2016 M20 Compensated Saddle Options?

[MJ1994]

Hi all,
I have a 2016 M20 that I bought used back in March of 2020, and while I've liked the guitar overall, I have always noticed intonation issues on the 1st and 2nd strings up near the 12th fret. It's off by approximately +20Hz.

The guitar doesn't have a compensated saddle, so recently I was thinking that maybe I could improve things if I replaced the stock saddle with a compensated one.

I bought a replacement compensated saddle off of the Guild store that is listed for use with USA models, but it too long/wide to fit the M20. I'm guessing that it was never meant for the M20.

At this point I was either going to try sanding down the one I bought from Guild's store, or I was going to just make my own from a bone saddle blank.

Will this even work, or am I just wasting my time?

Regards,
-Matthew

 

[AcornHouse]

If you fine with doing it yourself, you can intonate it best yourself.
Get a blank to fit the slot then sand it down to near the desired string height. Make sure that you keep the bottom perfectly flat and perpendicular. Don’t go all the way down so that you leave your self a little room for smooth sanding.
Then, to intonate, get a short piece of wire; a bit of an old e string is perfect. Then work out the best intonations point for each string, using the wire as a movable saddle on top of the saddle blank. Mark it with a pencil. Do all 6 and REMEMBER WHICH SIDE IS BASS AND WHICH TREBLE!
Then using a file, preferably, ramp up to that point. Finish sand using very high grit sandpape, up to 400 grit at least.

 

[jedzep]

If the issue is up in the 'clouds' (12th fret), I would worry that you could make things worse, or move your wonky notes to another, more annoying part of the fret board.

I don't know if a '16 M20 came with a comp saddle, so perhaps a former owner swapped it out, but Chris is a competent tinkerer who makes it sound easy. I would take it to your capable repair shop, making sure all else setup-wise is lined up, then assess how much I use that area of the neck before changing anything

 

[chazmo]

Interesting that it didn't come with one. I'd make a call to Guild in Oxnard and see if anyone can help you.

Any self-respecting luthier can do that job for you out of a bone blank. No harm in trying your own hand at it. Are you saying you have a compensated saddle already from Guild to try? If so, then by all means do it.

 

[MJ1994]

If you fine with doing it yourself, you can intonate it best yourself.
Get a blank to fit the slot then sand it down to near the desired string height. Make sure that you keep the bottom perfectly flat and perpendicular. Don’t go all the way down so that you leave your self a little room for smooth sanding.
Then, to intonate, get a short piece of wire; a bit of an old e string is perfect. Then work out the best intonations point for each string, using the wire as a movable saddle on top of the saddle blank. Mark it with a pencil. Do all 6 and REMEMBER WHICH SIDE IS BASS AND WHICH TREBLE!
Then using a file, preferably, ramp up to that point. Finish sand using very high grit sandpape, up to 400 grit at least.

Thanks for the info.
I figure I’ll probably give it a shot on my own, and if it doesn’t work out, I can always put the original saddle back in, or bring it to the local guitar shop to have them do it.
When you say to use a wire to mark the saddle, is that to mark the saddle at the approximate position where the string will pass over?
Is there any recommended distributors for bone blanks, or are they all pretty much the same?

 

[MJ1994]

Interesting that it didn't come with one. I'd make a call to Guild in Oxnard and see if anyone can help you.

Any self-respecting luthier can do that job for you out of a bone blank. No harm in trying your own hand at it. Are you saying you have a compensated saddle already from Guild to try? If so, then by all means do it.

I sent Guild customer service an email yesterday evening looking for some info, but they haven’t gotten back to me yet.

Poking around online, it does look like new ones have compensated saddles. I guess that could either mean that the original owner of mine replaced it, or maybe they weren’t using compensated saddles in 2016 and started using them later.

I do have one of the replacement compensated saddles that Guild is selling on their website. It’s probably 1mm thicker than it needs to be width-wise. I guess there’s no harm in breaking out the sandpaper and seeing if I can make it work. Certainly would be easier than making a whole new one from scratch.
Maybe they intentionally leave the replacements bigger so that people can fit it specifically for their guitar?

 

[jedzep]

I guess you mean thickness, so if everything else is a good fit, you’ll just have to get a snug fit into the slot to be on your way. You may get lucky and solve the issue with just that mod.

 

[AcornHouse]

Thanks for the info.
I figure I’ll probably give it a shot on my own, and if it doesn’t work out, I can always put the original saddle back in, or bring it to the local guitar shop to have them do it.
When you say to use a wire to mark the saddle, is that to mark the saddle at the approximate position where the string will pass over?
Is there any recommended distributors for bone blanks, or are they all pretty much the same?

Here’s a guide from Stringjoy that may be helpful. https://stringjoy.com/how-to-adjust-intonation-acoustic-guitar/
The wire is used to find how far back you would need to file, before filing. But, you can do it as they say here, just file back little by little until it’s good.

 

[chazmo]

Good luck in the hunt, MJ.

 

[MJ1994]

Update:
I sanded down the saddle that I had bought from Guild’s website.

The result… it did nothing. I think I had to take so much material off so that the saddle would fit that there just wasn’t enough compensation to do anything.

The curious bit about this whole thing is that I always assumed my guitar was made it 2016, based on the C160170 serial number, and the Made in California label. If that was the case, the saddle from the website should have just fit without modification (it was labeled as compatible with Oxnard usa models post-2014).

Looking at listings for new M20s, they definitely have the compensated saddle.
Just seems like some kind of discrepancy. I’m trying to get some info from Guild, but they haven’t responded to my email, and nobody has picked up when I called the customer service line.

In the meantime, I’ll probably just put the original saddle back until I have more information from Guild.

 

[chazmo]

Good luck! C16 should be 2016, MJ.