I need some help with shaving a saddle

[Scuzzo]

Hello all,
I have a nice simple Yamaha 730 and the action is a bit high.
It's measured out at .10 or .11 using a guage and I want to get it down to 5/64 which I think is .078.

So, how much need to come off the saddle. Is it like.06 at the saddle
1.5 mm.. seems right but I'm not sure..

[nikpearson]

Current action is between 2.5 mm or 2.8 mm depending on whether your 0.10 or 0.11” measurement is correct.

You’re aiming for 2.0 mm so will need to take between 1.0 and 1.6 mm off the bottom of the saddle. Basically, to reduce the 12th fret action by a given amount you need to remove twice that amount from the saddle.

I’d remove 1.0 mm, restring and measure to see where you are before going the full 1.6 mm. 2.0 mm on the low E string is a very low action for me and doesn’t allow for heavier playing styles or dropped tunings without significant buzz. Of course that very much depends on how you play.

Hope that helps,

Nick

[Fathand]

Maybe buy a new saddle to experiment with before you alter the original saddle? Find out how low you can go without buzzing.

[keith.rogers]

The point (by @nikpearson) about the saddle needing to come down about 2x what you want to have at the 12th fret is the general rule.

BUT, you need to make sure you've got the nut also right, the neck relief proper, and the frets correctly leveled, for that to end up working out for you. It's kind of a dance

[fazool]

OK quick answer.....twice as much as you need to change.

The 12th fret is half the distance of the length of the strings.

Now the trigenometry isnt perfect but since the angle is so small, you can approximate it as linear interpolation instead of a sine function.

So if you need to lower .001" at the 12th, remove .002" from the saddle.

[Scuzzo]

Ok thanks all, the nut gives me just shy of .81 and relief is a mystery till I get the gauges.. but there seems to be a bit more bow then I wish.. so tweak to truss in order.. the saddle is cheap factory plastic and un touches so knocking off 1mm should be a good start.. thanks for all the cool pointers..

Play on..

[Robin, Wales]

Definitely buy a replacement saddle or two and work on that using your original saddle as a template for comparison. It is so, so easy for it all to go horribly wrong if this is your first go at a set-up, so keeping the original always gives you the option of putting it back in.

[fazool]

By the way - it is very important for the bottom to be nice and flat so use caution when sanding it

[phavriluk]

It would be nice if OP determined that the frets were level before addressing saddle height. OP is addressing one of the parameters of good setup. As mentioned above, there's more.

[Scuzzo]

Yes frets are level only need a polish..

[rmp]

I think it's something like..

1/32 off the saddle will drop your action 1/64th at the 12 fret

at least that's how it's always worked when I give this a go.

[BlueStarfish]

OP, here’s a website with some really great info on setup. It’s worth reading the entire site start-to-finish before doing anything on your guitar.

http://www.bryankimsey.com/music/lutherie.htm