Luthiers - saddle modification to fix intonation on acoustic guitar

[Melgueil]

Ok - this is starting to drive me nuts. Call me a perfectionist and I know about the tempered scale. Also perhaps result of years of playing fretless bass - but have a problem I need to fix.

Have Taylor Acoustic guitar fro which one single string does not match harmonic at the 12th fret. I can hear it - though it is very subtle. Result is that this drives me crazy as I try to finesse solo recordings - or lay it in the mix. The culprit is the "g" string (no puns here please :-). I am not luthier but I suspect that if I can shorten the length of the string just a pinch - perhaps by putting a small additional amount of material on the saddle at the point where the string touches the saddle for that sting - will fix the problem. Seems to be more pronounced than when I first had the guitar (changed strings recently to Elixers).

Should I try this at home ? Take to a local luthier ? Just live with it ? Other solutions ?

Looking for any advice. Thanks and regards

[Roland]

Originally Posted by Melgueil

Ok - this is starting to drive me nuts. Call me a perfectionist and I know about the tempered scale. Also perhaps result of years of playing fretless bass - but have a problem I need to fix.

Have Taylor Acoustic guitar fro which one single string does not match harmonic at the 12th fret. I can hear it - though it is very subtle. Result is that this drives me crazy as I try to finesse solo recordings - or lay it in the mix. The culprit is the "g" string (no puns here please :-). I am not luthier but I suspect that if I can shorten the length of the string just a pinch - perhaps by putting a small additional amount of material on the saddle at the point where the string touches the saddle for that sting - will fix the problem. Seems to be more pronounced than when I first had the guitar (changed strings recently to Elixers).

Should I try this at home ? Take to a local luthier ? Just live with it ? Other solutions ?

Looking for any advice. Thanks and regards

I wouldn't try and fix it yourself and don't just use a local guitar guy, IMHO you need to find an expert. It does occur to me that although the harmonic is off, perhaps it is set to adjust for the additional tension caused by depressing the string to the fretboard itself, that would cause the harmonic to be be just slightly off (of course it depends on how far you are talking about). A real expert should look at all aspects (including they way you play), before making any changes.

Regards


Roland

[Melgueil]

Thanks for responding - all good suggestions. What is most curious is that this "maladjutment" is ONLY present on the third sting. All other strings perfect.

However it is driving me nuts. I have literally spent 30 minutes fine tuning the guitar. Then again I am very picky about intonation having been forced to pay very close attention while making the transition to fretless bass many years ago. The only time I am close to satisfied is when I use an "open tuning" - then I get the overtone series "ring", sparkle whatever. If I tune the guitar carefully in one specific key for the song - it is out of tune in every other key - such is life with the guitar and the tempered scale I suppose.

rgds