Greetings,
My name is Tim. I’m out here in Santa Barbara, CA. I just finished my first tenor ukulele. I just strung it up and I was checking my string heights both at the first fret and 12th. Pressing down the 3rd fret my string clearance at the 1st fret is perfect ( almost touching). But at the 12th, I’m a bit over 3 mm on the 4th string and just under 3 mm at the 1st string. So, I also have very little saddle height above the bridge slot.
I was just about to remove about 1 mm f wood both sides of the slot and suddenly decided to ask for a little help. I have about .5-1 mm left at the base of the slot to the level of the wings of the bridge. So, I could take a bit more away there carefully. The strings are touching the wood on the beveled ramp at the back of the saddle slot. I want to remove a little there for sure.
My question is: is it a good idea to lower the slot more or remove a little more from the top of the bridge. If I go too deep in the slot, won’t it make the bridge much weaker for the lateral forces. But, then reducing the bridge height would do the same? I’m a little confused on this choice. Right now, my gut tells me I’d be okay to lower the slot to the height of the bridge wings. Then, also reducing the wood at the top of the bridge saddle slot area would be okay here as well. Kind of splitting the difference of the forces here.
I have Koa back and sides, with a redwood top. Rosette is Sitka spruce and everything else is Indian Rosewood. Very simple. I had some difficulty in the build as I cut all my binding channels by hand. Oh, they were okay but I had some gaps here and there that needed to be filled.
Thanks for any help here!
My name is Tim. I’m out here in Santa Barbara, CA. I just finished my first tenor ukulele. I just strung it up and I was checking my string heights both at the first fret and 12th. Pressing down the 3rd fret my string clearance at the 1st fret is perfect ( almost touching). But at the 12th, I’m a bit over 3 mm on the 4th string and just under 3 mm at the 1st string. So, I also have very little saddle height above the bridge slot.
I was just about to remove about 1 mm f wood both sides of the slot and suddenly decided to ask for a little help. I have about .5-1 mm left at the base of the slot to the level of the wings of the bridge. So, I could take a bit more away there carefully. The strings are touching the wood on the beveled ramp at the back of the saddle slot. I want to remove a little there for sure.
My question is: is it a good idea to lower the slot more or remove a little more from the top of the bridge. If I go too deep in the slot, won’t it make the bridge much weaker for the lateral forces. But, then reducing the bridge height would do the same? I’m a little confused on this choice. Right now, my gut tells me I’d be okay to lower the slot to the height of the bridge wings. Then, also reducing the wood at the top of the bridge saddle slot area would be okay here as well. Kind of splitting the difference of the forces here.
I have Koa back and sides, with a redwood top. Rosette is Sitka spruce and everything else is Indian Rosewood. Very simple. I had some difficulty in the build as I cut all my binding channels by hand. Oh, they were okay but I had some gaps here and there that needed to be filled.
Thanks for any help here!