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#1
03-17-2011, 04:49 AM
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Epiphone Masterbilt DR-500MCE VS saddle
Hello everyone. I finally got the Masterbilt DR-500MCE VS. I've been waiting for it for ten months (ordered in May 2010). The guitar seems really nice overall. Its my third acoustic - i had a Fender CD-140S, and I still have a Seagull Entourage Rustic. Epi seems like the best one of the three. The sound is great and full, a lot of bass wich I didn't expect, nice mids and treble too. The strigns that were on are some kind of 12 gauge with no coating, and honestly I think they suck. I restringed my guitar with Elixirs 11, and man what a change. I couldn't beleive. It started singing right off. The playability and action of guitar are great (i had to adjust the truss rod just a bit to remove the bow).
The thing that I noticed is that the saddle is not compensated as shown on Epi ang gibson sites. Its just a regular (bone) saddle that I'm planning to replace with a new one. I have a feeling that it would improve a sound a little bit. So, I was wondering if you could recommend me a replacement saddle, because I've read that compensated saddle made of quality materials such as tusq or ivory can make quite a sound (resonation) improvment on acoustics. I will probably be ordering it from ebay. Here is the picture of my saddle.. Hope that you experienced guitar-people will help me. Sorry if my English is not so good. Thanks. Tom 
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#3
03-17-2011, 03:08 PM
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is the current saddle bone or plastic? i believe they are supposed to be bone. if so, and your guitar sounds good with no intonation problems, not sure i'd bother to change it. most people feel that bone is an improvement over tusq.
btw, you don't just buy a saddle - you have to have it shaped for your guitar. if you don't know what you're doing, chances are you'll end up with intonation issues, so most likely you would take the guitar to a luthier and he/she would supply the saddle unless you got one from bob colosi and had the luthier shape it and install it.
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#4
03-17-2011, 03:37 PM
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I don't typically like saddles with the compensated B anyway....Sometimes they're better on certain guitars, but in my experience, I can get better intonation without it...
Many here will disagree with me on this, BTW, but I can't deny the improved intonation....And most B compensated saddles present a steeper angle for the B & less ramp on the saddle itself.... I would leave the current bone saddle in that puppy & play it...And you have one of the best pickup systems on the planet installed in that guitar... Enjoy! boneyard
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Epiphone DR-500MCE 2011 Gibson J-45 vintage sunburst 1964 Gibson J-45 cherry sunburst Martin SWDGT Martin SWJGT Martin MMV Dread Martin 000-21
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#5
03-17-2011, 05:15 PM
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Patticake and Boneyard75, thank you for your replies. I've been doing some research on the subject and I agree with you. There is really no need for a compensated saddle, but maybe I'll try it sometime if I get some money for Bob Colosis one.
Hey Boneyard, I see you too own a DR-500MCE aside with some nice Martins. How do you like your Epi? Is it comparable to Martins in your opinion? I totally agree about the electronics. Especially the stereo sound with two cables.. thats even usable for studio recording IMO.
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#6
03-17-2011, 05:32 PM
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It seems like a common practice for guitars with under saddle pickups to not have compensated saddles.
My Guild GAD 30E has a Fishman under saddle pick up with a non compensated, bone saddle. The intonation is good - so I doubt I would consider compensating the saddle. I had a Dave Navarro Yamaha with a dual pick up system (under saddle and internal microphone). It had a non compensated saddle.
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#7
03-17-2011, 06:06 PM
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Quote:
Responding to above: I love the Epiphone plugged-in & unplugged it also has a very sweet balanced tone....that said, I am in love with the Martin sound, but I play the Epiphone when I play out & I don't think there is a better value out there than the Epiphone DR-500MCE ....A great sounding all solid wood guitar with one of the best pickup systems available....A home run!
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Epiphone DR-500MCE 2011 Gibson J-45 vintage sunburst 1964 Gibson J-45 cherry sunburst Martin SWDGT Martin SWJGT Martin MMV Dread Martin 000-21
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#8
04-08-2011, 12:38 AM
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dr500 mce
Hello , i have just bought DR500 MCE VS , it came brand new few days ago from the thomann.de shop and i also noticed that the saddle is not what it looks like on pics , its the same as yours , simple bone saddle but its fine with me.I bought it thinking it has good pickup system but now i have a little problem with it. I had my first gig with it last night and it was in small restaurant with not much volume , to cut it short , i couldnt use nanoflex pickup at all , i had to switch all the way to nanomag because of this nasty feedback i was getting. I noticed it when i tried the guitar through different PA the night before so its not the PA , i dont think its the volume issue because i play lot louder usually and now the feedback comes even if i turn the volume down a lot , and its a strange feedback , it comes quick with no warning , sudden death , low boomy feedback. When i tried the electronics the night before on my own PA , i took the time and tried to get the sound but i always get some boomy feedback from the pickups , especially on some notes around 5th fret of 4th and 3rd string i get some strange boomy sound, the notes are not clear, but only when i use nanoflex , no matter how much blend or eq position , it only stops when i switch all the way to nanomag pickup , but thats not why i bought the f... guitar. Please sorry for long post im still p...off about last night gig , i had new guitar i was gonna show off with it and it turned out to be disaster gig. Could it be the pickup not working as it should , does anyone has similar experience and what could i do about it? I live in Bosnia and Hercegovina so i cant just easily go to their store or send a guitar on check without a hassle... Please help , thanks .
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