Guild 1998 DV6 NT HR - Saddle Question

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Hello, New Guild owner and New to the LTG forum... Hello!

I found a 1998 DV6 NT HR last week and bought it. I've been looking for a nice solid wood guitar for a while.

I'm in Rhode Island and I'm thrilled to have found a Made in Westerly Guild :)

It has very few minor scratches, no cracks, or dings. The action was too high. The previous owner said the saddle wasn't original and I'd like to find a replacement.

I measured the slot at 72.8mm long and 2.8mm wide.

To pick a replacement I need to know: Radius (12 or 16") and compensation pattern.

Thanks!
 

adorshki

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Hello, New Guild owner and New to the LTG forum... Hello!

I found a 1998 DV6 NT HR last week and bought it. I've been looking for a nice solid wood guitar for a while.
Hi "Yankee", welcome aboard!
As detailed in Guild Gallery #1 from winter '97, those "DV" style guitars featured a lot of little tweaks like backs & sides sanded for better resonance, shaved bracing on the DV-6, and necks specially selected for lightness and strength. Since the D40 wasn't being made at the time, I now think of DV-6's as "D40's on steroids".
:friendly_wink:

To pick a replacement I need to know: Radius (12 or 16") and compensation pattern.
The same Guild Gallery has an article by Jim Inman in which he states "In current production at Guild, the fingerboard crown is a 12" radius."
The same article also gives factory set-up height 5-6/64ths on low E and 4-5/64ths on high E at 12th fret.
DV-6's (in fact virtually no Westerly built Guilds*) were fitted with compensated saddles, that practice didn't become standard at Guild until Tacoma production.
*I was very surprised recently when one of our members who was very familiar with their acoustic-electrics from the late '80's pointed out that they did put a compensated saddle on at least one of those models, the DS46 "IIRC" (EDIT: Now I think it was actually the late '980's F45ce so corrected the following line).
It was critical for accurate intonation in the intended amplified role.
But that's the only compensated saddle I can ever remember hearing about from Westerly.
We had a recent report that NOS saddles from New Hartford (where compensated saddles were standard) will drop in and work well.
Apparently Oxnard still has some as parts inventory.
 
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dreadnut

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Hi SY, welcome to the neighborhood. The Dv-6 is a fine axe. If you have a favorite luthier, he will make a new saddle for you out of bone, Tusq, or whatever you want.
 

GardMan

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If you are even moderately handy, it is pretty easy to fit one of Bob Colosi's standard Martin drop-in saddles to your DV-6... it comes compensated, and will have to be cut to length (cut so as to put the scalloped compensation under the B string), sanded to the proper thickness, and then sanded to the proper height. Bob sends instructions along for sanding to thickness and height... just go slow, and trial fit many times along the way. It took me about 45' to fit the first one I bought... but later ones were quicker.
 

killdeer43

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WELCOME TO LTG and congrats on your score!
We will expect to see pics of your Guild sometime soon, just because we like seeing Guilds that other people bought and we didn't....it's a vicarious pleasure that we share on this forum.
:peaceful:

Joe
 
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Thank You all for this information. I'll check out sources of saddles now that I know exactly what to look for! Will post some pics shortly when I figure out how. Thanks again!
 
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