The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    I’ve always left the bridge where it is when changing strings but realized that since I bought the guitar used, there’s no reason to believe it’s in the best position. Do you think the floating bridge should be directly over the sound post On a full hollow body?

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    The floating bridge should be positioned where the harmonic at the 12 fret and the fingered note at the 12 fret are identical.


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  4. #3

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  5. #4

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    Bridge position is one of the few things that are very objective about the guitar set up. The bridge should sit where the intonation is correct, otherwise you are using an out of tune instrument all the time. Also the up down placement should also be done so that the bridge is aligned with the tailpiece and the nut. This should place the strings symmetrically over the fingerboad.

    Tun-o-matic bridges have a little wiggle room as you can adjust saddles if the bridge base location is ball park correct. Wood saddles have no wiggle room.
    Last edited by Tal_175; 08-05-2020 at 10:17 AM.

  6. #5

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    Don’t know why I wasn’t considering intonation!?! Makes perfect sense, thanks everyone.

  7. #6

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    I’ve never had a hollow body guitar with a sound post. But the bridge position is driven by scale length. On a 25.5”’scale guitar the bridge lies about 25.5” from the edge of the nut. Then you move it to achieve the best balance of intonation across the six strings. Goal is to get the distance correct such that 3 notes align on each string (open, 12th fret, 12th fret harmonic). Unless the guitar has a problem, a bit of trial and error moving the bridge ever so slightly nutward or tailward usually leads to near-perfect intonation.

  8. #7

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    In the perfect world a 25.5 inch scale will have the high E string sitting at 12 3/4 inches but you adjust for compensation at about 1/16 of an inch longer. So your saddle as the string goes over it at the top will likely be 12 13/16 total. On the low E you move back add 5/32 to the length. This puts the saddle on slight angle with total length being 12 29/32.

    All of this is getting into very precise setting that must be set with either your own good ears or a electronic tuner. But in general this should get you in the ballpark for sure at least on a 25.5 scale. Note that this has zero to do with where the f-holes cutout is or anything else, it is demanded by simple math. I am not one to use a compensated saddle that calls for G string having a shorter set back. A gradual compensation of the entire saddle I think is the best compromise. The best way would be to individually compensate each string on an ebony saddle. This can be done but frankly in most cases it is an overkill and not worth the effort. Simply pressing harder or softer on strings in a chord will cause things to intonate different.

    Setting up intonation can get into as many variables as what scale to use on what chord to improvise.............depends on what is happening with the progression.

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by deacon Mark
    In the perfect world a 25.5 inch scale will have the high E string sitting at 12 3/4 inches but you adjust for compensation at about 1/16 of an inch longer. So your saddle as the string goes over it at the top will likely be 12 13/16 total. On the low E you move back add 5/32 to the length.
    This is great insight. Mark has been doing this long enough to know these distances from the 12th fret to the bridge saddle by heart! Nice!

    We are fortunate to have him and access to his hands-on expertise on this forum.

  10. #9

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    Besides the front/back positioning, pay attention to the other axis as well, the up and down one. Make sure the strings go straight from nut to bridge and tailpiece, and that they align with the polepieces of the pickups.

  11. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Alter
    Besides the front/back positioning, pay attention to the other axis as well, the up and down one. Make sure the strings go straight from nut to bridge and tailpiece, and that they align with the polepieces of the pickups.
    They do not always match up exact. You have to get the string spacing correct at the nut and then at the saddle. Then you center it correct with respect to the neck and fingerboard. The polepieces should line up close but not exact. Some guitars they are closer than others. Here is an saddle I made for my Super 400. It came with a tunomatic and I carved an ebony one with the compensation pattern I explained earlier. Note the polepieces are close but not exact. It can be much more variable on some guitars. This guitar intonates incredible well.

    Floating bridge position-img_1358-jpg