Templates For Adjusting The Radius Of Your Saddles....

[Prostheta]

This post inspired me to fire up TurboCAD and knock out some of the most common radii found on guitars as cutout templates you can "feel" under your strings when setting up. Primarily I did them to help Guitar2005 sort out a custom radius for a Tune-O-Matic by recutting the saddles but if they help other people out, then cool.

[original thread here]

Format is PDF for portability, print to A3 if you have the capability or to 2xA4 sheets. I would recommend mounting the paper on plastic to keep it's form. The templates I use were scribed onto some acrylic using a sharp point and some string. High tech baby :-)

DOWNLOAD TEMPLATE HERE

In the case of recutting your Tune-O-Matic saddles to a 16" radius instead of 12", string up as normal. Insert the correct radiused feeler between the third and fourth strings. It will sit under the first and sixth strings, with the existing smaller radius leaving the other strings higher. Depending on which way you prefer to work, pull the outermost strings which need lowering to the new radius out of the saddle and cut the slot deeper. I won't go into detail on saddle dressing, as I'm not too good at it :-)

After learning how to cut saddle slots, you should now have deeper slots with a string radius of 16". Same applies to smaller radii if you really want to go for that kind of thing. You'll just be cutting the outer strings as the feeler will touch third and fourth instead of the outer strings.

Hope this simple thing helps.

Oh yes, when printing the template make sure that the background gridlines measure one per centimetre. Some printers don't believe that 100% = 1:1.

Ah - apologies!! I will have to re-render the template tomorrow. TurboCAD seems to have faceted the radii very coarsely instead of as smooth curves. The 20" radius has been approximated to 3 straight lines...

[spazzyone]

this is my second favorite setup tool

but i bought mine as well as the regular radius gauge

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_suppl...ius_Gauges.html

[Racer X]

This post inspired me to fire up TurboCAD and knock out some of the most common radii found on guitars as cutout templates you can "feel" under your strings when setting up. Primarily I did them to help Guitar2005 sort out a custom radius for a Tune-O-Matic by recutting the saddles but if they help other people out, then cool.

[original thread here]

Format is PDF for portability, print to A3 if you have the capability or to 2xA4 sheets. I would recommend mounting the paper on plastic to keep it's form. The templates I use were scribed onto some acrylic using a sharp point and some string. High tech baby :-)

DOWNLOAD TEMPLATE HERE

In the case of recutting your Tune-O-Matic saddles to a 16" radius instead of 12", string up as normal. Insert the correct radiused feeler between the third and fourth strings. It will sit under the first and sixth strings, with the existing smaller radius leaving the other strings higher. Depending on which way you prefer to work, pull the outermost strings which need lowering to the new radius out of the saddle and cut the slot deeper. I won't go into detail on saddle dressing, as I'm not too good at it :-)

After learning how to cut saddle slots, you should now have deeper slots with a string radius of 16". Same applies to smaller radii if you really want to go for that kind of thing. You'll just be cutting the outer strings as the feeler will touch third and fourth instead of the outer strings.

Hope this simple thing helps.

Oh yes, when printing the template make sure that the background gridlines measure one per centimetre. Some printers don't believe that 100% = 1:1.

Ah - apologies!! I will have to re-render the template tomorrow. TurboCAD seems to have faceted the radii very coarsely instead of as smooth curves. The 20" radius has been approximated to 3 straight lines...

Okay, I was gonna say it looked off. Just thought that it was something with the way it looked onscreen, as opposed to printed. I had already made ones like this, at one point, but it never hurts to have a second set. Beside, I did mine the old fashioned was, on paper.

[Prostheta]

Paper is always better. As I mentioned, I scribed the ones I use onto acrylic but having something which is quick for reference and repeatable is no bad thing :-)

[Prostheta]

UPDATE: Original radius templates overwritten with new amended copy. I've also marked out string spacing on each template for some reason.