Plastic Tune-O-Matic Saddles

35012 · Post by **35012** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 6:30 am

how much do these change the tone of an instrument?How can one go about finding these? I have not seen a single website that sells these as a seperate part. These are to be installed on a Casino, by the way.

bitzerguy · Post by **bitzerguy** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 7:01 am

Try here: the String Savers and Tusq are both Polymer based. They have all styles for Tune-O-Matics.

http://www.graphtech.com/string_saver_info.php

...Dean

35012 · Post by **35012** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 7:32 am

I mean the vintage style ones like the ones on the JL casino. Will the Tusq ones come close to that sort of a thing?

bitzerguy · Post by **bitzerguy** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:45 am

Hmmm. Probably not. The Vintage ones were nylon I believe.

...Dean

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 11:32 am

Dean's right, they are nylon; here's the bridge on my 1967 Gibson ES-335TDC:

bitzerguy · Post by **bitzerguy** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 11:44 am

These guys have the nylons:

http://www.guitar-parts.com/content/estore_list.asp?page=5&category=34&catname=Bridges%2C+Bridge+Parts%2C++and+Tailpieces&catnamearray=Gibson+Guitar+and+Bass+Parts%2C&catidarray=14%2C

...Dean

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 6:31 pm

Those saddles have been on my guitar for nearly 40 years, so I don't think durability will be an issue. Unfortunately, I have nothing to compare the sound to, so I can't help out in that regard.

jamie · Post by **jamie** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 9:23 am

I have the nylons on my Lennon Casino's and had a chance to compare them with other Casinos (Elite & MIK) I owned side by side but stopped short of swapping the bridges so I can't say for sure how much of the differences were due the the actual guitars characteristics.

However, from what I noticed the nylon saddles seem to dampen the sustain a bit.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 2:25 pm

Tusq is a trade name for glass-filled acetal (polyoxymethylene copolymer) resin--for all practical purposes, this resin in its unaugmented form, is identical in performance to nylon, and the addition of glass increases the durometer (hardness) and helps performance. The sustain of Tusq saddles is (from my experience--haven't seen any measured tests) much better than plain nylon. One tip: radius the top edge of a tusq saddle slightly with a fine file or some sandpaper--the glass is abrasive and will wear strings at the breakover point, especially if you're an aggressive player.

Having said all of the above, I must comment on the RIDICULOUS prices charged for Tusq saddles and bridges by most suppliers.

A simple Tusq acoustic guitar bridge strip, straight, no compensation notch, sells for about $8.00 locally.

This is about a 1000% markup over the cost of the raw materials and amortized mold cost.

Graphtec saddles for the Casino sell for $32.00, plain nylon for $15.00. That's, in a word, insane.

beatlefreak · Post by **beatlefreak** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 4:52 pm

Nylon saddles will wear. I have a '61 Les Paul SG that the nylon saddles were worn badly when I bought the guitar in 1976. I replaced them with metal.