Acoustic Guitar Construction

I have read of a few different thicknesses for the bridge and would like to get some opinions before I proceed. My J185 plans state a thickness of 8mm (5/16th" 0.315") which seems about the norm. I have the Kinkead book and his instructions are that the bridge height should be 0.5-1.0mm (1/32-3/64ths") higher than the line of the top of the frets at the bridge position. I placed a straight edge on top of the frets and it is 9mm (0.356") over the top at the bridge position which would make my bridge 9.5 to 10.0mm thick. This is the direction that I am leaning unless I hear reasons not to. Is there any general rule as to how much taller than the bridge the saddle should be? Obviously the final saddle height will be determined by the actual set up but a general difference would be established based on the bridge thickness. I have seen example of saddles that were quite tall and I have seen others where the saddle is just tall enough to clear the strings over the bridge. Any pros or cons to either? I read through some of the posts regarding compensation and just want to make SURE that I have a clear understanding. Scale length + 0.15" at the center of the saddle slot (which I am assuming is the position between the 3rd and 4th string) determines bridge placement. Saddle slot should be cut at 5%. Am I missing anything?? Thanks in advance. Tim

Lots of good questions there Tim. Looking forward to the answers

Gibson Bridges are about .25" thick Martin belly bridges have a range from about .35 to .420 all good, don't over think this, make the saddle slot as deep as possible without going through, actually some makers do go through and have the saddle sitting on the sound-board. Also some are tilting the saddle slot back toward the tail block. In other words you want the sadddle to be stable. $.02

'Thanks for the feed back. After posting I looked through the books that I have and check my plans and the saddle angles ranged from about 3% on my plan to about 4.5% in Irving Sloan's book. Is there an accepted standard or is it a case of too many variables?? Thanks again, Tim

tim crain 54 wrote:I have read of a few different thicknesses for the bridge and would like to get some opinions before I proceed. My J185 plans state a thickness of 8mm (5/16th" 0.315") which seems about the norm. I have the Kinkead book and his instructions are that the bridge height should be 0.5-1.0mm (1/32-3/64ths") higher than the line of the top of the frets at the bridge position. I placed a straight edge on top of the frets and it is 9mm (0.356") over the top at the bridge position which would make my bridge 9.5 to 10.0mm thick. This is the direction that I am leaning unless I hear reasons not to. Is there any general rule as to how much taller than the bridge the saddle should be? Obviously the final saddle height will be determined by the actual set up but a general difference would be established based on the bridge thickness. I have seen example of saddles that were quite tall and I have seen others where the saddle is just tall enough to clear the strings over the bridge. Any pros or cons to either? I read through some of the posts regarding compensation and just want to make SURE that I have a clear understanding. Scale length + 0.15" at the center of the saddle slot (which I am assuming is the position between the 3rd and 4th string) determines bridge placement. Saddle slot should be cut at 5%. Am I missing anything?? Thanks in advance. Tim

I like my bridges to fall between .3125 (5/16) and .375 (3/8) thick. I want my saddle height to be between .125 and .180". I use a 3* saddle slot slant and scale length + approx. .125".

Hey Tim, thanks for the specs. Very helpful. I've gotten this far on this thing I sure don't want the wheels to fall off now. Thanks again, Tim