Saddling up my '66' 450

rick_b · Post by **rick_b** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 7:59 am

Greetings and help! I have recently registered my 1966 450 Mapleglo (FF1863) with this board (great sight by the way). Now that he has had his coming out party I can finally address his medical needs. I picked my friend up back in 1983 from a small mom and pop music store in my hometown. The owner commented that he had traded it in for some gear from a band that was passing through. We both stood there staring at the bridge saddle and he commented that they had lowered the bridge at some point. That is a bit of an understatement. The current saddle is best described and single piece of bent/hammered steel with (get this) wadded up paper being used as the height adjustment and it looks like a small receiving screw for a tremolo arm. Yet for $130 I was not going to complain.

When I took him home and plugged him into my old Harmony tube he sang beautifully so I decided to leave him alone for the time being. Well shortly after I set him in the closet in favor of chasing girls (if only I would have known at that time how helpful he could have been in this endeavor!). Well God Bless my wife because when we found out we were expecting she went out and got me a new acoustic to replace my ¾ size so one of us would be playing and instrument in the house. This led to “Ricky” being dragged out and he still sounds great, I just think he could really use some help. I would greatly appreciate any advice. I really doubt that this was a stock saddle manipulation (but I am prone to being wrong). Any chance to get a period correct replacement? Best options for a replacement? Best bets for locating a replacement? He is going to be going in for a cleaning and set-up but I thought if I could come up with a good saddle option this could be taken care of at the same time.

Sorry to get longwinded but I just love talking about “Ricky”.

Sincerely,

Rick Blessen

jwilli · Post by **jwilli** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 1:03 pm

Hi Rick, I believe that you should be able to find the screw at a hardware store. Its possiblr that Jay or Kenny @ RIC might be able to sell youi a couple if they still have them. Maybe this pic will help.

rick_b · Post by **rick_b** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 3:37 am

Thanks John!

So it actually is just a single piece? That is good news. To make sure I am following your screw suggestion: The wadded up paper spacers are probably there because the screws for height adjustment had become ineffective? Thanks for the picture, it went a long way to reassure me.