I have a guitar with a 1/8" saddle slot that currently has a bone saddle that I created when I built the guitar. I want to install a Barbera saddle (pickup) and the slot is just a bit too tight. I cannot adjust the Barbera saddle, so I'll need to widen the slot. I'm thinking about making a thin sanding block and doing it by hand. I did use a 1/8" router bit when I cut the slot and the Barbera saddle measures exactly 1/8" on my caliper. Apparently, the slot is just shy of 1/8"

Any suggestions on how best to proceed?

Thanks for your help!

Ric

Sounds more like a 3mm bit. Just curious, does it say anything? Anyway, I would take Dave's advice.

Maybe not the answer you were hoping for, but I would return the pickup and opt for another style.

I looked at their pickups, and have to say that in my opinion it is fundamentally flawed, failure of a design. A basic and critical aspect of traditional guitar bridge/saddle design, is the ability to precisely fine tune the fit of a saddle to a slot. Half a mil too thick, it won't fit. A mil too thin, the sloppy fit will allow it to lean and potentially warp the bridge. As an aftermarket pickup, this design does not allow for the ability to customize fit to a reasonable tolerance of saddle slots.

The design also does not seem to allow for any reasonable range of height adjustment, as relying on shims gives very limited range before you loose support against the saddle wanting to lean. If it were an old Ovation style 1/4" saddle transducer with shallow breakover angle you can get away with more shims, but there's not much wiggle room on traditional bridge design.

Add in the inability to individually fine tune things like intonation or radius, not to mention that it looks like about the most acoustically invasive design I've ever seen, if you bought this with any return policy, I would be hesitant to make any modifications to your guitar in efforts to accommodate this pickup. There are plenty of other options out there which are designed as much more friendly for installation.

Any suggestions on how best to proceed?

When I was done I decide that if I ever installed another one I would charge accordingly - I can do a K&K in a half hour, a Fishman Matrix in one, but with all the fiddling with the saddle I need to plan at least two hours.