How make an optimal bridge

[viento]

I´m working on my new 12-string (acoustic).

The scale is 25.5" / 648mm .(=mesured from the nut up to the middle of the saddle)

1) How do I find the right saddle angle ?

2) Any advantage of making a split saddle for compensation?

I know "there´s no money above the fifth fret" - whoever stated that -
and I dont play farther above that fret - normally

[Halcyon/Tinker]

Stew Mac's fret calculator has a compensation feature as well that gives actual sting length. Subtract the shortest string from the longest string and you'll have your saddle angle...

[viento]

Thanks, I´ll try to calculate that!

[Alan Carruth]

I've always used a wide saddle on 12s, with two ridges to seperately compensate the regular strings and the octaves, which need much less. I'd make the top of the saddle flat and use a crosswise piece of the B string to find the correct point to get the intonation right at the 12th fret. The ridges go all the way across, with a V-shaped trough in between, and I nootch out whichever one is not needed for a string. A few years ago I made an improvement on that.

I got Trevor Gore's books and paid pretty close attention to the chapter on compensation. He made a strong case for nut compensation, and also talked about a rig for determining the proper offsets experimentally. I set one up and used it to get the numbers for my next 12. Some of them were pretty extreme, but then, it was set up for open G tuning at standard pitch. When I got it all together we checked it with a tuner, and no note on any string or fret was off by more than three cents. The sound was almost too smooth, with none of the usual 12-string 'crunch'. I was worried that the customer might not like it, but he was happy that he would not need to retune between the A and B parts when he went up the neck.

[mirwa]

I slot my saddles on the assembled guitar, after intonating each string



Steve

[viento]

Thanks for sharing your experience and results, Alan and Steve!

Steve, your method is way simpler than Stew Mac's fret calculator but
does what it´s for...
I´ll try that.

[mirwa]

After intonating each string position, I spot drill a 3mm hole on the outside of my E strings. Then using a router connect the holes



Steve

[viento]

That´s it!
I´ll do the same.
I am still waiting for the Precision Router Base from StewMac I ordered 3 weeks ago.
Shipping over the pond takes a while...

[Rodger Knox]

The fret calculator gets in in the ballbark, using a temp saddle gets you in the strike zone. In the ballpark is usually good enough.