Is there a practical reason for this?

[Demanic]

A few months ago I picked up a bass and the bridge was set up in a manner that I hadn't seen before. The saddles were all canted.
The bass has a great action and great tone. So I decided to try the same thing on one of my guitars that has a bridge that will allow for it. It sounds good.
What I am wondering is, why, and is this standard practice for these types of bridges?

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[ehdwuld]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

My buddy did that to the bridge on his strat

Sometimes people just misunderstand what they are trying to do

The saddles themselves are level but the heights of the individual saddles are dependent on the fretboard

That angling the outside saddles is not right

 

[Demanic]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

I’m having a little trouble telling what I’m looking at, from the pictures.

The saddles aren't sitting parallel to the plate of the bridge. They are all canted to an angle from right to left. The left side of each saddle is lower than the right.
Like I said, it sounds good.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

It could force the saddles against each other a bit, thus making each saddle more tightly held in place?

 

[Demanic]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

It could force the saddles against each other a bit, thus making each saddle more tightly held in place?

That's what I'm thinking. Wouldn't that also increase the transmission of vibrations amoung the strings, possibly affecting the harmonic content?

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[Chris Pile]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

Years ago, I found that "leaning" the saddles against each other kept them from rattling against the base plate (when string tension was low it would allow it). Also, you can ever so slightly adjust the string spacing a bit doing that. There is no hard and fast rule, and my preference is that the saddles be set up level and equally spaced if at all possible.

Sometimes the guitar just wants things a certain way....Like it has a mind of its own. The whole combo has to work together, you know - and the same formula doesn't work on every guitar the same way.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

Well, with the three guitars that I have set up that way, they all sound good. Maybe even a bit more lively. So I'm going to leave them.

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[GuitarDoc]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

I can see posible reasond for that:

The two that have been mentioned...make the saddles tight against each other, and slightly adjust string spacing,
but also with them canted the way they are, if you have a tendency to hit your strings hard when you are playing and if that sometimes knocks the strings out of the saddle slot, then this will help to resist that force and keep the strings in the saddle slots.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

That's what I'm thinking. Wouldn't that also increase the transmission of vibrations amoung the strings, possibly affecting the harmonic content?

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It could. I think any time you make things more "solid" you get a bit less loss of string vibration. And like ICTGoober pointed out, it also leans the saddles toward the impact of a good downstroke.

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

I've had a couple of Guitars where offsetting the saddle height on one side of each saddle kept the bridge locked in better because of the overlap and it makes the saddle slightly wider in overall dimension when at an angle and sometimes the machining of the saddles can make for some unwanted play in the spacing -I had a Mexican Tele with a 90s bridge that required this.

If you angle all of them and they Do NOT fit like leaning towers perfectly from a parallel perspective, you effectively make the actual string spacing slightly wider too. -so that can be another reason to do this.

BUT If they do lean over and sit flush against the adjacent saddle and stack up a little -string spacing will be slightly REDUCED if wanted- so it may be a way to reduce the spacing in certain gaps etc.... who knows.

As long as the string is resting correctly on the saddle and the bolts are resting against the bridge plate, I don't think there's necessarily a downside.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

while holding the string better for down strokes may be possible
up strokes would be more likely to dislodge the string
wouldn't it?

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

while holding the string better for down strokes may be possible
up strokes would be more likely to dislodge the string
wouldn't it?

ha. that's really interesting. I guess that's possible too -but seems like a slightly deeper cut in the saddle would solve that too.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

deeper cut
wouldnt fall out with down strokes when level either

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

Yeah. If you've got deeper slots, no need to tilt the saddles.

I have never tried tilting my saddles so I can't really say if there is any practical advantage. It's all theoretical if I haven't actually tried it.

 

[SoPhx]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

Want to affect the harmonic content? Turn up the treble in your amp. Done.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

Want to affect the harmonic content? Turn up the treble in your amp. Done.

Turning up the treble amplifies what's there. It doesn't create it.

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

Turning up the treble amplifies what's there. It doesn't create it.

He used the word "affect" -which would not be incorrect, and it doesn't technically create content yes, -so you guys can celebrate both being correct.

 

[Mr. B]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

Are you saying that with the saddles adjusted correctly (parallel to the body) the guitar does NOT sound good, but when you tilt them sideways the guitar DOES sound good?

 

[Demanic]

Re: Is there a practical reason for this?

I am saying that I bought a bass recently that had the saddles angled in this manner, which I had never encountered before. And it sounds very good. So I decided to try the same thing on a couple of guitars that have the same bridge styles and they sounded good before but they might sound even a tad bit better now.
So, I was pretty much wondering if this type of setup was some sort of secret spice or just one of those things that someone did to set themselves apart from other luthiers.