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There has to be a better way!!
Started Saturday, getting two guitars ready, one I was going to try to ship off to its owner before Thursday when I leave for ASIA, the second I'm bringing with. Well, after fretting both, installing a pair of saddles and nuts, my finger tips are sanded clean through to the meat! Does anybody have any secrets they'd like to share for thinning saddles to the proper thickness, with out letting your finger tips ride the edges and rub the sandpaper! I'm not whining! Really I'm not! But shish!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Al Carruth showed us a method at a recent NEL meeting where he uses a jig and a block plane. I think I'll have to try that one.   I use double sided tape and stick the saddle to a piece of plywood. I then sand to thickness. With this method, you only sand one side so make sure the other side is smooth before you start.

Lance, Try this jig!


The pinkish rectangle is the saddle blank.
THe PSA sandpaper does not extend the full width of the sanding block.
Mike Mahar38517.3554976852

I make a 1/8" slot and buy 1/8" saddles. That seems to work pretty good.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

i just usually try to keep my fingers out of the way but veterinary stretch adhesive tape, sold by the woodworking houses as safety tape, works well to protect your delicate digits.

My thickness sander method:

Take a 3/4" x 6" x 3" block of wood and run it through your thickness sander to true it up. Lay the saddle in the center of the block. Now take four small thin strips of wood and box in around the saddle so it is a loose fit. I glue the strips down. Place the saddle in the cavity you created by the wood strips. Now run it through the sander taking a smidge off on each pass until it fits REAL SNUG in the slot. Finish sand the saddle by hand with 320 to remove the sander scratches. Buff after it is shaped. It works quite well for me.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Thickness sander works well for me too.

1. Wear a nitrile glove when sanding. That way you sand the glove rather than your finger tips.

2. Or, get a disk sander for your drill press. I highly recommend this. It's just a hunk of aluminum disk or other metal that you chuck into your drill press. Use PSA sandpaper. I use it for many things.

Thickness saddles and nuts. I make a holder for the saddle/nut by taking a piece of flat wood, and then glue on two little pieces of thinnish veneer onto it with superglue in a "L" shape. This will hold the nut or saddle while sanding it. Using superglue, you can have your holder ready to go in 5 minutes. If you don't have 1mm thick veneer, just make it with the sanding disk! Or glue thick wood on, and thin it down afterwards!

Adjust height of saddle. I put it in a adjustable angle vise, and sand it down to the proper height. I do the same thing to adjust the height of my nut, and to put in the angle to the top.

I also use this disk set up to flatten out the scarf joint of my necks after glue up, to thickness headstock veneer, to make veneers for rosettes, tail inlays, etc.

I actually have two, one with 120 grit, and the other with 320 grit.

I bought mine from Greg Matonis of Gilbert Tuners, though I think there are other sources out there. http://www.gilberttuners.com/

I do the Tim McKnight thing with a sanding cavity in a trued up plank that holds the bone, running the whole thing through an abrasive planer to keep those sides parallel, But mostly like John How I buy 1/8 blanks that fit the 1/8 slot very well

I generally get mine to size plus about five thousandths for final polishing using a small drum sanding attachment on my dremel router table. Then I use one of these.

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D..

Try a flat (they aren't always) 10" or 12" mill file. When very new and sharp, they will take off the bone quite quickly and provide you a lot of shaping control once you get the feel for equalizing the pressure. It's a lot easier than a belt sander and provides much more control to thickness.

--Mark Joy

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Mark Joy

mjoy Guitars

[QUOTE=Dennis E.] I generally get mine to size plus about five thousandths for final polishing using a small drum sanding attachment on my dremel router table. Then I use one of these.[/QUOTE]
Gotta love that cool little Bruce Dickey Nut Holder Tool! Sure has saved my fingernails and tips a LOT! Thanks Bruce!

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

I know I'm late on this one Lance, but have you seen Frank Ford's cool little saddle maker?

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Tools/SaddlePal/sadd lepal.html

(PS, someone needs to show me how to add a link right)

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Clickable:

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Tools/SaddlePal/sadd lepal.html

Rod, when you've got the post reply window open, you've got a bunch of buttons under the subject/font/size/colour pulldown menus: Bold, Italic, Underline, then the one you want, add URL. Copy the web address you want to link to, click the button, follow the popup menu instructions. Voila!

Doing the final set up (nut and saddle) is what I hate most about building. I have had a guitar sit around for over a week with just the nut an saddle left to do as I think about other things. The above advise might help me not dred the final set up so much.