(Log in to disable ads.)

It is commonly said that a higher action on an acoustic guitar will result in better tone overall. If you ask why, you may likely be told, as I have been, the higher action allows more space for the strings to vibrate, in turn allowing subtle frequencies to increase in volume, resulting a more complex sound and better tone. What? Yeah It sounds fishy to me too. I want to ask if this theory may be correct:


The process of sanding down the saddle in the bridge results in a more shallow string angle. I am referring the the angle the string makes with the sound board in this picture BTW:



Andy McGibbon (excuse my Afrikaans spelling ? ) told us at a workshop that a steeper angle transmits more vibrations to the soundboard, resulting in better tone. It is simply vertical and horizontal vector components really. A steeper angle will result in a greater vertical force and a diminished horizontal one (for a guitar laying flat, like the earth)

Now, is it possible that the reduction of action height will result in loss of tone and volume, not because of the reduction of height itself, but rather because of the change in string angle due to reshaping the saddle?

Here is an interesting article that proposes a solution, what do you think?

http://www.eltjohaselhoff.com/how_to_make_your_guitar_sound_better.htm



    Yes, that "proposed" solution is pretty standard if you need to bring the saddle down quite far (due to a guitar with too high an action that you don't want to reset the neck on). This is what it looks like (my Cort Earth 900):



    IIRC, I originally learned this from one of Dan Erlewine's books.

    BTW, I don't like the look of that first bridge you posted - the saddle is leaning because of (what I would regard as) too high a saddle (there is such a thing as too steep an angle), which puts a lot of forward pressure on the saddle too. The strings are only making contact at the rear of the saddle. The general rule is 50/50 - 50% of the saddle should be below the surface of the bridge and 50% above.
      If I am not mistaken, Ovation were actually the first manufacturer to bring out guitars that had the ramp cutout from the factory - not something Alan would mention I presume ?
        ? Lol! The Ovation had to have them because of the top loading, pinless bridge design. They also used phenolic circuit board for bridge saddle shims and soft plastic saddle material, both of which offset any tonal advantage of the improved break angle.



        For all that I slag off the Ovations there were one or two things they did that were nice. The headstock design giving a straight string pull through the nut. Nice V shaped necks that were 5 laminae of very nice wood (on the originals at least). And of course, they were the first real plug-in acoustics.
          mmm can i be the devils advocate here.........

          i favour low low actions on my acoustics ...as low as any electric guitar action ...........and yes they all nylon strings ........... and to achieve that i lower the saddle to almost nothing ...(most nylons except the crossover yamaha CGX's don't have trussrods) and this was done for me initially on my CGX i been playing for years by an italian luthier........... he even whittled away some of the yamaha's wood on the bridge to lower it as flat as i wanted........... in last while i have also lowered the saddles on all my guitars that low.........

          and the catch is i always get compliments on the tone of my guitars............ so maybe that angle thing is more flexible than you realise...... i broke the rule and i get great tone especially unplugged....... and everyone that knows me will agree i'm into nylon strings sounding natural and rich .....

          so yeah just my experience on the matter .........


            Keira WitherKay wrote:
            and the catch is i always get compliments on the tone of my guitars............ so maybe that angle thing is more flexible than you realise...... i broke the rule and i get great tone especially unplugged....... and everyone that knows me will agree i'm into nylon strings sounding natural and rich .....
            I think it depends on the bridge construction too. With a flat-top steel string with bridge pins you can certainly get to a point where there is insufficient break angle over the saddle. Something like this


            With steel strings with "through" bridges (EG Ovation, Lowden) or on classical guitars where the bridge is cut lower after the saddle so that you can pass the strings under and around and then tie a knot it may be less of an issue.

            But I don't think the factor here is action, it is the angle as the string passes over the saddle. A good set up should be able to give you both a reasonable break angle and low action - assuming there's not some other issue with the guitar EG a neck reset is required.

            Thinking about it makes sense that you need good downward pressure on the saddle as the saddle is the interface between the strings and the top.
              7 years later
              The problem I have found with high action is it makes it extremely hard to get the presses right which results in my acoustic to make a klunking sound when strumming.

              After dropping the action to the correct height,I re tuned my guitar with my GuitarTuna app I downloaded on my phone. It has become easier to strum and my guitar sounded much better and had more volume as well
                Write a Reply...