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You could also use bone, but that means more sanding.  Tusq blanks have a bit of shaping done already.  Bone blanks are rectangles.  So you'd have to mark with a pencil all the way around and probably do a bit more loosening and tightening with the strings to fit and refit the bridge until you are satisfied.  Remember that you can sand off more, but you can't add it back on.

I just did this last week for $18.50 (American).  My "Old Reliable" is a Yamaha F310. 

First, buy a Tusq bridge.  The model I bought is PQ-9110-00.  I have no idea if that's the best model for the job.  You want one that's a little bit thick. 

Next, buy a set of light strings.  I bought D'Addorio Silk and Steel .011's. 

Remove all the old strings from your guitar.  Be careful to set the end pins neatly to the side so that you can remember which goes back into which hole.  If you are still using the plastic ones that came with the guitar, this would be a good time to replace them with bone or wood or something with better resonance than plastic. 

Gently pull the old bridge out of the guitar - being careful to note which end is the low E and which is the high e.  It ought to come out easily.  Test the new bridge to see if it's a good fit.  It ought to go in easily without being wobbly.  Mine was a little teeny bit wobbly, so I used a little Gorilla Snot. 

Take the opportunity to clean up the guitar.  Vacuum the dust from the inside, clean the wood, oil the fretboard and bridge with some lemon oil.  That sort of thing. 

Now, place the tops of the two bridges together.  With a very, very sharp pencil, mark the bottom of the old plastic bridge on the new Tusq bridge by drawing a line across while you pinch the two bridges firmly together to prevent slipping while you mark. 

If you have a pad sander handy, great.  Put on some fine grit sand paper.  If you don't have a pad sander handy, you're going to need some fine sandpaper and a board or tabletop.  On either the pad sander or the sandpaper spread out on a broad, flat surface sand down the Tusq saddle until you get to the line.  Be absolutely certain that you are sanding it FLAT and square.  You do not want any rounding either on the narrow or on the long edges. 

Now if you want to lower the action a little, which I did, then sand a bit more.  Make the Tusq saddle just a little bit more shallow than the original plastic saddle. 

Once you've reduced it a little, then place it in the guitar and restring with your new strings (again light strings on that guitar help). 

You've now got a lower action guitar. 

Don't make too big of an adjustment.  Very, very tiny adjustments make a huge difference in playability.  Go too far and you'll mess up the intonation (tuning up the neck) and you'll also get fret buzz by having the strings too close to the frets. 

The strings were $7.50 and the Tusq saddle was $11.  So for $18.50 and a half hour of fidgeting, I got my Yamaha F310 set up with a low action that is barre chord heaven. 

- Zurf

That was cool.  Had kind of the vibe of Eric Clapton's version of "Malted Milk" from his Unplugged album.  I like the beard.

- Zurf

Just playing it a lot will do that, especially if he/she is strumming at an odd angle. 

The hole in Willie's guitar is worn naturally.  According to Willie, he has refused to allow it to be repaired for two reasons.  He likes the way it sounds.  He has irreplaceable signatures of people with whom he's played on it.  Those sound reasonable to me. 

- Zurf

In a song there are verses, choruses, and bridges.  Bridges are usually a part that sound a little different than the rest and give a transition. They often use a different chord progression.  What that's telling you is to play the bridge three times. 

- Zurf

Not only good, but obligatory.

That chart up there is wonderful.

I was doing good with two exercise sessions per day, one of resistance and another of walking or using my wife's elliptical when the weather was poor.  I had to back off to M, T, Th, F on the resistance exercises when I bumped up the resistance some.  My arthritic shoulder wasn't putting up with it, so I backed off to where it doesn't hurt.  The walking has been great. 

For food, I eat about five times a day, just little bits of something.  It's what my gastroenterologist recommended that I do.  Apparently, my tummy isn't happy with having much in it.   I try to have a slightly larger lunch, usually like a ploughman's lunch, or a bowl of soup and something crunchy, a salad, or on Friday's the full-on protein onslaught of buffalo wings.  I allow myself one treat per day on the days that I exercise, and booze counts as a treat.  So if I have a little chocolate, that's it.  Or if I have a cookie, that's it.  If I have a glass of wine with dinner, that's my treat. 

I've been slacking off a bit on each end, and need to reinvigorate.  The goal of reaching 230# by my physical in August helps.   Final goal is 210#, but I sincerely doubt that I'll ever make it unless I take up bike riding again. 

I like the way zguitar thinks.  Especially since he's telling me to buy a travel guitar.  I'd spend a lot more time in the woods or on the water if it weren't for Daddy-duty, but to some degree I can't give myself that treat if I want to spend time with the girls.  Getting the girls to the woods, well... it's a nice thought. 

- Zurf

Check into the public songbooks.  There are a number of them that are categorized for beginners.  Browsing through them may give you some ideas.  There are also a number of easy-playing arrangements available for sale from music retailers. 

Welcome to Chordie.

- Zurf

srpetty -
It wouldn't affect mine, but I'm not you.  If it would affect your desire to play, then it matters to you.  And that's what matters. 

Appearance in this case does not reference cleanliness.  A nasty, dirty guitar would definitely affect my desire to play it.  I can recall a guitar that I played at a consignment shop.  It was a Seagull, I don't remember the model but it had a cedar top and a cutaway.  Anyway, it sounded great, but the person who owned it must have been a chain smoker because the thing was so coated in smoke that it was sticky to the touch and even just strumming a couple of chords my hands came away smelling of stale cigarette smoke.  Absolutely disgusting.  The guitar was ruined as far as I'm concerned.

- Zurf

Happy birthday Roger, and many happy returns! 

- Zurf

Our pastor called them 'smut coms'.  Given how much sex is suggested and talked about, I'd have to say that's about right.

- Zurf