The web site entitled saddle angle and compensation indicated that it would not be the same as a typical martin set-up. So what is it and should I use it in the future? The first guitar was your basic Martin knock off but it sounds very good. Number two is another dread but in Granadillo 30% and number 3 will be an OM in Cocobolo 20%. This is numero uno with all its flaws - some obvious and some not so. I am sure the info is somewhere in the forum - please direct me if you will. Thanks.

Welcome to the forum Rick. That's a pretty nice first guitar. As for compensation, the easiest test is to play the 12th fret harmonic and then play the 12th fret fretted. If they are the same, your intonation is probably OK. You should have 3/16" of saddle to work with to fine tune the compensation. Just peak to top of the saddle further or closer to the nut. As you get more experiance you will start worrying about putting a fancyer profile on the the saddle and compensating the nut as well.

Here is the default compensation that I use. Frankly, it often turns out to be a little sharp at the low E so you might want to increase it to 7/32".

    Intonation relys on the angle of compensation. There is no one perfect set up. Acoustics are at best a trade off to get the best you can.
     I havebeen building a long time and through experimentation and trials and tribulations here is what I have learned.
   Martin uses a 3 degree angle and gibson uses 4. The angle I found best for me was the 3 degree angle. Also the scale length is not the actuall length of the saddle postition. That is also dependant of the gage strings you use and the metals strength.
    So you have scale length compesation angle and working length. This is the one that is most imporatant.
reguardless of scale length I have found that if you add about 1/8 of an inch to the scale length with a 3 degree compensation angle you will have as good of intonation as you can get.
   A little tweaking on the saddle and you will get it perfect.
john hall
blues creek guitars

Rick welcome to the OLF. That'a a really nice first effort. John has given you some good advice on compensation. Can you explain what you mean by Granadillo 30% and cocobolo 20%.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498