FRETS.NET

Compensating saddles on Weissenborn style guitars- yes or no?

I've seen them done both ways. Original Weissenborns have the saddle straight across. Some luthiers are now making them with an intonated saddle- I've even seen one done with a split saddle-see pic. Compare the attached pics of a trad weissenborn & a paddy burgin.
So, whadda ya think? To angle or not to angle? I dont have much luthiery theory, but to me, the same issues that require intonation on a regular fretted guitar are happening on a slide or resonator guitar too- just upside down. The string elongates off its straight path as you press with the slide=string elongating if you fret a regular guitar. You also have issues of thick string gauges and low bass notes, even thicker than regular guitar strings= requirement for intonation.
It seems to me that keeping it straight across may be 'traditional' but then we have all seen lots of old harmonys, stellas etc that had straight saddles- that doesnt make it right.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Rory

Tags: intonation, saddle, weissenborn

Views: 276

Attachments:

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

The reason you need to composite is when you fret , push down the string to the fret, it will stretch tighter so you lighten the string to .composite the tone to make it in pitch. With a slide guitar you don't push that hard and if you press to hard you slide the bar to make the note true.

Robro Ron

RSS

© 2024   Created by Frank Ford.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service