I spent a couple of hours yesterday re-engineering my guitar. My original intent was to build a new saddle piece, thicker than the current one, and moved "south" to lengthen the bass strings to fix the intonation. Of course, moving the saddle means cutting the bridge piece, which is irreversible, so that's a little scary.
But, I've also been annoyed lately by the lack of response in the lowest string. This is caused, probably, by the fact that I've got it set much higher than the other strings at the saddle end, so it doesn't rattle which means that its sound has more saddle material to get through to reach the pickup. So I cut it down some more, as much as I dared, and started thinking about the neck itself, which, upon inspection, was starting to curve upwards. The resultant high action is the theoretical source of the intonation problem, too, so I tweaked the tension rod in the neck to flatten it out.
That looked really good, but made most of the strings rattle like crazy, 'cuz I'd cut the nut to match the bent neck. So, I ended up buying and fitting a new nut and not working on the saddle/bridge at all. I think it helped, but didn't cure, the intonation problem, but it's also easier to play, I think, so that'll be nice on those long gigs. The intonation is only a little bit out now, so I think I'll live with it for a while, and see how it goes in real life.
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