Members Brokepick Posted January 23, 2009 Members Share Posted January 23, 2009 My Silver Creek D-170 has an objectionable string buzz when I play it hard. I bought it used, and it had obviously been set up low by the previous owner. I measured the string heights at the 12th fret, and they are a bit too low (first string is about 1/16 inch, sixth string is about 5/64 inch). It's not a humidity issue, and the neck relief is okay, so it looks like I need to raise the saddle height. I started looking around for a new saddle for it, and discovered that the dimensions of the saddle are very non-standard. If I want a new saddle, I'll have to make one from a blank. I know that's the best fix, but that's a lot of work. I may do that in the future, but for now I thought I'd just shim the existing saddle up. It's a nice bone saddle, and the intonation is almost dead-on. I have several small scraps of some very nice dense straight-grained red oak. Will that work as well as anything else for shim material? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pschaafs Posted January 24, 2009 Members Share Posted January 24, 2009 TAH always promotes some special red clay for this purpose, maybe he'll pipe in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members djuna Posted January 24, 2009 Members Share Posted January 24, 2009 Bob Colosi sells ebony shims on his website--he's got a kit and individual strips which are quite cheap. Very nice guy too, he's making a bone saddle for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scottgd Posted January 24, 2009 Members Share Posted January 24, 2009 I had to do some shimming on my Epi Elite SJ-200. I just used some wooden matchsticks. I wouldn't recommend this but it's worked for about 3 years now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hudman Posted January 24, 2009 Members Share Posted January 24, 2009 Cut a strip of plastic off an old credit card and glue it to the bottom of your saddle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gary Palmer Posted January 24, 2009 Members Share Posted January 24, 2009 Red oak will work very well for shimming as long as it isn't in direct contact with ferrous metals due to it's corrosive tannin content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bigald18 Posted January 24, 2009 Members Share Posted January 24, 2009 Probably the best thing for shimming a saddle is a NEW saddle cut to the height you want. This won't compromise the sound. bigald18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members d28andm1911a1 Posted January 24, 2009 Members Share Posted January 24, 2009 The oak should work ok.Best shims are either the saddle material or the bridge material glued to the saddle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kimona Posted January 24, 2009 Members Share Posted January 24, 2009 Many saddles on new guitars right out of the box are shimmed with plastic strips that just sit in the bridge slot. It's very east to just use a strip of old credit card to shim the saddle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted January 24, 2009 Members Share Posted January 24, 2009 TAH always promotes some special red clay for this purpose, maybe he'll pipe in That's really more for piezo UST issues, but it'll do an excellent job for shimming, as well. And the red-oak'll work fine. highstrung, PM your snail mail if you want to try the clay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted January 24, 2009 Members Share Posted January 24, 2009 A piezo UST works great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Samilyn Posted January 24, 2009 Members Share Posted January 24, 2009 Wood or plastic will work just fine. But as others have said, a new saddle is better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JasmineTea Posted January 24, 2009 Members Share Posted January 24, 2009 Pull-tops from some coffee cans are made of plyable aluminum. Cut it with a scissors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.