Quote:
Originally Posted by Will Kirk
A really cool 68 country western came across my bench today and I realize I didn't take a pic of the saddle, but apparently the previous owner had the tone sucking adjustable saddle replaced with a double wide compensated saddle as wide as the original adjustable saddle. It had decent tone but the top had not been grafted where the holes had been drilled for the saddle screws. Has anyone done this and compared the tone versus a 1/8" saddle or similar?
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Yep I had my luthier make me a double wide bone saddle to replace the wooden adjustable saddle in my 66 J-50 ADJ.
It didn’t make a big noticeable difference to my ear. (YMMV)
He then he pulled out an old Gibson ceramic ADJ saddle from his old parts box… and Bingo! Made a big difference! Louder, brighter with more overtones & projection….on the other hand the guitar lost a lot of its woody warmth..
So does it sound better?
Hard to say “Different is easy better is much harder and subjective!”
I guess it depends on your taste if you think the tone is too dark or lacking in the mids and highs then its big improvement.
I still have the custom bone & the original rosewood saddles.
I use the ceramic saddle most of the time but occasionally I will switch back to the rosewood for recording if I want a darker woodier tone.
Hope this helps
TWM