vintage guitar intonation fix

[mike-p]

Hi all,

I have a friend with an old 30's parlour, all mahogany, 2 angled ladder braces on the top, fairly bellied top but stable now I'm sure. Sounds really great but for the intonation - the saddle isn't angled at all, the top E plays pretty well but the lower strings are going out of tune by the 2/3rd fret! I had thought in the longer term of making a replacement bridge when I thought my skills were up to it but I thought an easier fix might be to widen the slot and put in a very thick saddle with room to intonate correctly. Any thoughts/ advice?

Thanks.

[ken cierp]

1/4" (6.2mm) saddles are very common

[mike-p]

Right, I've just ordered one, If I was really cunning I imagine I could make an angled saddle slot 1/4" wide around the previous one if you seen what I mean.

[ken cierp]

I believe Dave Bagwill started a thread on the subject of 1/4" saddles.

[John Parchem]

I bet you can cut a 1/4" slot easier than replacing the bridge. Especially the one you have. I would try to use an exacto knife with a straight edge and cut deep along the 1/4" inch line then use a chisel to remove the waste up to the depth of my cut with the knife. Then I would keep scoring and chiseling till I reached the matching depth of the slot.

I have also used the xacto and a straight edge to make a straight starting cut for a razor saw.
At 1/4" you should be able to intonate with the straight slot.

[mike-p]

Thanks John, I've actually done it, and replaced the crumbling wood nut. More or less did as you described but I trusted the razor saw to cut a straight line which it didn't quite do, still it's in place and fairly snug. Got the intonation to acceptable levels but I can't get the low E far enough towards the pins, I could put an extra wedge of bone at the back of the saddle for that string but would look messy. Pretty pleased overall though, I'll post some pics later today or tomorrow.

Oh, I think I've cut the slot for the high e on the nut very slightly too deep, only catching on the first fret though so I may just level that fret very slightly

[ken cierp]

Baking soda and CA glue work great to build up a nut slot -- once dry its a very hard material.