Custom made bridge saddle for intonation

[hungry mountain boy]

Just wondered about any experiences to get perfect intonation as I'm told most of the time its never a hundred percent unless you have one custom made. So if you did how much did it cost, who did it, and what were the results? Thanks Glenn

[Martin Jonas]

I have had a luthier make me a compensated custom saddle on one bowlback, and have done it myself on two more. Esteemed Cafe member Richard Walz (RSW) has posted very useful instructions on how to do it in his contributions to this (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=6;t=23666;hl=intonation+and +saddle) old thread. I asked luthier Jon Springhall to make me a compensated bone saddle as part of his extensive restoration of my 1898 Giuseppe Vinaccia bowlback. These instruments normally have a straight uncompensated bone saddle. As far as I recall, h charged £40 for the compensated saddle, whereas a straight one would have cost half that amount. Well worth the relatively small difference in the context of what was a much larger repair bill. I later dialled in the intonation myself when I fitted a replacement bridge to my Embergher bowlback and also made a new bone saddle from scratch for my Ceccherini (see this (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=6;t=37018;hl=intonation+and +saddle) thread. With a decent tuner, I found this quite straightforward. Intonation is now really good, for the strings which I used in the setup. Of course, intonation does depend on string gauges and stiffness, so different strings will vary slightly. Also, if you're hunting for variability, you will always find some: perfect intonation does not exist. One of several reasons for this is that we are talking about the pitch of fretted notes, and no player in the world will achieve the perfectly reproducible finger position and fretting pressure which would be needed for perfectly reproducible pitch of the fretted note. Even slight variation in fretting can cause pitch to change by +/- 5 cent or so.

Martin

[sunburst]

I adjust the saddle for optimum intonation on every mandolin I build, and most of the ones I set up.
But! Perfect, or 100% intonation is not possible. It can't be done for several reasons, probably the most important one being even temperment, the system of tuning that we use in western music.
I just priced a custom saddle today for an instrument that will likely have slightly different needs than a standard mando (archtop tenor guitar). It will be in the range of $75 to $100.

[hungry mountain boy]

Okay, do most pro bluegrass pickers get custom made bridges/saddles?

[sunburst]

I doubt it.
Stock saddles are usually pretty close, and they can also be modified for better intonation more easilly than making a complete custom saddle.

[evanreilly]

I have had two very carefully cut custom saddles; those particular mandolins are the best intonated in my collection. One came with the instrument from the builder, and one was an add-on. I would guess in the area of $75-$100, depending if one wants just a saddle, bridge fitting, materials, et cetera.