Stubborn saddle removal

[jricc]

I have a Martin Dread Jr10e with Richlite bridge. The UST is a little unbalanced, so I want to remove saddle to try to seat it better. It is not glued in, and it won't budge. I tried using plastic tipped pliers, but still wont come out. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
jricc

[RoyBoy]

Luthiers use end cutters. We have the ones that are ground for flush cutting for fretwork. Anything that gets a good grip on the saddle, the wider the better. Try rocking end to end.

When you get it out, consider ditching it in favor of sound board transducer and say goodbye to the quack. Unless, that is, you really need a high stage volume guitar.

[fazool]

yeah that was my suggestion - if you dont need to save the saddle, real small diagonal cutter can bite in and lever it up - thats what I do

[Mirosh]

Originally Posted by fazool

yeah that was my suggestion - if you dont need to save the saddle, real small diagonal cutter can bite in and lever it up - thats what I do

Yes, grip it at either end with the diagonal cutter's blades down close to the bridge. Protect the bridge from dents or scarring - I use a credit card - and pry up. You may need a small fulcrum on top of the credit card.

[jricc]

Thnx for your help everyone!

[bnjp]

I regularly use a pair of fret pullers for that. Not my good ones, but an old pair.