Notes on Through Saddles on Martin Pyramid Bridges
Some Martin pyramid bridges, and some of the similar Chicago style bridges, have a cut through saddle instead of a routed saddle slot.
Please see our Guide to Acoustic Guitar Through Saddles first to familiarize yourself with the parts and steps to finding a through saddle, then return to this article for specifics.
Please note that removing and installing a through saddle is difficult, and for most guitar owners, you should take your guitar to a qualified guitar technician rather than attempting DIY.
At first glance it might seem as though your pyramid bridge’s though saddle has flat edges and no saddle wings. However, these bridges often contain short saddle wings with a tight wing radius. Let’s look at some images.
In the below image, you can see that the saddle slot extends slightly into the radiused section.
Here’s a closer look.
You can see how tight this radius is in the below image. This particular bridge has a one-quarter inch saddle wing radius, which is much tighter than the one inch saddle wing radius often seen on Martin bridges with through saddles.
You must factor in this tight radius when looking for and installing a replacement saddle because the tight saddle wing radius combined with a short saddle wing length will produce a much steeper saddle wing. Let’s look at two examples.
In this first image, we see the front view of a saddle profile designed to be fitted to a through saddle bridge with one inch radius saddle wings.
The above profile does not translate well to fitting to one-quarter inch saddle wings. The wings in the above profile are too long and tall, while the edge heights are too short.
As such, for our pyramid bridge through saddles, we increase edge height by 50%, reposition the wing radius for a short, steep cut, and round the corners to produce the below profile.
The above profile works much better for fitting to a pyramid bridge with a through saddle, following the steps in our How to Adjust Through Saddle with Pre-Finished Top article.
Here are a few tips unique to fitting a through saddle to a cut through pyramid bridge.
Measure Saddle Slot Length Rather Than Saddle Length
Your current saddle may not fill the entire slot length, and have flat edges that were not radiused. As such, measure the bottom of the saddle slot to determine what total length you need.
Adjust Total Length With The Sanding Spindle
We make our through saddles for pyramid bridges to a total length of 85 mm, but your saddle slot length is likely a bit shorter than this. Because of the steep wing height, you can adjust the total length as you adjust the saddle wings on the sanding spindle.
Sharp Corners
Depending on the height of your saddle after making adjustments, you may end up with sharp corners. If you do not like this look, then use the same quarter-inch radius (half-inch diameter) sanding spindle to remove this sharp corner. You just need to barely touch the corner to the spindle, then use sanding sticks to make fine adjustments and smooth. You can also use a Dremel Stylo with a sanding drum, but do not use a regular Dremel tool as this will go too fast and remove too much material.
Removing the sharp corner will produce a rounded corner look as in the below image.
Step Seven: Obtain a Replacement Saddle
We offer 85 mm long saddles for Martin pyramid bridges with cut through saddle installation in three different options:
If you need a different length, please contact us, as we may be able to make one for you.