I thought to myself "better mark which side goes where" but of course I didn't and now I can't remember, does the "compensated" part of the saddle goe under the "B" string or the "A". I'm thinking I put my saddle in the wrong position. THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE! You'll know it right away. Also, if you put it on backwards, your action will be way out of kilter. Compensation doesn't fix the problem (it can't be fixed), but it improves things. 'Forward' is usually towards the tailpiece. Compensated saddles are still one-saddle-per-two-strings but they’ll usually give you better intonation than regular, straight saddles. Paste as plain text instead, × Check with Big Island, maybe they can send you a new saddle. You'll know it right away. By The calculator outputs offsets from the nominal bridge saddle location to the compensated bridge saddle location for each string, and also for a straight bridge saddle. What he said ^^^ - it goes under the B string. Wish there was a prize. Compensated saddles change the strings length by varying the position of the saddle's crown (point of contact). General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion. A compensated saddle includes ‘grooves’ or ‘notches’ where the high E, B and G strings rest. Guinea proverb: "A cow that has no tail should not try to chase away flies.". Shaping the top of the saddle to move the "take off" point of the string forward or backward is a way of fine tuning it further. Here's a pretty good shot of a compensated saddle. In the most ideal bridge, I think the saddle should protrude (as it does above) about 3/16" above the wood. Compensated saddles are used to improve intonation which effects the instruments ability to play in tune up and down the neck. For whatever reason it just looks and feels more right to me. The compensated Tele saddles are slanted to improve intonation, but they may not perfectly intonate every string. It's the European scale that we use, and the Indian composer was right, it's not in tune. (0 members and 1 guests). Does you guitar play in tune up the neck? Hey, it sounds like you did put your saddle in wrong...dont know what kind of guitar you have, but if it has bridge pins..(not a pinless bridge) you can use a capo, clamp your strings at the 4th or 5th fret, loosen the strings plenty but dont unwind tuners all the way or let the string come loose from the tuners, you should be able to get enough slack in the strings (leaving the capo clamped on them) to remove the bridge pins and turn your saddle like its suppose to be, reinstall pins and take slack out of strings, remove capo and tune. Compensated Saddle. Your previous content has been restored. © 1995-2019 Harmony Central, Inc. All rights reserved. The following figure shows the location of the hex screws. If that dont work, your gonna have to splurge for another set of strings. You can also use the saddles … Phil, its pretty common for the low E string to have quite a bit of compensation - I frequently find that the B is all the way back (like this saddle), the G is all the way forward, and the 4th, 5th and 6th form a smooth line from front to back. Hence the notches and the angles in a compensated saddle. There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. After I orient the saddle slot to that location I usually will install the saddle and shape it for height/action. It's another way to accomplish the same thing. The tone could be off, because there's less saddle contacting, but you'll get an idea on the pitch with uncompensated. If, (the fretted note), is sharp, you need to compensate the saddle by filing the contact point farther away. A damp cloth or blue roll is fine for this. The saddle may sit "captive" in a groove as it does in the bridge above, or it may be inlaid in a channel cut all the way through at the ends, as in this Martin guitar from the 1950s: Either way, the saddle … . Well... you could try it. Seems to me it should rise to a crown in the middle but I could be wrong. I usually round the top of the saddle to the same radius as the fretboard. Upload or insert images from URL. Hi, I have an Ibanez AE300 and have been wondering if my saddle was put back on the right way too. I'm 70% sure it went under the "B" but I want to double check with you guys before I put the strings on.