Adjusting the bridge on an ABG (lower the action) : Tips wanted!

[Inconnu]

Hi!

Just got myself a new ABG (acoustic bass guitar). The setup out of the box is good, except for one thing : action too high, I need to work on the bridge. Now I know it's pretty simple, you loosen the strings, take out the plastic piece, cut it down, put it back. But does someone have tips on what to use to cut down the plastic piece I'm talking about, and leave it straight?

Thanks!

[natw42]

I'm pretty sure a file is what you need, but I'm not well versed in acoustic set ups. So... sub'd.

[JTE]

If it's electric, the bottom of the saddle (the plastic piece) MUST be dead level. Best thing is a piece of sandpaper on a sheet of glass. Here's the problem - you need the saddle high enough to give the string a pronounced break over angle. If you take too much off it'll kill the acoustic sound, and most ABGs don't have much useable acoustic sound to begin with. And for every millimeter you want to take it down at the 12th fret, you need to take TWO millimeters off the bottom of the saddle.

John

[JLS]

Originally Posted by Inconnu

Hi!

Just got myself a new ABG (acoustic bass guitar). The setup out of the box is good, except for one thing : action too high, I need to work on the bridge. Now I know it's pretty simple, you loosen the strings, take out the plastic piece, cut it down, put it back. But does someone have tips on what to use to cut down the plastic piece I'm talking about, and leave it straight?

Thanks!

That's the, "saddle".

How's the relief in the neck? How's the neck angle in relationship to the bridge? What brand, how much was it?

I'd never call the setup of an instrument with too-high action, "good"--high action means it needs to be setup. This involves
a combination of the above issues, NTM any rogue frets.

I had an ABG for awhile, which played and sounded quite good, but was so uncomfortable to play while seated, that I got rid of it.

[prd004]

The correct way is to remove the bridge, NOT THE SADDLE! Then shave the bridge and re-attach it. I would recomend a luthier do it, good luck!

[Turnaround]

Originally Posted by prd004

The correct way is to remove the bridge, NOT THE SADDLE! Then shave the bridge and re-attach it. I would recomend a luthier do it, good luck!

WOW!!!!

Any other tech care to comment?

[202dy]

Originally Posted by Turnaround

WOW!!!!

Any other tech care to comment?

Troll trolling another troll?

Or just confused as to part names.

[prd004]

No, not confused, not trolling.
That's what Mike Lull did to my Guild B4CE to lower the bridge

[ehque]

Originally Posted by prd004

No, not confused, not trolling.
That's what Mike Lull did to my Guild B4CE to lower the bridge

I believe you only need to do that if the saddle needs to be lowered so much that the string contacts the wooden bridge instead.

Other than that, IMHO there should be no need to shave down the whole bridge. It turns an hour-job into a day-job.

To the OP, I use a pencil to mark off how much I need to take off, then take it down with sandpaper on a aluminum block (to keep the sandpaper dead flat). I use another block to keep the saddle perpendicular to the sanding surface.

[202dy]

Originally Posted by prd004

No, not confused, not trolling.
That's what Mike Lull did to my Guild B4CE to lower the bridge

Basic premise: Two thirds of saddle height should be submerged in the bridge.

There are only three reasons that this will not be so.

1. The top is humped or in rotation.
2. The neck angle is wrong.
3. The bridge is too thick.

In the first case the reason must be determined. Loose braces will be re-glued. Undersized or weak bridge plate will be replaced. Or a device like the Bridge Doctor is installed. Occasionally the bridge is removed if it is thought that bridge plate replacement will not be strong enough to pull the top flat.

In the second scenario, a neck reset is performed. This is not inexpensive. Only in extreme circumstances will the bridge be removed and reshaped.

Lastly, the bridge is too thick for the guitar. The bridge is removed and thinned. This is pretty unusual in a guitar made during the last couple of decades. An alternative is to thin the top of the bridge with a router while it is still mounted to the top of the guitar. This procedure is not for the faint of heart. However, it will produce excellent results in certain situations.

Sometimes a luthier will remove and thin a bridge instead of performing a neck reset. The only reasons for this is that the value of the guitar is substantially less than the cost of the service or the luthier does not possess the skills and experience to perform a neck set.

[JTE]

Cutting the actual bridge down is required if the saddle is already so low that there's not enough break-over angle to just lower the saddle. In most cases with mass-produced lower-end ABG (which I consider to be anything other than the Guilds) the saddle is left high so there is room to lower it there, heck there might even be shims under the saddle which would make it easier.

But you have to know something about how flat-top acoustic guitars work and how high that saddle needs to be before you start cutting the saddle down. And another consideration is a neck reset as pointed out above. Many times the neck angle is simply wrong to achieve really low action, appropriate saddle height, and good acoustic tone without buzzing at the saddle. If you don't know a good bit about acoustic guitars, take it to someone who really does, and have them analyze the problem. Then use the correct solution for the specific cause of your problem.

John

[john grey]

John's comment re: level material reduction is a serious word of warning. If you are not familiar with it, it may be best to take it to someone who is.
However If you have a carpenter's level (large surface, etc) and binding that to a obvious level surface (so you can still see the bubble on dead center) with a wrapping of very fine sandpaper (300-400) You would want to stroke with a very even single direction slow, full contact movement {hand & fingers should cover entire unit w/ NO rocking or leaning). You would most likely want to work with 1/100". Even one tenth of an inch would be a bit deep (IMO). You can always remove more but you cant put back what you've removed.

[Inconnu]

Thanks for the replies and sorry, I forgot that the proper word for that plastic thing is the saddle on my initial post (english is a second language to me and, when I'm tired, I tend to forget words...). I went with the option of slightly sanding down the saddle and I'm happy with it now. The saddle was clearly high enough to take some sanding down. I did not expect an ABG to get as low as an electric bass, but now, I'm pretty happy with it.

[JLS]

Originally Posted by prd004

The correct way is to remove the bridge, NOT THE SADDLE! Then shave the bridge and re-attach it. I would recomend a luthier do it, good luck!

No. No. No. No. No.

[JTE]

Originally Posted by Inconnu

Thanks for the replies and sorry, I forgot that the proper word for that plastic thing is the saddle on my initial post (english is a second language to me and, when I'm tired, I tend to forget words...). I went with the option of slightly sanding down the saddle and I'm happy with it now. The saddle was clearly high enough to take some sanding down. I did not expect an ABG to get as low as an electric bass, but now, I'm pretty happy with it.

COOL!! Glad it worked for you.

John