Need my strings raised a tad on my biscuit reso

[agfsteve]

Is there a way to raise the bridge/saddle on my resonator?

It's a Gretsch Alligator Biscuit, so a biscuit bridge type.

On my regular acoustic, I noticed the saddle had chipped under the first string, so I raised it slightly by shoving in a tiny piece of folded tin foil, so I'm wondering if I can get away with doing something similar here, except possibly across the entire saddle.

I am learning slide, and I'm trying to get a really light touch on the strings, but I think it would help if the action was raised just a tiny bit, although I still need to be able to fret normally for fingerstyle stuff.

I've got it in open G (DGDGBD) at the moment, so the strings are probably looser than when I got it, adding to the difficulty of keeping the strings off the frets. I had it set up at Elderly Instruments before shipping, and I told them I wanted it for both slide and fingerstyle, so it was presumably easier in standard tuning, which I'm guessing is how they tuned it (I don't remember).

[Robin, Wales]

I'll drop you a longer reply here tomorrow morning (UK time). I've set-up somewhere around 600 to 700 biscuit bridge reso guitars. Raising the bridge on a biscuit bridge reso is a little complicated but there are other options to give you cleaner slide playing.

Could you measure the action at the 12th fret in mm (top of fret to underside of 6th and 1st strings). And can you check the relief (capo on 1st fret - then press down D string at the 13th fret and see how much clearance is between the 7th fret and the underside of the D string. Use feeler gauges. And expect .007" to .010"). And check the height of the nut slots (press each string down between the 2nd and 3rd fret and see how much the strings clear the 1st fret - there is likely to be just a very small gap.

And your string gauges.

Come back with those measurements and I should be able to help.

[agfsteve]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

I'll drop you a longer reply here tomorrow morning (UK time). I've set-up somewhere around 600 to 700 biscuit bridge reso guitars. Raising the bridge on a biscuit bridge reso is a little complicated but there are other options to give you cleaner slide playing.

Could you measure the action at the 12th fret in mm (top of fret to underside of 6th and 1st strings). And can you check the relief (capo on 1st fret - then press down D string at the 13th fret and see how much clearance is between the 7th fret and the underside of the D string. Use feeler gauges. And expect .007" to .010"). And check the height of the nut slots (press each string down between the 2nd and 3rd fret and see how much the strings clear the 1st fret - there is likely to be just a very small gap.

And your string gauges.

Come back with those measurements and I should be able to help.

Thanks so much, but I don't have a way to take these measurements accurately.
The strings on this guitar are D'addario EJ17, which have gauges of 13,17,26,35,45,56.
I just want to raise the action a tiny bit across the fretboard and see if I like it.

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by agfsteve

Thanks so much, but I don't have a way to take these measurements accurately.
The strings on this guitar are D'addario EJ17, which have gauges of 13,17,26,35,45,56.
I just want to raise the action a tiny bit across the fretboard and see if I like it.

In that case then I would suggest just a small truss rod adjustment to put a fraction more curve in the neck. You would not normally use the truss rod for action adjustment but for a test of a slightly higher action it could be a completely reversible trial. A lot of slide work tends to occur on the 3rd, 5th and 7th fret so players do like a little more room in that area of the fretboard, so raising the bridge is not always the best solution. You don't necessarily need a higher action at the 12th as that is usually OK just on the plus side of 2.5mm bass to 2mm treble.

For truss rod adjustment start with just a quarter turn anti-clockwise. You may only be able to make a 1/8 turn at a time without taking out the hex key and repositioning it given the location of the truss rod on the Aligator.

Another option for slide playing is to put a very small shim under the nut - paper, tin foil or a wood veneer glued to the nut and sanded down (I would use the latter) would do the trick. If I was making a new nut then I would cut nut slots a little higher than for standard acoustic playing if I was doing a set-up for someone who played mainly slide but with some fingerstyle blues in standard tuning too. Be aware that if you take all the strings off the guitar that the cone/biscuit/bridge will be free to move around. They are only held in place by the downforce of the strings at tension. Take the outer strings off first and then the middle strings. Install the strings by placing the middle two strings on first - bring those up to some tension and then position the biscuit/bridge so it is centred in the coverplate hole and the bridge is orientated correctly and not touching the coverplate hole edges. Then bring the two middle strings to pitch and then replace the other strings. As you put on the strings the cone will depress so none of the strings will hold pitch until they are all fitted and at full tension. When replacing strings, always do it one string at a time on a biscuit bridge reso so that the cone remains under tension and so will stay where it is.

Other "tricks" are to go slightly heavier on your first string. So replace the 0.013 with a 0.015 but this is not so good if you come back to standard tuning as the "e" can feel out of balance.