[BothHands]

Originally Posted by gpj1136

If you can not find a piece of hardwood that you can carve a shim from then Franks idea of a Popsicle stick would be the next place to go from there.

There are any number of places on ebay where you can by a bone saddle or a pack of ten bone saddles for very cheap. Like the cost of gas for a trip to hardware store cheap.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-Pro-Qua...item4d25425cfc
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-PCS-GUITA...item2597a0ba49
Even some pretty ones
http://www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-Africa-...item2a236f6d4f

WW. I had no idea... Thanks.

I paid about $9 for one TUSQ saddle blank and had to wait a week for it. I like how the TUSQ reduced the 'brittle' timbre of this particular guitar (original saddle was bone). Now it sounds richer or smoother, or fuller, or less harsh... So I'm not sure bone is what I need, but at $12 for 10 blanks, experimentation is certainly not a problem, and Frank Ford's excellent advice will not have been in vain.

Originally Posted by gpj1136

Sawing the near nut is far more invasive then sanding a little off of a saddle. Here you could actually do some permanent damage so if you are having this much reservation sanding a saddle I suggest leaving the nut until you are more comfortable making adjustments.

Good point, but that saw that Frank and John Arnold and Charles Tauber suggest looks very controllable and makes a fine cut, and Frank's explanations/demonstrations always shake the fear off whatever procedures he covers, so I'm confident in making that narrow kerf behind the nut. The nut's coming off sooner or later anyway, because I want to make (or have made) a new nut with even spacing between the strings, and maybe push the Lo-E string slightly toward the fretboard edge.

And for the record, I don't have reservations about sanding a saddle bottom. I've already sanded my brains out. I have reservations about having to buy another $9 blank, accurately transfer the "mystery radius" onto two saddle blanks (yeah, it's a split saddle and I can't seem to accurately determine the fretboard radius...), then shape those two TINY LITTLE SLIVER saddles that are too small to hold while sanding...and THEN maybe make them too short again. THAT's why I'm cautious and why I want to know the best way to shim up.

Originally Posted by gpj1136

After you modify the saddle you may be happy with the results not needing to work on the nut at all.

The string heights for this nut are slightly higher than the string heights for its 'twin dreadnaught' (I have two), and the twin plays less stiffly, so sanding the nut bottom on this one seems like a reasonable 'next step'...no?