Break angle. Pros and cons.

So I'm a bit confused about the break angle of the strings over the saddle. I'm sure like most things it will be a trade off. I thought that having a sharp or steep angle where the strings meet the saddle would give the best transfer of string vibration to the bridge and top and provide maximum volume/tone. It would also eliminate buzzing or sliding of the strings on the saddle. But, my best sounding CBG and my commercially made resonator guitar both have a very shallow break angle over the saddle and they both are very loud and clear (CBG is not a resonator but does have a nice Punch Chateau box) I see many builds here that have very shallow break angles but are said to sound good as well.

What do you folks think about break angle at the saddle, steep, shallow, does it really matter?

I'm talking about acoustic guitars, not electric.

Thanks for your input!

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Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on May 11, 2013 at 3:04am

Cheez, I hope its just ironic that you guys dig this back up just as I plan this years summer vacation!

Lets see, since writing/reading this thread I have taken a course on Mandolin construction, another on acoustic instrument soundboard tap tuning, a music recording and production class from Berklee college, added a 64' Gibson southern jumbo and a 42' Martin 00-18 to my collection. Its been quite a year, but not much time for playing.

My goal for this year was to do some more playing/recording. But obstacles continue to pop up at an alarming rate. I need a vacation. Dont you guys mess with me........

Nice to hear from you, have a great day!

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on May 11, 2013 at 3:13am

MBliss did a pretty thorough job on this subject some time ago,i,ve just today gone thru a long experimental process on a build,i have no definitive answers,but can safely say that very small dimensional changes can alter dramaticaly tonal quality,so try to leave some fudge room in your builds

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