Are saddles guitar model-specific?

[markwallace1966]

Hi, all.

I recently bought a cedar Cordoba C9 classical guitar. Loving it so far, but the action is a little high beyond the seventh fret or so, not too surprisingly.

I have been reading on how to deal with that. One option of course is to have my local luthier do it, which of course I could do. Another option is to do it myself, which it seems just entails lowering the saddle by sanding it down at the base. Doesn't seem like rocket science, although of course I know I would have to take it slowly and carefully.

Taking the advice that I have seen here and elsewhere, what I would want to do in that latter scenario is set aside the original saddle (so that I always have one that works well), obtain a couple more, and then sand one of THOSE down.

Question : Do I need to acquire Cordoba C9-specific saddles for this, or can I just go to (say) Stewmac, buy a few more saddles (or blanks, I guess), and go from there?

Thanks!

Mark

[Carey]

You can buy generic bone saddle blanks, and that's almost always the way to go. A fair amount of fitting will usually be required.

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by markwallace1966

Hi, all.

I recently bought a cedar Cordoba C9 classical guitar. Loving it so far, but the action is a little high beyond the seventh fret or so, not too surprisingly.

I have been reading on how to deal with that. One option of course is to have my local luthier do it, which of course I could do. Another option is to do it myself, which it seems just entails lowering the saddle by sanding it down at the base. Doesn't seem like rocket science, although of course I know I would have to take it slowly and carefully.

Taking the advice that I have seen here and elsewhere, what I would want to do in that latter scenario is set aside the original saddle (so that I always have one that works well), obtain a couple more, and then sand one of THOSE down.

Question : Do I need to acquire Cordoba C9-specific saddles for this, or can I just go to (say) Stewmac, buy a few more saddles (or blanks, I guess), and go from there?

Thanks!

Mark

Sounds like you have a good idea on going about it.
As Carey said, bone saddles are available for the purpose.
I bought one from this classical oriented vendor, and I can recommend them. Also, it looks like they now offer a kit for the purpose:
Rosette Bone Saddle Installation Kit

[markwallace1966]

Originally Posted by Carey

You can buy generic bone saddle blanks, and that's almost always the way to go. A fair amount of fitting will usually be required.

Thanks!

Mark

[markwallace1966]

Originally Posted by Gitfiddlemann

Sounds like you have a good idea on going about it.
As Carey said, bone saddles are available for the purpose.
I bought one from this classical oriented vendor, and I can recommend them. Also, it looks like they now offer a kit for the purpose:
Rosette Bone Saddle Installation Kit

Thank you! I'll take a look. That looks nice.

Mark

[CoastStrings]

I also use generic bone classical guitar saddles. I got a batch from eBay seller taisamlu in Taiwan (in the city where Yamaha used to have a factory) years ago.

He still sells saddles which (a) can have just the 3rd string compensated or (b) are fully-compensated. I find compensation inconsequential anyway since the amount of needed compensation can vary by strings.

You can also find other generics on Reverb and eBay.

Try to take measurements of your current saddle and compare against the seller's specs before you buy. Some guitars have thicker saddles than usual. You, of course, would want a saddle that is of the same dimensions or bigger (since you can always sand-down).

I've since stopped carving saddles from full bone blanks. My experience has been that I don't hear a difference from generic bone saddles.

[btbliatout]

If lowering the action is all you're after, then I don't have much more to contribute. The folks above have nailed it.

I do want to piggyback off of what CoastStrings mentioned and say that compensated saddles are nice. For my carbon fiber instrument, I had a luthier cut a new bone saddle for it, optimized for a specific set of strings (I also had a new nut cut for it too). Between the new nut and saddle, the intonation is as perfect as our imperfect instruments get without going .strandberg (True Temperament). If being 5+ cents off at the 12th fret can annoy you, consider having a luthier do the work.

One counter argument to my suggestion of considering a luthier: There's a reason why I only got a custom nut and saddle done for my carbon fiber instrument. It's the one I play when I want absolute consistency (carbon fiber is resilient to temperature and humidity and all that). I'm not sure how much temperature and humidity swings would affect a wood guitar that had the same sort of work done. I imagine seasonal changes could very easily un-compensate a nice solid wood instrument. So mayyybe it's not worth having a professional finely dial things if the setup is only good for 2 months out of the year

[TBman]

I had to adjust the truss rod of my C5 and Fusion (less relief) when I first received them from the dealer. My C12 was fine, no adjustments necessary. Sanding the saddle is the last thing I do in a set up, if it is even needed.

This is the order of adjustments that I usually do.

1. Neck relief
2. Nut slot depth
3. Saddle

I'm generally a steel string player, so what I like is probably different than a classical trained musician.

[Lee Fontaine]

Originally Posted by markwallace1966

Hi, all.

Question : Do I need to acquire Cordoba C9-specific saddles for this, or can I just go to (say) Stewmac, buy a few more saddles (or blanks, I guess), and go from there?

Mark

Bone saddle blanks come in a number of different dimensions. Use a caliper guage to measure the saddle that came installed on your C9 and then purchase blanks (buy several - your first one or two will probably be prototypes ) that are as close to the original saddle, but absolutely NO smaller, than the original.

You may need to adjust thickness of the blank. The saddle blank should easily slip into the slot in the bridge, sit vertically, but should NOT wiggle back and forth. Next, I recommend shaping the top contour before sanding the bottom. Try to match the top contour of the original saddle for a centered or forward leaning peak.

While you can sand the top contour and thickness by hand, I recommend buying a nut and saddle sander tool to sand the bottom. It's a jig that firmly holds the saddle flat and perpendicular to the sand paper. This way your finished saddle sits flat and squarely in the bridge and makes even contact across its entire bottom surface with the top of the instrument. Also, make sure the sandpaper is sitting on something (a piece of wood) that's flat. Lastly, use very fine grit sandpaper for the final passes over the top contour and bottom. It's fairly easy and quite satisfying when you get the saddle just right.

[markwallace1966]

Very nice. Thank you!

Mark

[cliff_the_stiff]

I had a similar question, and started making my own saddles, saving the original.
I bought the material from GuitarSaddles.com (Bob Colosi)
and told him what I was doing.
He gave me pointers and sold me some nice blanks, and tossed in a couple blems for practice.
Practice helps.
Bob also has pre shaped options, they require a lot less work to fit.
I like getting them without compensation so I can do the intonation.
They are available pre-compensated for a lot of models.

[markwallace1966]

What a wealth of info this place is. Thank you!

Mark

[thefsb]

Even if you buy elsewhere this web page may be useful.

https://shop.cordobaguitars.com/repl...espa-a-series/

Replacement bone saddle for all Full-Size models in the Iberia and España series guitars.

This saddle does not fit the Cadete or the Requinto. It’s a perfect replacement for all other models in these series. Installation requires set-up from an experienced guitar luthier or technician.

80mm x 3mm

When I wanted to change the action on my C5 I figured I'd leave the original untouched and tinker one of these. But they were out of stock and then I forgot about it until now.

[markwallace1966]

Originally Posted by thefsb

Even if you buy elsewhere this web page may be useful.

https://shop.cordobaguitars.com/repl...espa-a-series/



When I wanted to change the action on my C5 I figured I'd leave the original untouched and tinker one of these. But they were out of stock and then I forgot about it until now.

Funny. That page kept coming up in a Google search last week but kept then timing out on me and never loading, until just now. That to me is the ideal route, I guess; get a stock one from Cordoba, set the original aside, and then mod the one from Cordoba to my needs.

Thank you!

Mark