Strings moving out of saddle 'groove'

Hi all,

Occasionally when I play really hard I notice that a few of the strings have 'jumped' out of their saddle 'slot'/'groove' by just a tiny amount.

They can be pushed straight back in and it does't seem to affect the tuning.

But, what is the cause of this? I have a Made in Japan '52 RI and I bought it second hand. It has brass saddles, 2 strings per saddle.

I am not at all familiar with setting up a tele so just want some info on this.

BTW the guitar sounds awesome and I have no issues with it at all...should I just ignore this and get on with the playing?

It's just a fact of life with ungrooved saddles. One possible solution is shimming the heel of the neck so that you need to raise the saddles to get more break angle, though this will also change the feel of the guitar slightly.

You might also be successful in grooving the back side of the saddle so that the string doesn't move, but also still rests on the curved part of the saddle like it does now.

Another solution is Marc Rutters' intonated saddles, which he does with a carefully positioned groove. I like them a lot.

It's just a fact of life with ungrooved saddles. One possible solution is shimming the heel of the neck so that you need to raise the saddles to get more break angle, though this will also change the feel of the guitar slightly.

You might also be successful in grooving the back side of the saddle so that the string doesn't move, but also still rests on the curved part of the saddle like it does now.

Another solution is Marc Rutters' intonated saddles, which he does with a carefully positioned groove. I like them a lot.

Hey, many thanks for that reply.

I think I will live with it as I dare not mess with the overall sound of the guitar too much as I love it.. I might just go for a little work on the back side of the saddle...what tool would you use for that job?

Thanks in advance

You'll need a file, preferably one with a small, rounded edge, and some various grits of sandpaper to smooth it out so you don't leave burrs that will cut your strings.

You'll need a file, preferably one with a small, rounded edge, and some various grits of sandpaper to smooth it out so you don't leave burrs that will cut your strings.

Many thanks!

I got so obsessed with filing my saddles in the search of perfection that I eventually got fed up and bought saddles with pre-made grooves. They're not perfect, but at least I don't bother trying to change them; so it's cured my obsessive filing, which all but destroyed the original saddles.

Grooved saddles, brass, bottom of page
http://www.axesrus.com/axeSaddlesh.htm
- perfect.

It's just a fact of life with ungrooved saddles. One possible solution is shimming the heel of the neck so that you need to raise the saddles to get more break angle, though this will also change the feel of the guitar slightly.

You might also be successful in grooving the back side of the saddle so that the string doesn't move, but also still rests on the curved part of the saddle like it does now.

Another solution is Marc Rutters' intonated saddles, which he does with a carefully positioned groove. I like them a lot.

+1 for Marc Rutters.

+1 also for Marc Rutters.

Grooved saddles, brass, bottom of page
http://www.axesrus.com/axeSaddlesh.htm
- perfect.

ta for that jefrs.

Another +1 for Rutters. These fixed my string "migration" issues and gave me perfect intonation at the same time on my Baja:

http://app4.websitetonight.com/projects2/0/3/8/9/1609830/_mygallery/RuttersBrassSaddles2.jpg

Years ago, I used a section of wound string as a "file" to put a groove in brass saddles on a Suhr. The brass was incredibly soft.

I "discovered" a little cheat for non-compensated 3-barrel saddle intonation.

Raising the saddle a little on one side is equivalent to moving that side forwards, it sharpens the fretted string, obviously lowering it flattens. You can make non-compensated 3-barrel saddles compensate without bending the screws.
It's not perfect like a 6-saddle and it's a bit fiddly, but close. I see no reason why "compensated" saddles cannot be tweaked in this way either..