Ordering a new Sadlle......what would your choice be?

LewisBrookshire · #1 03-06-2011, 04:37 PM

1. West african Hard ivory
2. Fossilized Walrus Ivory
3. Standard Bone

Not sure which I should get, I know on steel strings I prefer the WAHI saddles but I am not sure which would be best for Nylon. Any suggestions?

jayhawk · #2 03-06-2011, 05:59 PM

Talk to Bob Colosi.

I talked to him about what I should do on my Applegate (has a bone saddle). I didn't do anything which makes me think he wasn't too excited about the differences in materials with nylon, since the strings don't generate as much energy as a steel strings do.

Jack

john bange · #3 03-06-2011, 06:31 PM

I agree...shouldn't make a huge difference unless you have a p/u.

LewisBrookshire · #4 03-06-2011, 06:41 PM

The Stock saddle is tusq......and it does have the Taylor undersaddle pickup installed.

john bange · #5 03-06-2011, 11:20 PM

I would stay with a synthetic saddle if you are using an under bridge p/u...they seem to work better together...I would stay with the tusq.

Garthman · #6 03-07-2011, 03:50 AM

Plain old plastic seems to work OK for me. Pretty cheap too.

Vic9mm · #7 03-08-2011, 09:41 AM

Go with bone. All the top luthers who make classical guitars use bone saddles for a reason its been done this way for many, many many years, the only reason they went to synthetic material was to save money on there end. I had a bone saddle and nut installed in my classical and I installed a WAHI saddle in my Breedlove and let me tell you there is a differance in sound.

TXBart · #8 03-12-2011, 09:04 PM

Why would you plan a change to your guitar before you even heard it?

Local luthier, who is also a Taylor trained authorized tech, says the only reason to change the tusq saddle on a Taylor is for the ego of saying you have something more exotic.

Ego satisfaction is not necessarily a bad thing.

My Taylor is stock other than the strings, I went to Savarez 520-P1.

LewisBrookshire · #9 03-13-2011, 04:50 AM

What do you mean before I have heard it? I have had the guitar for a bit and wanted to know which saddle everyone prefers on nylons?

I have had multiple steel string Taylors and I would argue that changing to Bone or WAHI saddles has improved everyone I have had. I must be really egotistical. The tusq is better than plastic for sure but for clarity and overtone for steel strings the tusq does not compare to a WAHI saddle.....to my ears.

dosland · #10 03-13-2011, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reviveourhomes

What do you mean before I have heard it? I have had the guitar for a bit and wanted to know which saddle everyone prefers on nylons?

I have had multiple steel string Taylors and I would argue that changing to Bone or WAHI saddles has improved everyone I have had. I must be really egotistical. The tusq is better than plastic for sure but for clarity and overtone for steel strings the tusq does not compare to a WAHI saddle.....to my ears.

I'm also quite egotistical, by these standards, as I've swapped out the plastic (and Tusq is just a hard, dense plastic, for all intents and purposes) saddles on every guitar that came with one and been much happier with the natural replacement materials. I'm not sure about the boost to my ego provided by low-budget Chinese-produced cow bone, but there it is...

My main complaint with Tusq is that the strings will cut into it pretty sharply after a pretty short time, on a steel-string, and the effect is eventually the same on a nylon-string as well, at least for the bass strings. A bone will eventually develop grooves as well, but it takes MUCH longer, in my experience. My Yamaha APX (steel) came with four floating bone saddle segments and they're still unmarked after about 15 years of almost-daily playing. My Taylor 110 had small notches in the Tusq saddle within a few months of purchase. Years later, the bone saddle I put into that one has yet to show any signs of wear. I have the impression that, the farther the strings dig into the saddle, the less of their movement can be transferred downward into the soundboard, so I would think that is going to affect the sound produced.

My Alhambra came with a no-name plastic saddle, so I doubt many people would object to swapping that one out. I felt there was a noticeable improvement in the sound after the switch. I won't go into the specific advantages I perceive in sound because that's all subjective and really up to the individual ear of the player. Overall, though, I think a well-made bone saddle is easily better than anything man-made that I've ever experimented with, and that's enough for my ego.

Tommy · #11 03-13-2011, 10:32 AM

The differences in saddle materials can only be heard by dogs.

(I played clarinet for many years, and clarinet players agonize over how to make their instruments a little louder - new barrels, fifty different mouthpieces, different reeds, different bells. All you have to do is put a mic in front of the horn.)

TXBart · #12 03-13-2011, 08:06 PM

Reviveourhomes - You asked what saddle material to replace the tusq with in your post on 2/28, about 5 days before you got the guitar. Same question on strings.

Dosland - Tusq is just hard dense plastic and carbon graphite is just hard dense fiber glass.

I understand ego purchases, my first nylon was a NS-34 rather than a cheaper model, purely an egotistical decision.

I wasn't criticizing; just asking and passing on a comment from someone much more knowledgeable than me.

LewisBrookshire · #13 03-13-2011, 08:23 PM

You might think yourself egotistical but I do believe that 99.9999% of people think that a Martin D-18 sounds better than a estaban dread.......for a reason. It has nothing to do with thier ego's.

Stephen Perry · #14 03-20-2011, 02:09 PM

On nylon string, I've replaced somewhat porous bone with hard dense bone for immediate improvement. Marginal fit with great fit does well, too. I've not used WAHI (I don't know what that is). I have used old-stock ivory with distinct improvement in general smoothness & clarity. I'd like to try fossil walrus. That might be very very nice. It is on mandolins.

One thing I've noticed is that relatively heavy and less responsive guitars don't seem to care as much what's on them. Really crisp, light, fast, responsive instruments prove much more sensitive to minor changes, in my experience.

ediverudt · #15 03-23-2011, 06:32 PM

I just went from bone to the west African hard ivory nut and sadlle from Bob for a expensive guitar ( over 15k) I am in the process of fitting the saddle today I will let you know how much it improves the overall sound.

The ivory is very hard compared to bone and on a purely acoustic instrument this may or may not be an advantage. As a side not saddle fit will improve tone more than saddle material will if you have a poorly fitted saddle (If you can pick up the bridge with it it fits right) That mean the opposite is true a west African hard ivory sadlle that is loose will sound worse most of the time than the tusq one properly fitted so pay attention to proper fit when installing it.