Shortening Those Pesky Bridge Saddle Screws

It appears that most all bridge saddle height adjustment screws wind up being too long and end up being a nuisance to the wrist when playing guitar. There are two basic ways to approach this.

1) Buy shorter screws
Here is a source for #6-32 socket head set screws - Bolt Depot

2) Shorten the existing screws
You probably want to use this method if the aesthetics of the screw that you currently have is what you desire to keep.You can use an ordinary bolt cutter to do this, but the results are less than desirable. It is difficult to get nice starting threads on the cut-off screw end. Just backing the screw out of the bolt cutter does not clean the threads as well as it should. This is the method I use, so I thought I would share it. It involves cutting off a screw that is already threaded in a die, so that "backing out" the screw from the die leaves nice "startable" threads.

Tools Required

• Die set
• Dremel tool with disc cutter
• Bastard mill file

Here is how the adjustment screw looks before

1. Remove the screw. NOTE: The screw size of the StewMac brass compensated saddles are #6-32
2. Screw the screw into the back side of the proper thread size die using the allen wrench. It should take quite a bit of torque, because some cutting of threads will occur.
   
3. Screw in enough that the screw sticks out of the die with enough room to cut off (cut off length + ~1/8")
   
4. Clamp the bar end of the die wrench into a vise
5. Cut off the desired length with Dremel tool with a cutoff disc (Use safety glasses!!!)
   
6. Using a bastard mill file, file a chamfer (bevel) around the screw end and uniformly flatten the end. This is the most important part to achieve a good starting thread
   .
   
7. Unscrew the screw from the die, and it will cut nice threads on the newly formed end.

The finished product with no wrist biting