Acoustic Guitar Luthier Type Question

[Reeltarded]

You never plug it in?

Remove the pickup and refit a proper saddle. Under sadlle transducers destroy the sound of even a cheap acoustic. Horken fiber chunks. Awful.

[Zippy]

Truth be told, I never play my acoustic through an amp anyway - I'm just a back-porch bluesman. But since the guitar has a transducer, I don't want to disrupt it.

"Disrupting" could be a good thing in this case. Take it out and install a good saddle that is in intimate contact with the top. Remember what I wrote about the acoustic impedance of the saddle/transducer system?

I'm a little heavy-handed and I have tried many different combinations of string gauge and truss rod adjustments to find what feels best to me. My final conclusion is that I need a little higher action.

I hate to mess with the nut...

A quick test of sufficient nut height is to play the guitar in open positions to see if the instrument buzzes. If the buzzing goes away as soon as you fret a note, then you can attribute the buzz to a too-low nut slot.

I would rather just try a different bridge saddle first and see if that helps. Tusq seems readily available and well advertised, but I have read that it doesn't hold a candle to bone. The stock saddle on the guitar looks like plastic, so anything would be an upgrade.

Yepper. Take out the plastic saddle and transducer and replace it with a full height bone saddle (so shims, no filler) to hear what your guitar is capable of.

Enjoy!

[boots]

I'm considering taking the transducer out, but I kinda hate to castrate the thing. Also, the guitar has a built-in tuner, which I really like. The tuner probably won't function without the transducer, will it?

[boots]

Well, I dropped in a Tusq saddle and bone string pins, and it made a noticeable difference (of course new strings help too). I also ordered a bone saddle at the same time, but it needs to be trimmed down, so I'll try it next string change.

Well worth the small investment.

[billyz]

If you only need to raise it a little i would try loosening the truss rod first.
Oh, i see you already tired that. Shimming can work . You can shim on top of the transducer or below or even both. Sometimes i use plastic bag material to soften the clack of most piezo transducers. Place it on top of the transducer.
It can also even out a slightly uneven mating surface. I like tusq , it is a little soft but can sound very good and is
Very easy to work.
The key is to have a dead level slot and a dead level bottom surface of the bridge saddle. I use various methods to achieve this and always use a straight edge held up to the saddle bottom and viewed with a strong light behind , it will reveal any imperfection.
Finally, sometimes it is beneficial to have a slight forward lean to the saddle bottom to actually get a better mating to the top of the slot or transducer.
Z

[boots]

The new saddle gave me just a tad bit higher action, which is just what I needed. I mounted it on top of the transducer, and the response seems pretty even across all the strings. Guess I got lucky. I loosened and re-tightened the strings a couple times to let everything settle in and get happy before tuning it up to pitch.

The Tusq was a drop-in replacement, so it was a pretty easy upgrade. The bone saddle needs to be shortened in length and probably reduced in thickness to fit the slot.

What's the best way to saw the bone saddle to length? A very fine-tooth saw, or maybe a Dremel cut-off?

[Zippy]

What's the best way to saw the bone saddle to length? A very fine-tooth saw, or maybe a Dremel cut-off?

Either one will work - the saw won't smell as much. File to finished shape. Sand and polish to taste.

[Reeltarded]

Dood! Always sand bone. Corn chips and burned teeth smell awesome!

[boots]

The new saddle is a couple inches longer than the slot on my Epiphone. That seems like a lot of sanding!

[Reeltarded]

The sweet smell of dentin.

I cut close on a band saw then take it to a table sander for rough out, then to fitting with a block, then polish.