#1
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Using a shim to raise a saddle
Just wondering what others thought of this idea as a way to raise the saddle height even if ever so slightly. Is it a good practice or should one just start over with a new saddle?
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#2
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It’s very common. Bob Colossi has a nice little shim kit that comes with some hardwood strips, some cyano acrylate glue and a razor blade to trim. Most will recommend a strip of fine grained hardwood to be used as the shim.
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#3
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Should not be an issue. You could buy a shim kit but in the past on pure acoustic guitars I have used folded over printer paper or aluminum and did not notice a tone difference.
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Derek Coombs Youtube -> Website -> Music -> Tabs Guitars by Mark Blanchard, Albert&Mueller, Paul Woolson, Collings, Composite Acoustics, and Derek Coombs "Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Woods hands pick by eye and ear
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#4
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I’ve used aluminum foil or thin credit card strips.
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#5
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Im going to be the odd man out here, and say that whenever possible, I prefer one solid saddle. I know shims are used by the millions every day, and are perfectly fine, but its just a preference of mine. Add a UST system, now theres two additional interlopers between the vibrating strings and your soundboard. (I dont like wheel spacers on my jeep, either!)
And yes, Ive had guitars with USTs and shims, and they sounded fine. But you asked…
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#6
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Shims are great!
...to use for finding the exact height your saddle needs to be. Then make a proper one piece saddle to match the height of your amalgamation of too-short saddle and pile of shims. I've never seen a quality guitar that had a shimmed saddle from the builder. If that was something I received as a customer I don't think I'd be very happy. |
#7
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I bought some ebony headplates from stewmac and sawed them into 1/8" strips. That's what we use for shims. We glue them to the bottom of the saddle and then sand down the ebony to right thickness. It works fine, but we've found the wood does affect the volume of undersaddle pickups a little.
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Bryan |
#8
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I usually use a piece of veneer, preferably the same species of wood as the bridge, in theory, it should sound as close as possible that way. Works good to shim up a nut too, using the same species as the neck.
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#9
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Friend of mine knew the son of the Ovation guy in the late sixtys. He shows up with a shiny new guitar unlike anything we had seen previously with the round back bowl etc. He did not play, nor did I. But when another buddy picked it up he commented on the extremely high action. As this was college about 1000 miles away from where he got the guitar, off to the local music store we went. The tech took off the strings and removed the saddle and the 2 shims. All betrer.
Were they all shipped that way at the time? |
#10
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I have shimmed many a Bone Saddle over the last 45 years. For me it’s usually a temporary fix— until I get around to crafting a new solid Bone or Ivory Saddle. I have used thin — Brazilian or Ebony glued on, but I usually glue on a thin Bone strip then sand to desired action.
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Sage Runner |
#11
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I just raised a saddle today with some thin Ebony scraps I had from a local wood shop that put out cutoffs in front of their shop. It works great. The bridge was is Ebony, so I super glued the strip to the bone, trimmed and sanded until everything lined up. Sounds spectacular. I would be surprised if one can hear a difference when it is done correctly.
I will say I tried laying an Ebony strip in the saddle slot and it folded over on its self. I think it was too wide. I did notice a drop in sparkle when I installed the saddle that time.
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Patrick 1968 Martin D-28 1975 Martin D-18 1976 Martin 000-18 1989 Martin 000-16M 2015 Martin 00-DB Jeff Tweedy 2012 Gibson J-45 Custom 2017 Gibson J-35 1971 Alvarez K. Yairi Classical 1970 Lou J Mancuso nylon string hybrid Harmony Sovereign H1260 30's MayBell Model 6 Nash MW-500 1998 Yamaha LS-10 2003 Tacoma EKK9 |
#12
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I tried those and many other shim materials. I can hear the difference and it’s not good. Better off with a new quality saddle from Martin $14
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#13
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I'd bet anyone $100 dollars that they cannot hear the difference between a shimmed and non shimmed saddle in a true blind test.
There is nothing wrong with shimming a saddle except for the aforementioned piezo pickup which could cause a problem. Of course ironically shims often correct piezo problems too. |
#14
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A very helpful treatise:
https://www.charlestauber.com/luthie...-March2013.pdf Charles Tauber's guide has helped many here who have wanted to understand their guitars better and do some of their own work on them. One material I have used for saddle shims is the hard clear plastic blister-pak material that so many products are packaged in. There are various thicknesses. A digital caliper is very useful to measure it. A strip of 0.4 mm material will raise the action 0.2 mm at the 12th fret. Measure each string's height at the 12th fret then decide what to do. It may be that you want some strings higher and others unchanged or lower. In that case you can use a shim and then do some filing or sanding where the too-high strings touch the saddle. Charles has helpful advice on that, too. Once you have everything where you want it, you can leave it as is or get a new saddle that incorporates your dimensions without needing a shim. |
#15
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I've shimmed a saddle I too-enthusiastically lowered, with ABS plastic sheet. From other interests of mine (trains and airplanes) I have a luthier's lifetime supply of ABS sheet in .010, .015, .020, .025 and .040 inches' thicknesses. It's nice to raise a saddle a known amount.
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