compensating for low g

gspears · Jun 26, 2014

I would like to put a low g on my next ukulele build. I was wondering how most of you compensate for the low g string? Do you compensate by routing an offset bridge slot or do you compensate using the saddle? Any info would be most helpful.

Thanks, Greg

Timbuck · Jun 26, 2014

I do it with the bridge slot like the pic below.. As does Kerry Char, and a few others I've come across..Some use a thick saddle shaped .. and some don't bother at all.

itsme · Jun 26, 2014

Timbuck said:
I do it with the bridge slot like the pic below.. As does Kerry Char, and a few others I've come across..Some use a thick saddle shaped .. and some don't bother at all.

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc143/shiregreenbod/lowg_zpsa7adec84.jpg

I'm confused... in that pic it doesn't look like it's a low G string at all. It's considerably thinner than the C string.

Sven · Jun 26, 2014

Ah, but it is wound with metal.

Timbuck · Jun 26, 2014

It's a Classical Guitar "D" string...Just the job for a tenor uke.

anthonyg · Jun 26, 2014

On my Scott Wise Tenor Solo (low G specific instrument) Scott has set the bass side of the saddle 1mm longer than the treble side. It appears that he has simply glued the saddle on with the offset. This instrument has almost perfect intonation. As perfect as your going to get a stringed, fretted instrument anyway. In my instruments case there is 2mm saddle compensation on the treble side and 3mm saddle compensation on the bass side. I'm not 100% sure that I would do this for all builds as there is a tiny bit of compensation in the nut placement as well. If you placed the nut spot on the theoretical mark then you would probably want 1mm less saddle compensation on both sides of the saddle. There's a little bit of black art going on here.

Anthony

gspears · Jun 26, 2014

Wow Ken, that is a sophisticated looking bridge. I really like it. I am assuming you have developed a jig for making them? Are you cutting them on a router table or using a CNC machine?

Beau Hannam Ukuleles · Jun 26, 2014

I've been happy with just using a straight saddle on Low G ukes. I don't think there is a need for saddle trickiness in this case.

Moore Bettah Ukuleles · Jun 26, 2014

I've never found a need to compensate for a low G either as long as the string is wound.

Timbuck · Jun 26, 2014

gspears said:
Wow Ken, that is a sophisticated looking bridge. I really like it. I am assuming you have developed a jig for making them? Are you cutting them on a router table or using a CNC machine?

They are done on a CNC setup, on a CNC router I built a couple of years ago...I got the dimensions for the compensation from the "David Hurd" website.

BR Ukuleles · Jun 26, 2014

I've never found that a low G string needs more compensation between the set that required more room than on a 3mm wide saddle.

anthonyg · Jun 27, 2014

Allen said:
I've never found that a low G string needs more compensation between the set that required more room than on a 3mm wide saddle.

My Scott Wise Tenor Solo (low g model) has a 2mm saddle so I would say that this is why Scott has put 1mm extra compensation on the bass side.

Anthony

gspears · Jun 27, 2014

Great info from all. Thank you so much. Once my current build is done. I'll post some photos. Thanks again for the advice.

gspears · Jun 27, 2014

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:
I've never found a need to compensate for a low G either as long as the string is wound.

Chuck, I have purchased a few sets of Savarez strings for my low g build. I used your recommendation on those strings from another post. I have the 504 for the G string and the 541,542 and 543 for the C,E and A.

maclay · Jun 27, 2014

Beau Hannam Ukuleles said:
I've been happy with just using a straight saddle on Low G ukes. I don't think there is a need for saddle trickiness in this case.

I have always used a straight saddle too.
I am playing around with the idea of a thick saddle though. More room for compensation, and possibly better for transferring string energy to the saddle, bridge, and top.

Beau Hannam Ukuleles · Jun 28, 2014

maclay said:
I have always used a straight saddle too.
I am playing around with the idea of a thick saddle though. More room for compensation, and possibly better for transferring string energy to the saddle, bridge, and top.

Yer- im thinking of going the fat saddle route too- perhaps ive looked at too many Kostal guitars!

maclay · Jun 30, 2014

Beau Hannam Ukuleles said:
Yer- im thinking of going the fat saddle route too- perhaps ive looked at too many Kostal guitars!

Yes, seems like the whole Somogyi family uses them.
I recently made a few bridges with "fat" slots.....going to use them unless my customers object.

anthonyg · Jun 30, 2014

Here's a question guys. Personally I surmised that thicker saddles would be the way to go however I've been told that thinner saddles transmit the sound more accurately. Anyone experimented and noticed a difference?

Anthony

maclay · Jun 30, 2014

I haven't experimented with it myself, but here is what Ervin has to say about it.

"If you have two virtually identical guitars one of which has the strings resting on a single high point of the saddle, and the other with the strings resting on a significant portion of the saddle’s top, I think you’ll find this second guitar works better. There is a better and more efficient coupling of kinetic string energy to the saddle by virtue of that extended contact. I can’t prove this, but I suspect if you pay attention to it you’ll get better results. (See Figure 3)"

With this "high-efficiency" string contact, more of the strings energy can go into the saddle/bridge/top system.

I'm going to give it a try.

Beau Hannam Ukuleles · Jun 30, 2014

Also, if you notice the "somogyi family"'s saddles, they are fat (5mm), but the slot is shallow- it appears to be only 2mm-3mm hidden in the bridge. This makes sense with a fat saddle.

I think 4mm wide would look decent and in proportion on a uke- not sure about 5mm

compensating for low g

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