Archtop Bridge question
 

Hi archtop people. With an archtop adjustable wood bridge, is it better for the bridge to be low with low action or higher with low action. In other words, is it bad for the bridge to be close to its lowest point with low action? I'm looking at a Loar 301T and every one I have seen has low action and the bridge lowered to close to its lowest point.
Thanks for any help.
jricc

While it's a far more critical issue on a purely acoustic instrument - you should have a wide range of adjustment if the neck geometry is correct - I wouldn't worry too much with a thin-body electric like this one...

The lowest it will go is somewhat variable. You can take wood off around the wheel adjustment to take it lower. Not really that uncommon. Also, as long as the guitar is stable otherwise not a big deal.

It's apparently somewhat common for the Loar instruments to have the bridge topper (the saddle part) somewhat too thick. It's easy to file a little clearance in where the adjusting wheel meets the bridge topper. More important is to assess the instrument and measure the string height over the body. Not sure what the design spec is for the Loars, but around an inch is fairly normal for string height, my archtops are built with around 1.125" string height at normal low action.

Brian