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Building a Weissenborn here. Does anyone add compensation to the saddle location on these? I would think not because you're not fretting notes. Just thought I'd check before I regret something.
(yes, I'm making the rope purfling too)

My thoughts too.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

What a coincidence --- I just stuck on/glued my bridge with a "straight across" saddle slot at 25" (today) . I think it will work, because I don't know how to play one anyway and built it from plans showing 25" . I think it will be fun to learn some "Hawaiian" tunes with my maple and pecan Weissy.

On steel guitars in general, there's no compensation needed. As said before, there's no tension down on the strings from fretting so nothing to compensate for. Old Martin and Gibson Hawaiian guitars that were later converted to standard "Spanish" playing had to have the bridges replaced or redone to add slanted saddles since the originals were straight with no compensation.

Dave

I would think compensation is needed, because although there is no fretting as such by normal frets, what is happening is that you are sliding a large "fret" across the top of the strings creating the same effect. There may not be as much tension as previously stated, but tension is not the only factor that affects intonation. String gauge, materials etc all play their part. I've never played a Weissenborn, so I'm certainly no expert, but that's my view.
Mike

String stiffness is also a reason compensation is added, but the playing technique of slide instruments allows the player to compensate on the fly - "fret" positions are a bit more fluid.
If the guitar has metal frets installed and it was anticipated that the instrument might some day be played like a dulcimer then compensation might not be a bad idea, but if not it might be an unnecessary distraction.

Must be a Weissenborn bug going around this year. So how did you run your rope binding? Slanted joints on the side & straight on top.....or slanted joints on top & straight on the side. I see both ways done....so hard to decide which to go with

Pedal steels are set up with the 12'th fret at exactly the half way point of the scale, and the changer fingers are parallel to the frets. Same with electric lap steels. Some models of both types have bridges that can be adjusted to fall in line with the exact position of the fret markers. As Clay said, since it's played with a bar, there's plenty of room for on the fly compensation. But looking at the old Weissenborns, Martin Hawaiians and Gibson Roy Smecks, they all had straight saddles. As long as the 12th fret harmonic falls over the 12th fret, there's really not much more that can be done with a Hawaiian style guitar for compensation.

Dave

Maybe these pics will explain how I ran the rope binding. It wanted to break a lot so I glued short pieces one at a time with HHG

The two that I built have the saddle exactly at the scale length and not angled. I'm running fairly heavy strings including the first and normally tuned to D. I made a conventional bone saddle rather than using the piece of fret wire. Strings are 3/8 off the fretboard, no frets.