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Recently I let my guitar to a luthier to lower the action. So I have two questions about the bone:
1) I now have two bones for y guitar, one new and one original. I notice that the shape of the two is different (see the photo), one is kinda higher at one end and then towards the other end it gets lower (left on the photo), and the other is a bit higher in the middle but the same high at the ends (right). So, is there any significance regrading different shapes?
2) How important is that the bottom part of the bone fits perfectly on the bridge (i.e., no spaces between the bottom of the bone and top of the bridge)?
Every guitar I have owned or played had a bone with the higher end on the 6th (E) string and the lower end on the 1st (E) string.
The other bone which you state is even on both ends and higher in the middle does not appear that way to me. In looking at it closely, it seems to be a bit higher on the 6th string end than on the 1st string end. It is a close call, but that is the way I see it.
Regarding your second question, obviously the more closely the fit of the bone in the bridge slot the better.
Bill
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Some luthiers make the bone on the d string a little higher and create a slight bow. Anyway, the e string should set up a little bit lower than the E string. The "relative" high point at the d string can avoid string buzzing. I make my bone linear from low E to high e (~ 0,5-0,8mm difference).
It al depends on the guitar ( neckangle, frett job etc.) IMO Linear bone on flat freeboards, curved bone on curved fretboards.
Vince a good way to look at rounding the bone is to compensate for the bridge flattening. I use to use flat bone all of the but have noticed that over the years they have become concaved due to the flattening of the bridge in from of the sound board.
Filip it is hard to say which bone it correct as we don't know what the action is with the bone in place.
The saddle should be higher for the bass strings because they vibrate more widely.
I find that a curved, rather than straight, top of the saddle makes it easier, for example, if you want to bar the 2nd and 3rd strings with your index finger while leaving the first string open.
Sometimes a fingerboard will be radiused from side to side, in which case the saddle will need to be rounded more (length wise).
I have a guitar that has an under saddle pickup which I installed by routing out the center of the saddle's footprint on the bridge. I found that there was no loss of sound when the guitar is played unamplified, so I don't think it matters very much how smooth and straight the bottom of the saddle is, as long as there is good contact with the sides of the channel.
I find that a curved, rather than straight, top of the saddle makes it easier, for example, if you want to bar the 2nd and 3rd strings with your index finger while leaving the first string open.
Some guitar saddles are rounded higher for the 4th string due to its tendency to buzz. This is characteristic of a weaker 4th string in its union with some tops.
I use a straight saddle and tune the 4th string to get a little stronger tension, with the bass side of the saddle being a little higher than the treble. There are several corrections for this; another is to thin out the top under the bridge about .05 mm, about the area of a quarter, at the middle 3rd and 4th strings......This will tighten up the string tension to some extent.
First of all thanks for replying, and I apologize for my late response (I am quite busy finishing my thesis and preparing the presentation, and I am in the middle for organizing my moving to Paris next week.
I haven't played much in the last couple of weeks, mostly because I don't like this new bone at all. The problem I have is that, apart from buzzing for which I was prepared and expected a bit, there are some strange sounds, very discrete ones but annoying, that I don't know how to explain. I am sure it is something that did not happen before and it confuses me. When I put back the other bone, I have an impression that it is higher than it used to be so that the luthier confused and lower my original bone and just gave me another one for backup, but I don't know.
I will give the links to some photos for you to see how the new bone fits in the place, and you'll see the empty space between (click the photo to enlarge).
Oh, and yes, I made some measurements so here are the numbers. I measured the bone itself as well as the action from beginning of the fretboard or the top to the beginning of the string.
Lower bone: 4mm (5mm in the middle) and 4mm 1st freet: 2mm 12th freet: 4-4.5mm whole: 9mm bridge: 7mm
Higher bone: 5mm to a little over 6mm at the 6th string 1st freet: 2mm 12th freet: a little over 5mm whole: 11mm bridge: 10mm
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