Lowering the saddle of your acoustic guitar may be the most painless guitar mod you’ll ever make, and also the most effective!
Once you’ve discounted the nut and neck-relief, the only component blocking your path to a slick-playing instrument is the Acoustic guitar saddle, and the fix is simple: Sand it down!
Don’t Panic!
Now, before you panic about causing irreparable damage to your prized possession, it’s worth noting a number of things.
- If in doubt, purchase a spare saddle as a backup, or even better, purchase an upgraded one (Tusq, bone). Graph Tech is a good place to start.
- From the factory, the saddle is more often than not set high. It’s expected that the customer would lower it to their taste if need be.
- If in doubt, make small changes at a time.
Lowering the Acoustic Guitar Saddle: The complicated way.
I’ve seen many demonstrations on lowering the acoustic guitar saddle, involving precise measurements and various tools, marking the exact height of the saddle you wish to achieve, and then placing the saddle on the sandpaper and rubbing off the material until you reach the mark on the saddle.
This method has a number of disadvantages:
- How do you know what height the saddle needs to be for your requirements?
- You may not own an accurate enough ruler.
- If you sand to the measurement and it’s too low, it’s shim/new nut time!
- Rubbing the nut on the sandpaper doesn’t guarantee a straight bottom edge, which is VERY important as the nut will need to sit flush to the guitar for maximum tone.
Lowering the Acoustic Guitar Saddle: The best way.
In my experience, you only need 2 things:
- A Bench vice
- Some sandpaper.
The method I use is very similar to my Guitar Nut Height adjustment article, in that a vice is employed to expose ONLY the material you wish to sand, which protects the rest of the acoustic guitar saddle, negates the need for measurements and marker, and guarantees you that straight bottom edge. The only difference is you’ll need a bigger bench vice rather than the hand-held version I used for the nut.
Take it slow and perform a few iterations if need be.
But DO go slow! You should be able to slacken off the strings enough to remove the nut without taking the strings off and performing a few iterations until you have it at the perfect height for your playing style.
Above all, remember that what matters is how the guitar plays and feels. Don’t get wrapped up in the numbers of suggested spec measurements
Is lowering the Acoustic Guitar Saddle worth it?
I’ve performed this simple mod on two acoustics now, both taking about ten minutes out of my life…
The first was a Simon & Patrick SP6 (Cedar top). At the time I took it into band practice where another member sported a quite high end (£1000+) Takamine. The Simon & Patrick in an A/B test was far easier to play, which goes to show you the impact of such a small mod.
I’ve just completed my second acoustic saddle lowering on my new Yamaha FG850 which I was a little apprehensive about as it was pretty much the perfect acoustic anyway. The change this time was transformational! Maybe it was because the nut and the neck itself were already bang-on, but in this case, it felt like a completely different guitar, for the better.
So what’s different? Well, barre chords for one, much easier, I also noticed a dramatic reduction in that annoying string noise you get when sliding notes and chords. Overall, it’s just faster, easier, I can play with more confidence, spend more time with the instrument, learn more, create more. It’s got more of a hold on me, the connection is stronger. It’s just a more fun, rewarding, and pleasurable experience.
Does lowering the action degrade tone?
Technically yes, lowering action equates to less string vibration and less sustain….in theory.
In practice? as long as the strings aren’t choking out and buzzing, the benefits of a low action far outweigh the benefits of a high one. Again we’re into the ‘feel’ domain, If you can put more into your playing, your vibrato and phrasing, for example, these would equate to a better tone upgrade than the highest of actions.
Conclusion
Stick your acoustic guitar saddle in a bench vice, sand it down, and fall in love with your acoustic guitar again. Simple.
Let me know your experiences with high acoustic actions and your own acoustic guitar mods in the comments below, or better still discuss in our forum.