Compensated Saddle

Speaking of saddles, just for the fun of it, I bought a compensated saddle (Chinese/bone) and now I can't make heads or tails of it. Which is north and which is south? Does the G go forward or go back? Thanks for your help. I figure I have a 50/50 chance and Murphy says I would get it backwards... Interested to see how it effects the sound.

Pre-compensated saddles are a bit hit and miss. In theory, the A string is short, the E string is long, the C string is long and the G string is short for RE-ENTRANT tuning. Often the compensation that you need on your particular instrument is slightly different from the theory and if your running low G then its just wrong anyway. This trend to pre made compensated saddles is a trend that I wish would go away. Just give me plain saddles and I'll do the compensating myself.

Anthony

I just replaced the so called compensated saddle from my uke with a straight bone saddle and it is now better.

A saddle can be compensated to make up for intonation deficiencies on a specific instrument, not to "improve the sound". I think offering a cookie cutter, pre-compensated saddle as an enhancement device is dishonest on the part of the seller.
The "sound" will only improve if the new saddle is of a more effective material (or if the previous saddle was defective in some other way). The intonation will change, but the chances are one in a million that it will improve either way you install it.
That being said, the change may be so infinitesimal you won't be able to hear it. So you probably won't know if the intonation is worse or better. As for anecdotal claims of improvement: imaginary.
If you want a compensated saddle to improve your intonation, the only way to do it is have an experienced professional compensate the saddle on your instrument.

Hmmm... So the opinion on so-called compensated saddles is not good... It was just an experiment I admit. What I was looking for was to get that C string to quit dominating and quacking so much by moving it back a little bit. Obviously I think the way to go after that is to use a wound C string. Anyway, it cost me all of $3 bucks. Now here is the reality: It came so thick that I would have to re-rout out my bridge to get it to fit or sand it down which would have changed the break angle thus negating any "compensation". In the end, the little "compensated" saddle went back into its little plastic bag and will probably get lost in a drawer somewhere and forgotten. Oh well....

I individually compensate each uke string with a 1/8" saddle. Generally, the break angle over the saddle for G and A strings are closer to the front of the saddle while the E is in the middle and the C is towards the back.

stevepetergal said:

A saddle can be compensated to make up for intonation deficiencies on a specific instrument, not to "improve the sound". I think offering a pre-compensated saddle as an accessory is dishonest on the part of the seller.
The "sound" will only improve if the new saddle is of a more effective material (or if the previous saddle was defective in some other way). The intonation will change, but the chances are one in a million that it will improve either way you install it.
That being said, the change may be so infinitesimal you won't be able to hear it. So you probably won't know if the intonation is worse or better. As for anecdotal claims of improvement: imaginary.
If you want a compensated saddle to improve your intonation, the only way to do it is have an experienced professional compensate the saddle on your instrument.

Click to expand...

Thank you!

I've compansated guitar saddles before, and I'm about to do the same for my first uke. The general idea is to check the tuning on the 12th fret and either lengthen or shorten the string length to compensate.