How tall should an acoustic guitar bridge be?
With that in mind, you get essentially the same result with a 3/8″ bridge and a 1/16″ saddle as you do with a 5/16″ bridge and a 1/8″ saddle. In general, the ‘ideal’ is a 11/32″ bridge and 5/32″ saddle, resulting in a 1/2″ string height above the top.
How high should the bridge be on a guitar?
For electric guitars, in our opinion, a good default string height at the 12th fret is typically about 6/64th of an inch (2.38mm) on the bass side and 4/64th of an inch (1.59mm) on the treble side.
How high should the saddle be above the bridge?
Before you decide whether or not to make an adjustment you should also consider that your saddle must fit deep and snug in the slot without wiggle room, that the saddle top radius should match that of your fingerboard, and that the desired saddle height should probably not average less than 1/32 inch or more than 3/16 …
Should a guitar bridge be level?
Generally not. You usually want the gap between the bottom of the string and the top of the frets to be fairly consistent and just high enough to avoid excessive fret buzz for your picking dynamics. That often means the low string side of the bridge needs to be a little higher.
How thick should an acoustic guitar bridge be?
Traditionally, the bridge plate is a Maple or Rosewood piece, transecting the lower bout legs of the X brace. In most production guitars, the plate is 1/8” to 3/16” thick.
Which side of the guitar bridge should be higher?
The treble side is normally played higher up the neck and so lowering that side, makes lead playing easier. If you look at high end classical guitars like Ramirez and the fingerboards were ramped, or tapered in both directions so you could compensate for that aspect without changing the bridge saddle height.
How high should strings be at the nut?
A good measurement is about 1/16″ in from each end of the first fret (measuring from the top of the beveled fret ends). Put the two outside E strings on the guitar and, looking straight down on the top of the nut, move these strings together or apart until their spacing is correct for you.
Which side of the acoustic guitar bridge should be higher?
The lower strings need to be higher because of the lower stress on the string from tuning to low notes. Typically it’s the bass side strings, and the difference is slight, just enough to help the strings from crashing into the frets.
What is the best bridge height for a guitar?
For the most part if what you are doing is building a conventional guitar you already have a target bridge height in mind ( 0.5” for steel string guitars and 10mm for classical guitars for example).
What is the average string action height on a guitar?
The average string action of the guitars I set up is 3/32 inches on the bass side and 1/16 inches on the treble side. It is important to note that to change your action height at the 12th fret a certain distance, you must multiply that number by two to find the height to raise it at the saddle.
How do you measure bridge height without saddle?
Subtract a reasonable amount of saddle exposure from the total and that will give you the height of the bridge itself, without the saddle. Guitar builders usually will check for proper neck angle by flattening the fretboard and putting a straight edge on it and looking to see that the straight edge just clears the top of the bridge sans saddle.
How much gap should there be between guitar strings?
The recommended gap should be sixth string = 2.2mm and first string = 1.6mm for most players. If the gaps are larger, drop the saddle height; if they’re too low you will need to shim your saddle or get a replacement saddle made.