Dumb saddle screws question

Jonathangus

The answer might be 'try it and see', but...

I have a modern-style six-saddle Tele bridge with two grub screws per saddle.  There are four pairs of long grub screws, and two pairs of shorter ones.

Are the shorter ones intended for the outside strings - high and low E, or the thinnest strings - E and B?

stickyfiddle

Unless there's something weird happening they should be on the outermost strings (e & e) so you don't shred your palm on them

FX_Munkee

high and low e, to compensate for the fact that your fretboard is radiused and your bridge is flat

Jonathangus

Thanks, gents.  That what I thought - but I found a YouTube short that suggested the E and B (the ones with the lowest action).  I shall leave them as they are!

stickyfiddle

The main thing is what don't want sticky up screws that hurt if you look at them wrong. 

(Mr Gilmour, I'm looking at you... though I grant the E and A are nice and low and he's not a very "flaily" player)

Jonathangus

stickyfiddle said:

The main thing is what don't want sticky up screws that hurt if you look at them wrong. 

On my old original Squier Strat - before I understood things like neck angles and shims - I carefully filed the bottom of all of the screws to stop them doing exactly that.

Gagaryn

I bought a bunch of grub screws years ago in a variety of lengths and replace as required

skunkwerx

Jonathangus said:

Thanks, gents.  That what I thought - but I found a YouTube short that suggested the E and B (the ones with the lowest action).  I shall leave them as they are!

I can see the thought process behind that suggestion. 

But I'm not sure its needed unless the screws are proper sticking out or the neck angle is off. 

I radius the strings to match the board (its never perfect but its there or there abouts so it feels nice to play)

Start by just setting the low e and high e to your desired string height, for me maybe 2mm low e, 1.75 high e. 

Drop the four inner strings down low. 

Then use a radius gauge and place over the high and low e at the bridge, and raise each of those inner 4 strings until you hear them rattle against the gauge when plucked. 

So, whilst the arc of all 6 strings are then radius'd to match the same radius of the board, the entire string set is slightly cocked (higher action low e, lower action high e). 

If after doing that the screws are sticking out, then asses it and replace the offending screws with shorter ones maybe. 

The main thing is if theyre long on the low e, a and d, because thats mostly where your palm will feel them, the high e, b not so much, so actually I'd argue to prioritise the low 3 strings first.. but, being a little higher in action anyway, probably not needed! 

allen

I bought a selection box of them and have been working through my guitars making sure there is nothing sticking up. Very satisfying and a small improvement to ergonomics.

https://amzn.to/4ofYWba

ICBM

I simply set the stock screws with the Es, G and D flush with the tops of the saddles, and the A and B very slightly above. If that doesn’t give a low enough action, shim the neck.

You can make small adjustments with the saddle screws after that but it’s rarely necessary.

Philly_Q

I've also got lots of spare grub screws - stainless - in different lengths.  The only trouble is, whenever I need them I can never find them so I just end up buying more.  One day I'll find a stash of hundreds.

BillDL

It is for this reason that I prefer solid block saddles to the bent metal ones.  With solid ones you can use shorter grub screws that sit down below the top surface of the saddles and they still have plenty thread.  With bent metal saddles you only have a few threads through the thickness of the saddle so you don't have a lot of thread to play with when trying to get the grub screws so they aren't poking out above the top of the saddles, and that's when people often have to individually and selectively grind a little off the bottom end of the screws.

If quite a few 6-saddle guitars pass through your hands it's worthwhile buying bags of a few dozen stainless steel grub screws in lengths like 5mm, 6mm and 8mm.  On instruments made outside America (i.e. "imports") the grub screws are almost invariably M3, and any industrial fasteners retailer sells M3 stainless steel flat point grub screws in lengths from 5mm to 10mm (eg. https://www.westfieldfasteners.co.uk/A2-ScrewBolt-GrubFlat-M3.html).

As far as I know modern USA made guitars have Imperial #4-48 UNF grub screws and vintage or vintage spec ones #4-40 UNC (roughly 3.5mm diameter), and if you were buying packs of 12 Fender branded or compatible for USA replacement grub screws they usually come in long = 3/8" and short = 5/16" which, for practical purposes, is roughly a 10mm and an 8mm.  You would have to procure shorter ones from an industrial fasteners retailer if you needed.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/3161991/#Comment_3161991

Jonathangus

@BillDL - yes, these are solid saddles, so I could potentially shorten the screws a little if necessary.

BillDL

I rarely use 10mm grub screws in my solid saddles and my bag of removed 10mm grub screws is stuffed fuller than the separate bags of other sizes.  I usually have 6mm ones (occasionally 5mm) in the low and high E saddles, sometimes also in the B and A, and usually 8mm is OK in the G and D.  In most cases I could probably get away with them all being 6mm long and the middle ones just having the screws buried deeper into the saddles.  I like stainless steel ones because they don't rust and the socket for the Allen wrench is stronger and doesn't round out as readily as softer metal ones.