Vintage Bridge question: groove the saddles?

[cacibi]

I've got a Wilkinson Compensated Bridge from Stewmac on my partscaster; after completing the build, I put it away because I thought the neck needed to be shimmed - some notes were fretting out.

Anyway, picked it up again tonight and realized the string in question was making contact with the saddle 'hump. If you're not familiar with these saddles, there is a raised section in the middle of each saddle where the compensation adjustment screw sits. As the G string comes over the saddle - it's catching the edge of the ridge and as I bend it - the string gets damped. I'm wondering if I should groove the saddles with a file to keep the string running over the saddle where I want it and also true over the pickup poles.

My other teles have newer, six-saddle bridges so - I'm not as familiar with the vintage style.

Thanks

[cacibi]

They're grooved and working great. Such an easy fix, what I thought was a lame-duck guitar is now rockin'.

[RomanS]

I'm thinking about doing the same thing to my Wilkinosn Vintage bridge (I've got the 'other' model - from GFS) - the B-string tends to shift its position when I snap it (I play hybrid-style with pick and fingers, to get those snapping/popping sounds).
I've never done this before - do you just use a regular (triangular, I presume) file? Anything to look out for?

[cacibi]

I used my guaged, nut files and - as with slotting the nut, used the guage up from the actual string guage (.50 for the .46 low E for example) to avoid binding. As advised on another thread, I made the groove on the side of the saddle 1 to 2 o'clock position, where the string initially makes contact - and therefore has the most tenstion to keep it in the slot. I really didn't have to go very deep at all to get good results. Also - I used a marker to color the area on each side of the string when it was in the correct position - then detuned and moved the string to file. This will not only give you the right location, but the natural angle of the string on the saddle - as the location on the saddle is not always in line with the string-through holes.

[RomanS]

Thanks!