New L-2500. Mostly perfect. A little annoyed at one thing...

Hey everyone.

I ordered an option order L-2500. My first 5 string.



It's really beautiful and pretty much flawless, save for one annoying thing that has affected almost every G&L with saddle lock I've encountered.

The action I prefer on bass is 5.5/64ths bass side and 4.5/64ths treble side with no capo(with capo just subtract about 1/64th), and a relief of the straight side of .012". usually around .011". These specs are low, but not ridiculous. If you have fast, light touch, you can get away with no buzzing assuming your frets are level.

Anyway, the neck is at .011" relief, and the G saddle is decked. The lowest the action will go is 5/64ths WITH capo, so actually more like 6/64ths no capo. Consequently, the lowest I can get the action is 6/64th-6/64th all the way across, no capo.

Most people would consider this playable, but "medium to medium-high action."

The same thing happened with my ASAT bass, although not as severe. I could BARELY get 5/64ths no capo on the treble side.

The point is, it really needs a shim. They both do. I'm going to have a full contact wood shim made by my luthier, and it's not a huge deal, but honestly, I think this is an annoying design flaw of the saddle lock bridge.

Those saddles are SO tall. I imagine the only way you get the headroom for low action without a shim is if the neck depth is at its maximum allowable tolerance, which I assume is luck-based, and even then, 4/64ths is probably the end of the road.

They could fix this problem by recessing the whole bridge assembly deeper into the body and doing a string-through design, or just making the saddles a tad shorter(but not so short they create an unfavorable break angle)

Anyway, once I get the shim I think it'll be set it and forget it but it's happened to me three times now(I bought a fallout for my uncle that also needed a shim).

Is this a common problem for saddle-lock people? Anyone else know my pain?

I think it’s an artifact of when the guitars were available with microtilt; the saddles were never re-designed after microtilt was removed, and microtilt used to alllow more fine-tuning of the string height. Even on my ‘83 F100 (completely different saddle design) they are fairly low to the body, with the high E a fraction of a millimeter off the bridge plate; this gives reasonable action. If I wanted super-low, I would need to use microtilt (I have it totally backed out as of present.)

My Tribute ASAT is about the same - the saddles are quite low to the bridge, no neck angle, regular-low (not super-low) action. Again I don’t mind this and it is in fact my preference - but I’m not afraid to shim when it’s absolutely needed, I have the stock sandpaper shim on at least one of my Fenders still, and over time shimmed many guitars to make them work. I don’t really think it affects the tone to do so, but probably a good idea to have a full shim made and prevent possible warping at the heel of the neck. If G&L wanted they could build an angle in the neck pocket and not require any other modification to the bridge or construction.

oh yeah I'm all about full contact shims expecially on bass.

And I know G&L knows this issue because Tributes ship with a factory sandpaper shim even when not needed. I believe they don't do it in the USA factory because there is stigma against shims.

But yeah they really need to improve the design of the saddle lock bridge.

They could have staggered saddles such that the high strings get the "Short" saddles, they could recess it deeper, they could cut deeper grooves, or as you say they can compensate at the neck pocket.

I suspect you're right that they were originally designed with a micro-tilt in mind. Those two designs seem to be synergistic. When you remove one half of Leo's vision, you just get TALL ass saddles.

I suggest you check your current setup with the current Factory setup, see: Current factory setup for G&L basses.

Hope this helps.

yes I'm aware of those specs and a. they are a little high for my taste. I prefer a straighter neck with lower action and b. I think I can barely achieve those specs with the g string saddle decked.

it definitely needs a shim but in general I think it is a design flaw that there isnt ample room to lower action.

i've only had to shim 2 G&L's. a tribute ASAT special w/saddle lock bridge: used a portion of a business card closest to the butt of the neck and it fixed the problem perfectly, and on a usa ASAT classic bluesboy with classic steel box bridge same fix with very good results. Sometimes it "frets out" a bit with deep bends above the 14th fret, but i usually don't use deep bends with that guitar up that high and I otherwise love the result. My other 3 G&L's with saddle lock bridges have no problems in this regard and have average bridge saddle height, plenty of room to go either way. (I do not have a G&L bass, and I do not set my action real low).

the problem may exist with individual guitars and how they are constructed with regard to the neck pocket and the neck butt. Ideally there shouldn't be much variability the way guitars are made now with CNC. I think G&L should pay attention to this issue. I have not had to shim any Fenders I've owned.

Just for historic comparison/reference - the old manual instructs to use the Microtilt to adjust the action; as opposed to the saddles which are given a fixed, specific height above the bridge. (I don’t really believe in setting up by the manual anyway, the settings are adjustable in the first place is because people have different preferences. But it does show the philosophy/vision.)

http://glguitars.com/wp-content/uploads ... manual.pdf