Shaving the bridge

  • Thread starter Thread starter Monkey Allen
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Monkey Allen

Monkey Allen

Fork and spoon operator
Is it problematic in terms of intonation to take out the bridge of my acoustic guitar (Martin DX1) and shave down its underside so that I can lower my action? Sure the strings will be lower...but will I mess up the intonation? I just bought the guitar and I suppose it's factory set up right now.

Can I trim it or would it be better to get a more professional bloke to do it?

thanks
 
I don't think it would mess with intonation, not much anyway, since the distance between bridge and nut won't change remarkably.
Then again, never owned an acoustic, them luthierfellows can be more of an authority here...
 
Monkey Allen said:
Is it problematic in terms of intonation to take out the bridge of my acoustic guitar (Martin DX1) and shave down its underside so that I can lower my action? Sure the strings will be lower...but will I mess up the intonation? I just bought the guitar and I suppose it's factory set up right now.

Can I trim it or would it be better to get a more professional bloke to do it?

thanks
Click to expand...

I assume you are talking about the saddle not the bridge?

IN short any adjustment of the saddle and or action will effect the intonation to some degree. How much is depends on how much you alter it. I would advise that you get some advice from an experienced guy before you start tinkering. Lowering the action on an acoustic guitar often has other implications as well such as the need to change the neck relief and sometimes adjusting the nut and a little careful fret dressing.
 
I suggest getting another saddle,shave IT and if you like it,keep it. If not put the original back in.

Really low action acoustics always played weird fer me. Sound different too.
 
I think the best bet is to have an experienced person do it...adjust neck relief as required.

It plays very nicely in the open chord positions...but up around the 5th and beyond is a little high off the fret board.

thanks
 
I did that on my Yamaha recently and the intionation did not change. You could also buy a cheap saddle and do it to that one so you still have the original in case of anything. I say go for it. Good luck.
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Yeah, I'll do it that way.

Oh yeah...I did mean the saddle...not the bridge :)
 
Don't use a cheap saddle. Good quality bone is not that expensive and is well worth the difference.
 
I bought a Martin replacement saddle to suit my model guitar...doesn't look cheap, though it cost me only 5 bucks. Haven't done anything with it yet.
 
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