My acoustic guitars bridge - GuitarZone.com FORUM

QUOTE (adds @ Jun 6 2005, 05:21 AM)

A saddle blank only cost a couple of quid so its no big deal.Ive seen people do much worse.

So true!

Here's part of a couple of old posts...

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Saddle Shimming

First, check the fret. Look closely to see if it's lifted slightly. If so,
smooth it down a hair with an emery finger-nail board (unless you want to
remove, replace and re-dress it). If it hasn't, repacing the saddle as
mentioned above would do it (as MIGHT a slight truss-rod adjustment
(depends on why it's happening). Here's a simpler fix. Take a tin can top
and a pair of sharp scissors or tin-snips. Cut out a strip a little
shorter and a bit narrower (appx 1/8 inch) than your saddle. This will
probably curl up as you cut it. Straighten it out (tap it with a hammer
on a block of wood, etc). Be careful this is sharp!. Loosen or remove
your strings. Remove the saddle from the bridge. Put the little strip
under it (if it's too wide, don't force it or try to trim it narrower,
just make it over again. Much easier.) Replace the saddle and strings.
They will be about 10/1000 higher. Thin brass works best but most people
don't have that laying around. A tin can won't have a noticeable difference
from brass, but whatever you use, it must be made of metal to transfer the
vibrations back into the wood properly. Good luck.

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Lowering The Saddle

Lowering the saddle is easiest done from the bottom usually. Remove it (just loosening the strings is usually enough) and take it out. With a straight-edge draw a pencil line across the bottom as sort of a reference to see how much you've taken off. Take a large file and lay it on a table or bench and run the saddle smoothly and evenly acrodd it longways, making sure to keep the saddle both perpendicular and horizontal (unless you WISH to remove more off one side than the other). Check it by putting it back in place and tightening a couple of strings (usually say the 1 and 6 are enough to give you a good idea). Be careful not to remove too much, it's a lot easier to check a saddle a couple of times than it is to take off too much and now have buzzes and need to replace and recarve the whole saddle (a lot harder than lowering it). Anyway, I hope that helps.