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I am making a flat top mandolin that will have a pinless glued bridge. I don’t know much about mandolins but I suspect that with the 14 inch scale, compensation/intonation will be an issue. If this were a floating bride, I would just start with a saddle surface shaped to get the 4 courses close then locate the bridge testing intonation as I go and do any fine tuning on the “saddle” that may be needed. Since I have to glue the bridge down before I string it up, I’m a bit nervous about locating it. On a guitar I have a fair idea of how much longer (than desired scale length) to make the e strings and can file the saddle if needed. Can someone offer me a little help? Ideally, if someone could suggest a ballpark length for each course beyond the 14 inch scale that would be great! If not, how much further back should each of the outside courses be and about how much offset is typical in a compensated mandolin bridge? I haven’t made the bridge yet, so I can build in an angled saddle slot like a guitar or I could use a thicker/wider compensated saddle (but how thick should I go?).

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Hey Bryan,

Maybe you could make a jig like this to figure out compensation.... http://www.ukuleles.com/Technology/compensate.html

The scale calculator at stew Mac works well for guitars and uses but I haven't tried it for a mandolin yet.

Thanks Quine, I may resort to making a jig to fi d out. It just seems like the sort of thing someone here should know. . . Maybe since bridges are usually movable, mando folks don't bother to measure compensation.?.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

I would use the fret-calculator on the Steumac site and measure it very closely in millimeters magnifier. That should get you within half a millimeter for a start.

Bob

Thanks Bob. I ended up making the saddle wide and rigging up a temporary tailpiece and strung up one string of each course and moved the bridge as needed. Then I marked the bridge location so I could glue it down properly after finish. It ended up needing to be pretty much where I thought it would, but it was a good exercise to do.

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.