Deepening Saddle Slot (and not ruin it)

[Quickstep192]

I have a nylon crossover guitar with action that’s just a shade higher than I’d like.

As you can see in this picture, there’s no room to reduce the saddle itself without shaving the top of the bridge, but shaving the top of the bridge will reduce the depth of the slot. At the same time, note that there’s plenty of room to deepen the slot. But, deepening the slot without widening it or creating an uneven bottom seems a formidable undertaking.

Is there a way to deepen the slot without screwing it up?

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by Quickstep192

I have a nylon crossover guitar with action that’s just a shade higher than I’d like.

As you can see in this picture, there’s no room to reduce the saddle itself without shaving the top of the bridge, but shaving the top of the bridge will reduce the depth of the slot. At the same time, note that there’s plenty of room to deepen the slot. But, deepening the slot without widening it or creating an uneven bottom seems a formidable undertaking.

Is there a way to deepen the slot without screwing it up?

Hate to break it to you but that guitar probably needs a neck reset.

[Rudy4]

Last time I did that (a brand new Wechter 000) I set up a jig to straddle the bridge that served as a guide for a dremel in my Stu-Mac router base. It was really pretty easy.

Doing the custom jig is a big time suck, but necessary if you want a successful outcome. It was an hour to set up the jig and a couple of minutes to route the slot.

Don't slot too deeply. On this type of a bridge it's easy to create too much leverage with a saddle and snap the front lip off the bridge.

[runamuck]

It looks to me that you could plane some off the bridge and still have a slot deep enough to hold the saddle, depending on how much you need to drop the action.

How much do the strings need to come down?

You say this is a hybrid. Is it a bolt on neck? If so, resetting the neck angle is not a big deal for a luthier.

[John Arnold]

I have used a razor saw (2 cuts) and a micro chisel. Final flattening of the bottom with a thin file.

[Quickstep192]

It’s a Spanish heel and it’s been this way since new. It’s just a tiny bit higher than I’d like. Based on the math, I think I need to lower it about .05

[Fathand]

I'm curious, what is a nylon crossover guitar? Those ball end strings look like steel strings? Or silk and steel?

Do you have a dremel with a router base? Is the front edge of your bridge straight and square enough to use it to guide a dremel/router?

Take a strip of hardwood the same thickness as the saddle and glue #80 sandpaper to the edge and sand out the slot?

Otherwise, use the chisel and file method above. It's cheap, fairly accurate and probably takes less time than a router set up.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Fathand

I'm curious, what is a nylon crossover guitar? Those ball end strings look like steel strings? Or silk and steel?

Do you have a dremel with a router base? Is the front edge of your bridge straight and square enough to use it to guide a dremel/router?

Take a strip of hardwood the same thickness as the saddle and glue #80 sandpaper to the edge and sand out the slot?

Otherwise, use the chisel and file method above. It's cheap, fairly accurate and probably takes less time than a router set up.

Crossover guitar description / information HERE.

[lar]

Take a look at saddle slot levelers on the stewmac website.

[Fathand]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Crossover guitar description / information HERE.

Thanks, basically a classical with a steel stringish neck.

[Quickstep192]

Originally Posted by Fathand

I'm curious, what is a nylon crossover guitar? Those ball end strings look like steel strings? Or silk and steel?

The strings are either John Pearse Folk or Thomastik Infeld Classic S.

They’re a weird combination of a steel rope core with nylon wrap and flat wound copper over nylon. The sound is very curious.

They put a ball end so they can be used on very lightly braces steel string guitars or classical guitars. A less lazy person might cut the ball ends off and tie them properly…

[calvanesebob]

Is the neck relief set correctly to spec?

Is the guitar at the proper humidity?

If there is too much relief the action will be higher.

If the guitar is too wet the action will be higher. Too dry and the action will be lower.

These things should be correct before determining if an action adjustment is needed or not.

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by Quickstep192

I have a nylon crossover guitar with action that’s just a shade higher than I’d like.

As you can see in this picture, there’s no room to reduce the saddle itself without shaving the top of the bridge, but shaving the top of the bridge will reduce the depth of the slot. At the same time, note that there’s plenty of room to deepen the slot. But, deepening the slot without widening it or creating an uneven bottom seems a formidable undertaking.

Is there a way to deepen the slot without screwing it up?

Just thinking out of the box here:

Does your nylon crossover have a 16" radius neck fitted? It is difficult to see in the photo but the bridge looks flat (no radius), and I'm not sure about the saddle either. If you sanded a radius into the bridge to match the fretboard radius you could gain saddle height above the bridge on the 1st, 2nd and 5th, 6th strings, while maintaining slot depth in the middle. That may give you enough room to lower the saddle (at the correct radius) without cutting the slot deeper and still maintain structural integrity.

Like I said, I don't have all the info so could be wrong.

[Quickstep192]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

Just thinking out of the box here:

Does your nylon crossover have a 16" radius neck fitted? It is difficult to see in the photo but the bridge looks flat (no radius), and I'm not sure about the saddle either. If you sanded a radius into the bridge to match the fretboard radius you could gain saddle height above the bridge on the 1st, 2nd and 5th, 6th strings, while maintaining slot depth in the middle. That may give you enough room to lower the saddle (at the correct radius) without cutting the slot deeper and still maintain structural integrity.

Like I said, I don't have all the info so could be wrong.

Very clever. Yes, the guitar has a radiused fingerboard. The saddle is radiused to match, but the bridge is not radiused. Your idea might be a good first thing to try before getting into more invasive surgery.

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by Quickstep192

Very clever. Yes, the guitar has a radiused fingerboard. The saddle is radiused to match, but the bridge is not radiused. Your idea might be a good first thing to try before getting into more invasive surgery.

Let us know how you get on.