Saddle slot depth?

[BradHall]

Is there an ideal depth for the saddle slot. Or, is there an ideal amount of bridge material (in the slot) above the soundboard? And will that ratio affect the K&K pickup I'll be installing?

[mb propsom]

Brad, I generally rout my saddle slots to within 1/8" of the bottom of the bridge. However, when I made a new slotting jig, I forgot to set the bit deeper, and the bottom of my first saddle slot was 3/16" from the bottom of the bridge. I didn't hear any difference once that guitar was strung up.

I'm not quite sure what you're asking with your second question. But, this is my ideal setup (which is the same as many makers I know): I shoot for a string height of 1/2" above the soundboard. To achieve this, I make the bridge. 3/8" high with a 1/4" deep slot (measured at the center of the bridge). Then with a 3/8" high saddle (1/8" sticking above the bridge height) I get my 1/2" of string clearance above the top of the soundboard. And, by fine tuning the contour of the top of the saddle, this gives me my proper action.

With this particular formula, I've had very good results with K&K Pure Western mini pickups. I can't see that varying the above formula a little one way or the other will adversely affect your results.

[charles Tauber]

I believe a rule of thumb is at least as much saddle in the slot as projecting from the top of the bridge: at least half the saddle height in the bridge slot.