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rombsix -> RE: Lateral tautness (Dec. 6 2025 2:54:33)
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quote:
Right. So on guitars with higher action, I can simply play over closer to the hole. When the strings are low action, I have to move closer to the bridge or the strings don't return to set position fast enough. This situation can be instant changed by raising or lowering the saddle. The string tension, as I said affects the situation as well, hence I said before changing the saddle you can experiment with strings and brands. As I said as well, drop the pitch or raise the pitch to change the action as well. Paco used to tune some guitars very sharp in pitch (observed by capo position and resultant pitches), and this is simply due to not wanting to raise the saddle higher than it was. The tension is higher if you increase the pitch. The focus about the right hand only, deserves its own terminology, hence for a long time I thought everybody meant "right hand action", until the magical unicorn claims kept cluttering the issue. But what Luciano is missing is the reality, that I also realized, is that the pressing of the left hand down to the fret IS RELEVANT to what your right hand also is feeling. BOTH are connected via the action set up. The movement closer to the bridge will be on guitars that, if you could objectively compare (and you can't unfortunately take the neck off and replace or change its angle) have quicker easier left hand response AS WELL. In other words, all things equal, if the neck moves forward, RAISING the strings above the frets, my right hand will ALSO have to move closer to the soundhole, to get a good feeling/response. The two are connected. Let's talk more about this. Let's use physics / measurable things. To make the question easier, let's think about *one* guitar. Everything stays the same: string brand / tension, humidity, etc. The only thing we change is the height of the saddle. If we raise the saddle, you're saying you feel more comfortable playing closer to the hole. If we lower the saddle, you feel more comfortable playing closer to the bridge. Why is that? Like through physics / measurable things, why would you feel any difference in how comfortable it is to play (for the *right* hand) if the only thing changing is the saddle height? I can visualize why raising the saddle height makes it more difficult for the left hand - you have to press stronger to move the string further down towards the fret to get a clean note. I cannot visualize why raising the saddle height makes it more difficult for the *right* hand, though. So in other words, I'm going back to the image I posted from the late Ben Woods. I went over Arash's response, but I'm not sold. Ricardo, you said that if you raise the saddle, that accomplishes a similar effect to changing the strings from medium tension to high tension. Why would it? Let's factor out of the equation variables such as: capirote / blood from dance accompaniment / being able to rest the thumb on the top / picado hitting the top. Let's assume all those things do *not* get affected when we raise the saddle. If you're just purely talking about pushing your finger through the strings, "upward", like you're doing a rest stroke and pulling the G string towards the D string - why would a higher saddle make that more difficult thereby necessitating you moving to the hole to regain comfort / sweet spot? I don't get how the saddle height affects how difficult it is to "pull" your finger through the G string via a rest stroke with your right hand finger ending on the D string. Can someone explain that through physics? If we keep the saddle height constant, I get that if you play closer to the bridge, that is an area where the string is closer to its "immobile" point (at the saddle), so to move it requires more force. The farther away from the saddle you go, the more "room" you have to move the string, thus the easier it feels to "pull through" via a rest stroke. Why would changing the saddle height affect the impact from the immobile point? Is it because the amount of string from the tie block to the peak of the saddle where the string makes contact is now *longer* due to the increased height of the saddle, so now there's "less" string between the saddle and the nut, which therefore increases the tension of the strings since they travel a shorter distance between two immobile points?
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