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Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 29
| I own a vintage Artist Balladeer (1121 I think) to which I added a Fishman Matrix Natural I. My guitar must have pre-dated the ones that have shims under the saddle. Because my saddle was raised as a result of adding the pickup, I filed the bottom of it off to compensate. After reading a couple of posts below, I'm wondering if that was such a smart move. I'm not real pleased with the sound I get from the pickup. It's pretty even across the strings, but the sustain is practically non-existent. I use an effects pedal with a volume control to EQ control the volume. That helps some, but the result is more of an electric sound than I would like.
Since I'm not supposed to shave the saddle for an electric, how do I lower the action at the bridge? Does Ovation or anyone else provide saddles of varying heights that I can substitute for this one? I'm open for suggestions.
Thanks,
Neil |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | nothing wrong with shaving the bottom of a 1121 saddle. You need to be sure that the bottom is flat so you have full contact across the pickup. also there needs to be full contact across the bottom of the saddle slot. Make sure it's all in there nice and snug and the sound should be there. The fishbreath is a nice pickup, my favorite of what's out there. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | If the string to string balance is OK then the pickup installation is OK, so the lack of sustain could be due to a shallow break-angle over the saddle. If the action is low & you can live with it going a little higher try adding a shim or making a new saddle of the correct height. |
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Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 29
| If anything, I'd like to lower it a tad more. I fussed around with the action by playing with the truss rod. That was before I read the frets.com stuff to see how it should have been done (nut and bridge). Now, I think I need to either re-adjust things or, better yet, take it to a pro to get what I want. Thanks for the input. |
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Ovation saddles
