How does your guitar sound?  One simple improvement is to replace the existing nut and saddle with bone ones…

I’m a traditionalist and I really like traditional bone nuts and saddles.

To make sure I get the size exactly right I need to get the action setup properly first.  

The neck was a little too curved, so a twist on the truss rod.

Now I know just how high the new bridge needs to be.

It needs to be exactly that shape, just a little shorter.

Get it roughly the right length to start with.

and then the top to the right curve.

The blank was also rather too thick so it needs to be thinned down.

With the end rounded off it now fits the guitar.

So then get the height right.

The top also needs to be sharpened to a neat ridge, compensated to correctly intonate each of the strings.

Just like that…..

Much the same with the nut.  Out with the old…

Just a case of cutting, grinding and sanding a bone blank to the shape of the old one.

Rough length…

Correct thickness..

Once it fits the slot….

Get the ends flush with the neck.

and the shape of the top.

Glue it in place…

Mark the outside strings…

and the other 4….

With the strings back and at tension I can measure how deep to cut the slots…

There it goes, paying and sounding really great.

For anything else http://guitar-george.co.uk