Saddle blank

An uncut piece of bone or synthetic material from which a replacement saddle is shaped to fit a specific guitar.

Saddles are supplied oversized so that the height, intonation compensation and end radius can all be cut to suit the individual instrument. The repairer measures the slot, grinds the blank to fit, and then fits the top of the saddle to the fretboard radius and adjusts each string's contact point for intonation. Blanks are sold in a range of thicknesses and in denser materials such as bone, which is harder than the plastic saddles fitted to many inexpensive instruments.

Example: A piece of bone filed and sanded to shape before being dropped into an acoustic guitar's bridge slot is a finished saddle made from a saddle blank.

Saddle blank

See also