Best way to raise a saddle?

[Ruark]

I have a bone saddle in my Ibanez AC240 hog, and I think I might need to raise it just a hair. Any tips on doing this, e.g. what material to use for a very thin shim? A guy in a guitar shop suggested using a strip of wood veneer, or maybe plastic. You wouldn't use paper, of course; it might compress and/or not conduct vibration well. So I was just wondering if any of you had experience with this modification. Thanks.

[fazool]

Two issues are what you want to avoid:

1) mechanical coupling failure - meaning the parts have gaps or bounce around (microcopically) or become less tight during vibration.

2) internal damping - meaning the material itself absorbs energy.

Now, the string tension will push down enough that #1 should never be an issue, leaving only #2 for real consideration.

The trick here is to use any material that has less damping than the adjacent materials. A good rule of thumb is : never use softer shim material. Always use an equally hard or harder shim material.

If coupled well (see #1 above) then, frankly the shim doesn't matter as long as it has less damping. So, the simple idea is to use a shim not-softer than the bridge wood.

Personally, I like to match shims to the underlying wood - so ebony bridges carry an ebony saddle-shim, rosewood bridges carry a rosewood saddle shim.

You should be fine with that.

[DenverSteve]

You can order shim kits or buy one from a local tech. My first approach would be to take it to a tech. and have him/her make sure that neck angle, relief, frets, humidity and nut are all perfect before raising the saddle. If the saddle needs adjusting only recently - then something else has changed.

[Rodger Knox]

Fazool is correct, but I don't think the shim material makes that much difference. I've used a strip cut off a business card several times, and didn't notice any difference. It's certainly an option for a temporary solution, and there are those who believe any shim is only a temporary fix, the correct fix is a new saddle.

The bridge/saddle/top connection is one of the most important, and may be quite sensitive to small changes, so you may(or may not) hear a difference from ANY change you make to the bridge, saddle, or pins.

[dhalbert]

I have used thin polystyrene sheet plastic, bought from a hobby store in a single package of an assortment of thicknesses (.010" and up). You can cut it with scissors.

[tahoeguitar]

As a professional repairman, my first recommendation would be a new taller saddle. Some people don't want to pay for that, so my second is a wooden shim of the same material as the bridge, slightly oversized, superglued to the bottom of the saddle and then shaped to fit. Don't use a loose shim, and don't use paper or cardboard. Maybe Rodger didn't notice a difference but many people can and will. Keep in mind the shim needs to be twice as high as the amount you want to gain at the 12th fret. In most cases the thickness of the shim should not exceed .040"

[Hot Vibrato]

Many new guitars - usually imports (including Ibanez sometimes) come from the factory with stupid low action. I don't know why, but it's very common to straighten out the rod on a new guitar and find out the saddle is more than 1/16" too short. The only solution in cases like this is to make a new saddle that's the correct height. In less extreme cases, you can usually get away with shim material. Rosewood or ebony veneer works best.