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What method do you use to lower the saddle? I want to take just .5mm off the bottom of my saddle and am curious about the different methods people use. Please be as specific as you can. Do you sand, measure, sand, measure? How do you hold the saddle, keep the bottom square to the sides, etc....? What grade sandpaper do you use? Thanks, Wendy

I remove from the bottom of the saddle. It does not take much to remove .5 mm. I draw a pencil line, even if it is a touch too far in (my pencil lead is .5 mm) I can still see where I am in the sanding. I use a belt sander with the table square. I have also used 120 grit paper on my band saw table. I just hold the saddle square and check for squareness with my eyes as I get close. If I find I am off square I will clean up holding the saddle against a square block while sanding.

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I like to use a file if I am just removing a small amount from the bottom of the saddle. It helps me keep the bottom flat.

sharpen a #2 lead pencil minimum of 4 inches long
attach a length of double sided tape to the pencil
attach a scrap of wood to the other side of the double sided tape , not quite as long as the pencil.
using the attached scrap wood as a handle,sand the sharpened pencil lengthwise and down to the halfway mark leaving it flat and the lead showing the entire length
place the saddle on the workbench, bottom side down
next to it, but not under the saddle, place a thin scraper blade..my scraper blades range from .022 - .025 in thickness
lay the flattened pencil onto the scraper blade and mark the bottom of the saddle with the pencil
repeat the process on to the other side of the saddle, and onto each end.
at that point, use the pencil marks to sand the saddle to the pencil lines, being sure to keep the bottom of the saddle flat and square while sanding, using the pencil lines as your squareness reference.
repeat as necessary until the saddle is the height you want it to be

Wendy: After removing saddle measure the height with dial calipers at the two marks made by the e strings. Now you remove material by sanding until you have removed the .5mm. I use adhesive backed abrasive paper on a granite surface plate but a cast iron table saw also works. For the bottom of the saddle the grit is about 220. Use a block cut to 90 degrees on the plate to slide the saddle against to keep the bottom of the saddle square. Check your reference points at the e string marks until you have your correct height.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

All good advice. Also be sure you have the correct radius on the saddle. If it's not it's usually lees (for me anyway) and correcting will bring down the 2 E's.

Wendy, I take my calipers and note the two measurements pinching the saddle in the 1st and 6th string notches. Then subtract what I want to remove from my numbers, and sand until I hit them. I sand the bottom on my Disc sander. I usually don't turn it on, just rotate it by hand. If I have a lot to remove, I'll scribe a line to sand to, again w/ calipers used as a marking gauge. A thin pencil can be used to darken the line. If I need to remove material on one end but not the other, I mark across the bottom w/ a pencil, using my finger as a fence. then I can see that I have left the end I don't want to lower intact as I lower the other side. After the disc sander, I'll set the nice, new, square bottom on a piece of P320 self adhesive paper I have stuck to a piece of glass at my little nut and saddle "station" and take just a couple of swipes to remove the 100grit scratches from the disc. By checking in very low angle light, I can make sure the coarse scratches are going away evenly. The nut/saddle station is a dedicated spot where nothing dark is sanded that might contaminate the pores of bone and includes a simple little buffer w/ white compound on it for finishing up.
It's actually quicker and easier than my verbose description would suggest. But that's how I do it. The benefit of doing it this way is I never have to re-string and check. I make a decision how much to lower a saddle and that's how it comes out first shot within a thousandth or two.

I see Tom posted while I was writing and mine is pretty much an echo of his.

One other thing. I take a single swipe on each long corner of the saddle on my finest grit paper. The saddle is leaned at a 45 degree angle.
This insures that the bottom surface of the saddle contacts the bottom of the slot and is not hung up on any tiny imperfection or detritus left in the saddle slot corners.

Thanks for the answers...off to do it right now. Jack, thanks for the marking idea, I'll use some feeler gauges with my flat pencil. Murray, well..I WANT THAT...but a tad too expensive for me. Tom, that is how I have done it in the past and will again now most likely. I don't have to worry about the radius Danny, since this is a non radiused board on a classical. I always like to hear how other people do things. Every one always has different ideas on how to do even the most simple processes. Thanks!

Various grades of sandpaper glued to a granite tile. A flat one.