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Location: south east Michigan | The below paragraphs came from the Acoustic Guitar message board and was written by Rick Turner. We have been talking about intonation and why the saddle is angled. I thought this answer would be interesting here.
"""""The saddle is angled back to compensate for the increased stiffness of the larger strings. That stiffness makes the notes go sharp as you play up the fingerboard, and thus the string length is compensated longer for stiffer strings.
Then, with the action generally higher on the lower (bass) strings, there is more string stretch to cleanly fret a note on those strings, and that stretch also makes the notes go a bit sharp. So you'll need more compensation with higher and/or heavier strings.
That's the simple answer"""""
Rick Turner
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Location: Midland, MI | How does the angled saddle know how 'stiff' my big strings are? |
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Location: south east Michigan | I don't think it is about the tension of the bigger string itself but the ratio between the largest and smallest.
"He blinded me with science!" |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Maybe I'm totally wrong, but I thought the reason the saddles were angled (or individually adjustable on electrics) was because of the string DIAMETER not the tension. That's why electrics with plain G vs. wound G have to be setup slightly different. I could be wrong. |
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Location: south east Michigan | I might be wrong also but I think I can see how a string of a different diameter can react differently at the same tension. And I would bet that there is not equal tension on all six strings.
CWK2 said in an earlier post that the angled saddle is not make intonation perfect by a long shot. |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | Angled saddle on an acoustic is a compromise, I believe it was Paul T that pointed out that acoustics have so many overtones that the lack of intonation is not very noticeable, but some compensation is neccessary due to string differences caused by diameter and tension. You will never see and angled saddle on an electric where the sound is purer, Les Paul wanted a guitar that had no overtones, he suggested a section of railroad rail as the ideal body so as to add no overtones. Rock guitarists disagree with Les Paul politely but firmly, Mary Ford agreed with him unquestionally.
I like my Viper so I don't need a Les Paul.
Bailey |
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Location: Scotland | Dave, the pitch produced by a string is a result of 3 factors;- Mass (diameter if you like) tension and vibrating length. When a note is fretted the length & tension are changed, but the mass remains constant. That's why compensation is needed. And Bailey, I wouldn't have made that overtones statement, largely because it's wrong. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | So who died and made you a rocket scientist? Ha Ha. Actually a funny story was that I was on a plane going somewhere and got chatting with the guy next to me. Turns out he worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab. He gave me his buniness card and at the bottom of the card was the quote "Yes, I am a rocket scientist".
Last time I played an open mic, some kid came up to me and said "Hey, you really suck". I said, "Don't blame me, blame it on my saddle". |
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Location: south east Michigan | I know some rude kids are just in that in between stage in becoming rude adults, but what in the world would make that kid say something like that? |
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Location: Midland, MI | Originally posted by Slipkid:
I know some rude kids are just in that in between statge in becoming rude adults, but what in the world would make that kid say something like that?
Poor parenting? |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | OK, so I "embellished" the story a little bit. Actually the "kid" was about 35 and what he said was "your guitar is out of tune". He was probably right, but I wasn't going to miss an opportunity. I said "don't blame me, blame the on-board tuner. I'm legally tone deaf". Which actually did not surprise him at all. |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | Paul T
Somebody made that comment somewhere and I believe it was related to the overtones or added tones of the vibration of an acoustic top that has certain resonant frequencies that you can hear when you tap an acoustic top without playing a string.
Bailey |
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March 2002
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Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | Originally posted by cruster:
Poor parenting?
some need to have THEIR intonation set using old fashioned methods. then maybe the sounds they emit would be more harmonious.
i have had a few smart ass kids in my classes. i
have no problem putting my detroit "put down" street training to work to give them a different perspective on why they are there. |
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Location: Midland, MI | Russ-
Glad you have the classroom under control! I did a 2.5 year gig at DPS (Unix consluting) and the things I saw going on...
Are you originally from Detroit? One of the (few) things I miss about that gig was going to lunch in Mexican village...Xoximilco (spelling may be off, I was a French major ) was the whip. And La Shish out in Dearborn...I haven't had a good chicken shawarma in eight months. =( |
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Intonation an angled saddles
