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Saddle Cracks &
The Preserve Saddle
We are an authorized installer of Preserve Saddles. Seeing so many old
and (even worse) new instruments with saddle cracks has given us pause to
rethink one of the most overlooked areas of bowed instruments. The concept is
simple, and the result is traditional in appearance. It is our intent to
significantly reduce the likelihood of a saddle crack occurring in an instrument
with this saddle installed.
Traditional saddles
have squared off, 90 degree edges. As the top shrinks (due to the nature of the
wood) the shrinking plate meets resistance at the saddle area. Inevitably the
stress results in a crack at one of the edges of the saddle. Our idea was to
create a saddle that will not act as a wedge and thus split the top. The theory
behind our saddle design is that as the plate shrinks, the saddle will be forced
out of the mortise or will shift aside. At that point it is much easier (and
less expensive) to refit the saddle than to repair a crack.
We HIGHLY recommend
you elect to have a Preserve saddle installed while your instrument is in our
shop, even if it does not yet have a saddle crack. Consider it
preventative maintenance!
In 2004 our
revolutionary saddle design was acquired by Clef Music Manufacturing Corp.
Mistr A. Bittner
Mson S. E. Coiffier Paris
This old French bass has had
some significant work over the years (re-grad top, back & ribs. Thinner
linings, neck reset with heel extension) but had managed to escape the common
saddle crack until the dry, winter of 2005 perhaps due to some negligent
oversights by the last bass specialty shop that performed some work (saddle was
not relieved).
The top was carefully removed,
the crack was aligned and glued with diamond cleats for reinforcement. The
saddle crack got dangerously close to becoming a sound post crack, so we decided
a very non invasive sound post patch was needed. This type of sound post
patch is not inlayed into the top as a traditional sound post patch would be,
but rather it is chalk fitted to the top and thinned out to about 1.5mm.
The skewed grain orientation and size of the patch helps to strengthen and
redistribute pressure while still being thin enough to not take away from the
basses tone.
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