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Old 04-10-2012, 06:01 PM
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ljguitar ljguitar is offline
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Location: wyoming
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wadcutter View Post
...Seems to me if there was some advantage to this configuration other guitar builders would be doing it. The old saw "necessity is the mother of invention" doesn't seem to apply here since other builders don't deem the split saddle "necessary."
Hi W-c...
Some luthiers do, and some luthiers build really deep/thick saddles so they can sset the 2nd string a long way backwards toward the bridge pins, and the 3rd string more toward the sound hole...and then they can still get a proper angle to set the low E (6th) string far enough back to play in tune too. A split saddle can do that without using such a thick saddle.

Takamine accomplished this with a rather thin split saddle, but they sure didn't start this process.

I first encountered a split saddle in the late 1980s on Richey Furay's D-28, and it was the first Martin I'd ever played that really played that in-tune all the way up the neck! He was living in Denver at the time, and a local tech was splitting them, for an extra $35! The tech was known for his split saddles on Martins.

Splitting was probably avoided because it makes it impossible to use a traditional under saddle transducer. Nowdays with K&K and other under bridge plate transducers, it can be covered nicely.

Not all guitars are identical in their intonation out-of-the-box, and there are some quite creative ways of setting our instruments us to play better in tune with themselves.


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