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2004 Takamine AN10 [4.5 lbs] :: new bone split saddles

2004 Takamine AN10 [4.5 lbs] :: new bone split saddles.

Let's start by saying I am not a big fan of split saddles or pin-less bridges (on a steel string).  They do look cool, but this combination makes setups take a little longer and pin-less bridges on steel string guitars always seem to fail faster.  Pin-less bridge designs are asking the glue joint alone to bear the weight of roughly 180 lbs of shear force from string tension.  Traditional pinned bridges allow the top to help relieve some of that tension from the glue joint.  As you can see from the photo, the two black dots on the rear of the bridge conceal bolts that many production manufacturers use to help keep the bridge on (but still fail eventually).  The bolts help locate the bridge during glue-up and also prevent catastrophic failure*.

This bridge has a slight gap forming behind the bridge, but nothing serious at the moment.  Ideally it should have been removed and re-glued but I wanted to keep this in budget.  It may have to visit the bench again in the future.  All in all, this guitar sounds great for a production dreadnought.

*Speaking of catastrophic failure, I was at a guitar show  years ago.  While everyone was setting up in the morning getting ready for the public, someone's classical bridge let go and the bridge came flying off of the guitar.  Wow, it was a gut-wrenching sound that made me feel for the builder.

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2007 Seagull S6 Slim Dread [4.7 lbs] :: lower saddle & cut string ramps in bridge

2007 Seagull S6 Slim Dread [4.7 lbs] :: lower saddle and cut string ramps in bridge.

The action was lowered by straightening the excessive relief in the neck via the truss rod and lowering the saddle.  With such low saddle exposure above the bridge, I had to cut string ramps to increase the downward pressure of the strings to prevent buzzes and help drive the top.

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