Which TUSQ saddle do I need?

[Chipotle]

First-timer for changing out a saddle. It's for a little composite Enya Nova Go, which came with an uncompensated saddle (and consequently not great intonation). I wanted to swap in a TUSQ compensated saddle.

The existing saddle is 1/8" wide by 2-13/16" long, and the freboard radius is 16". I went to StewMac and ordered their item #3556, with those dimensions and 16" radius. It's marked GT 9272 C0. Easy, right?

Once I got it out, I found the stock Enya saddle is very tall, around 7/16". A bit too tall, but not by *that* much. The TUSQ saddle, though, is just around 5/16", way too short. It practically disappears when I drop it in the slot, and the top three strings fret out when I string it up. (Width and length wise, it fit fine. BTW, the stock saddle needed to be lowered by .04".)

The saddles that are larger on the Graphtech site don't list a fretboard radius, and all have different sorts of compensation shapes. I confused as to which saddle I should get. Can anyone advise? Thanks.

[phavriluk]

Time to visit a guitar tech and ask directly. Bring the guitar.

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by phavriluk

Time to visit a guitar tech and ask directly. Bring the guitar.

Sure, but if I do that, I'll end up spending as much as I did on the guitar. Can anyone explain the differences between the different Graph Tech saddles? Their site doesn't do a very good job of it, unfortunately.

Someone else suggested just filing the original saddle top to approximate the compensation on the TUSQ saddle, which TBH isn't a bad idea--even if it's not perfect, it will probably be better.

I guess the other option is spend one more $13 shot and try the Graph Tech model that is slightly bigger in all dimensions and sand it down. Tbh it's not worth spending any more than that--I was hoping for a quick, cheap improvement for an inexpensive guitar.

[John Arnold]

My math says that you need to install a shim that is 0.085" thick. The best shim is a hard wood, glued to the bottom of the saddle with super glue.

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by John Arnold

My math says that you need to install a shim that is 0.085" thick. The best shim is a hard wood, glued to the bottom of the saddle with super glue.

I did think about a shim. However, not only do I lack a piece of hardwood (I suppose I could use a slice of the old saddle), it seems more difficult to make a shim that is correctly sized, flat, and glue it all together than to just sand down an existing saddle.

I ordered a GraphTech 9280 C0 which their site says is their "most popular saddle" and is a bit larger in all dimensions that the original saddle, so I hope I don't have to "shrink" it all that much. If that doesn't work for some reason, I'll just lower/shape the original saddle a bit and call it good. Being a newbie to this, I thought saddles would be a more standardized item than they turned out to be.

[bnjp]

Originally Posted by Chipotle

I did think about a shim. However, not only do I lack a piece of hardwood (I suppose I could use a slice of the old saddle), it seems more difficult to make a shim that is correctly sized, flat, and glue it all together than to just sand down an existing saddle.

I frequently order ebony headplates from Stewmac and cut them in 1/8" strips on the bandsaw. I glue them to the bottom of the saddles, shape them to fit in the slot, then sand them to height just like any other saddle. They work great.