Sanding Saddle

[no1i]

Just want to know if sanding down a saddle to decrease the action on a guitar would void the warranty on it?

[EZYPIKINS]

Guitars come with planet of saddle to be sanded so it can be set up to you're liking. Should have no bearing on warranty whatsoever.

[L20A]

You can work on a saddle. You can replace a saddle. You can replace pins.
You can work on or replace a nut.
None of this will affect your warranty, as long as you don't cause damage to the guitar.

[ssynhorst]

Sanding a saddle to a precise action measurement is simple, but not so easy, you need to be meticulous. You want to end up with an extremely flat and level bottom surface and a heights from end to end precise to a thousandth of an inch. So you need one of the little stainless steel plate guages with various measurements on it, which you should get anyway, not costly.

Then you tape some 200 grit sandpaper to a level surface and get a rectangular block of something hard. Hold the saddle against the block and sand away.

Remove the middle 4 strings of your guitar and loosen the first and sixth, put your new saddle in tighten the strings and measure. Remove and repeat many times until done.

I get the super cheap bone saddles off eBay, from South East Asia. They are probably from old water buffaloes and harder than ones from young American beeves. Get several. Do all of your guitars when you need to change strings. - Stevo

[Andyrondack]

Originally Posted by no1i

Just want to know if sanding down a saddle to decrease the action on a guitar would void the warranty on it?

Not if you take it out of the guitar first.

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by ssynhorst

Sanding a saddle to a precise action measurement is simple, but not so easy, you need to be meticulous. You want to end up with an extremely flat and level bottom surface and a heights from end to end precise to a thousandth of an inch. So you need one of the little stainless steel plate guages with various measurements on it, which you should get anyway, not costly.

Then you tape some 200 grit sandpaper to a level surface and get a rectangular block of something hard. Hold the saddle against the block and sand away.

Remove the middle 4 strings of your guitar and loosen the first and sixth, put your new saddle in tighten the strings and measure. Remove and repeat many times until done.

I get the super cheap bone saddles off eBay, from South East Asia. They are probably from old water buffaloes and harder than ones from young American beeves. Get several. Do all of your guitars when you need to change strings. - Stevo

I recently picked up a SaddleMaster for saddle sanding. It's a great tool and makes sanding a breeze. No affiliation, just a satisfied customer if someone is looking for a solution to do several and doesn't want to drop $180 on the StewMac tool.

https://reverb.com/item/4326339-saddlemaster

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by ssynhorst

Sanding a saddle to a precise action measurement is simple, but not so easy, you need to be meticulous. You want to end up with an extremely flat and level bottom surface and a heights from end to end precise to a thousandth of an inch. So you need one of the little stainless steel plate guages with various measurements on it, which you should get anyway, not costly.

Then you tape some 200 grit sandpaper to a level surface and get a rectangular block of something hard. Hold the saddle against the block and sand away.

Remove the middle 4 strings of your guitar and loosen the first and sixth, put your new saddle in tighten the strings and measure. Remove and repeat many times until done.

I get the super cheap bone saddles off eBay, from South East Asia. They are probably from old water buffaloes and harder than ones from young American beeves. Get several. Do all of your guitars when you need to change strings. - Stevo

I just draw a straight line on the saddles for the amount I want to remove and sand to it. Pretty easy really. The sanding by hand is the tough part.

[ArchtopLover]

Originally Posted by UncleJesse

I recently picked up a SaddleMaster for saddle sanding. It's a great tool and makes sanding a breeze. No affiliation, just a satisfied customer if someone is looking for a solution to do several and doesn't want to drop $180 on the StewMac tool.

I can vouch for how well the SaddleMaster design works. I made a copy of this simple and ingenious design out of a piece of rock maple and used some set screws to adjust the height and exposure of the saddle bottom. It works great! The cut is nice and level and the saddle bottom is sanded perfectly perpendicular to the saddle sides. It is also very easy to sand off a few mils by turning the adjuster screw slightly and then sanding until it bottoms out on the tool base.

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by no1i

Just want to know if sanding down a saddle to decrease the action on a guitar would void the warranty on it?

As a warranty repairer.. yes and no

Does it void any structural warranty on the guitar - no, same applies even if you cut a hole in the side of a guitar to install a pre-amp

Does it void fret warranty - yes, the momment you lower the action below manufacturers tolerances you risk buzzing on frets, so if you were to take you guitar back 1 day after purchase and you have lowered the saddle and it buzzes then warranty for fretwork is voided. If you return the action to the manufacturers specs before taking the guitar in and it still buzzes then yes you can make a fretwork warranty claim, but repsonsiblity is on you to first return the guitar to spec

Steve

[Monts]

Originally Posted by UncleJesse

I recently picked up a SaddleMaster for saddle sanding. It's a great tool and makes sanding a breeze. No affiliation, just a satisfied customer if someone is looking for a solution to do several and doesn't want to drop $180 on the StewMac tool.

https://reverb.com/item/4326339-saddlemaster

These looked awesome, so guess what??? I have one on the way! I can always find a way to drop money when searching AGF even if I'm not buying a guitar.

That being said, I wouldn't know anything about trying to get that perfect action and sanding just a little too far!

Hopefully the Saddlemaster will help there.

[rmp]

Go in small increments. Take your time. I can't be sure if my math is 100% but I think I've noticed over the years that removing 1/32 on the saddle results in lowering the action by 1/64. Someone can slap me if I'm dead wrong on this.

I would just always want know what amount I'm trying to remove to achieve the action setting I want. it's a little time consuming and you may loose a string or two with all the retuning.
I usually plan this around my string changes. Just go slow. Try it out as you go, stop when it feels right. It's that "Ohh, I'll make just one more pass and it'll be perfect" that usually leads to an "Ah crap!!!!!" results. The worse that can happen is you need to replace the saddle. Ask me how I know!