Acoustic Guitar Construction

That was fast!! and interesting.
I guess the only question is how much extra the 1/4" bone is over the 1/8" bone - I know it's twice as heavy, but is that extra amount a factor?

Standard 1/8" compensated saddle is 4g so with the bone slot filler you are adding about 6g -- I once saw some math formulas that indicated the overall weight goal for sound-board construction (most reponsive) would be zero. Just like an automobile make it lighter and the energy needed to make it move is less -- more efficient.

kencierp wrote:Standard 1/8" compensated saddle is 4g so with the bone slot filler you are adding about 6g -- I once saw some math formulas that indicated the overall weight goal for sound-board construction (most reponsive) would be zero. Just like an automobile make it lighter and the energy needed to make it move is less -- more efficient.

So a 50% increase in mass. As a design engineer trying to optimize performance, any improvement on a performance factor over 10% was seriously considered even late in a project. So to go from a 1/4" thick saddle to an 1/8th inch saddle would be worth considering. Why have a 1/4" saddle?

Note that Ovation's have/had 1/4" saddles -- perhaps today they use the split style like their sister company Takamaine -- but anyway they addressed the weight issue by using a pin-less bridge and switching to a lighter bridge material --- Walnut.

The 1/4" saddle gives an easier way to get the best intonation; obviously you have more area to work with. Same idea as the split saddle used by many luthiers, where they get the benefit of the 1/4" saddle by splitting the 1/8" saddle.

Couple of reasons to tilt the saddle towards the tail block. One is that the compensation on the saddle will remain the same as the saddle is lowered. High saddle more comp. , lower saddle less comp. Also for under the saddle pickups. More even downward pressure on the transducer thus they tend to work better. Can't bring to mind who came up with this.
Tom

I would question the real math relative to a tilted saddle maintaining correct compensation when shaved -- maybe happen stance? Fishman and Shadow both detail the positives for tilting the saddle back when using slot pick ups and also pin hole string ramps.