Guitar saddle replacements come in a variety of materials, compensation patterns, top radii, and sizes. Finding the right replacement saddle for your guitar can prove difficult. In this article, we provide five steps to help you find an acoustic guitar saddle replacement.
Step One: Choose Saddle Material Factory guitar saddles are often made of plastic, either inexpensive plastic saddles that produce a weak tone, or quality synthetic materials such as Tusq or Micarta. More expensive guitars almost always come with bone saddles leading many to believe that bone necessarily produces a superior tone. However, you may find that you prefer the factory saddle made of synthetic materials to bone. Please visit our article on What is the Best Acoustic Guitar Saddle Material? for more information.
Numerous compensation patterns exist, and these are based on factors such as scale length andsaddle slot angle. Generally speaking, you should replace your saddle with the same compensation pattern used from the factory. However, you should only try a different compensation pattern if you are having intonation problems, or if you plan to use alternate tunings. For more information, please see our article onAcoustic Guitar Compensation Patterns.
A Visit By A Troubled Yamaha F310
Steel-string acoustic guitar fretboards almost always have a subtle curve to the fretboard for easier playing. Generally speaking, matching your saddle’s top radius to your fretboard radius will produce better playability and reduced buzzing. Please note that guitar manufacturers sometimes use a saddle that has a different radius from that of the fretboard.
The most common fretboard radii for acoustic guitars are 12- and 16- inches, but 14-, 15-, and 20-inch radius fretboards also appear, but you’ll also see fretboard radii listed in mm, such as 300 mm (11.81 inches) or 400 mm (15.75 inches). Manufacturers often use the same radius for all their series, but this is not always the case. For example, Gibson acoustic guitars often have a 12-inch radius fretboard, but some models will have a 16-inch radius. To determine your specific guitar’s fretboard radius, first try contacting the manufacturer with your serial number and ask what the radius is. You can alsoprint radius gaugeson cardstock, or purchasemachined radius gauges.
Guitar saddles come in a variety of lengths, heights, and thicknesses. You can remove your current saddle without completely restringing to measure. A few notes on each of these specs:
Apx500 Saddle Replacement Options?
Common lengths for steel-string acoustic guitar saddles are 72, 74, or 75 mm, but manufacturers will use other lengths, too. Nylon string guitar saddles are typically 80 mm long.
Martin saddles are typically 2.5 mm, or a touch thicker than 3/32 inch. However, a large number of steel string guitar saddles will be around 3.2 mm, or 1/8 inch. Note that many inexpensive aftermarket saddles are made at 3.0 mm thickness. That 0.2 mm might not seem like much but can cause a subtle forward lean in your saddle slot, which in turn can negatively affect intonation and result in poor contact with the bridge.
Saddles will come in a variety of maximum heights, anywhere from 8 mm to 13 mm. Measure your current saddle’s height before purchasing.
Musical Instrument Guide
Saddles often come with the bass edge about 1 mm taller than the treble edge. However, your current saddle may have been adjusted on one side more than the other versus the stock saddle. Please see our article on Bass/Treble Edge Height Difference for more information.
There is no universal standard for the string hole spacing at the bridge, although this often varies from 2 1/8 to 2 3/16 inches, with various different measurements in between. That 1/16″ (4 mm) might not seem like much, but it’s enough for a string to be misaligned with a saddle compensation pattern and create intonation issues. Please see this site on measuring bridge string spacing for more information.
To find a quality saddle replacement, first try visiting the manufacturer’s websites. However, please note that many manufacturers do not provide purchase links online. Below are links to some common builders, though, where you can purchase direct from the manufacturer.
Unbleached Bone Saddle
If you’re unable to purchase direct from the manufacturer, try visiting GraphTech’s acoustic saddle pagefor Tusq and NuBone saddles. Also check out luthiery supply sites, such asStewMac, which will carry saddles in a variety of materials and sizes.
You can also try Amazon and eBay, however, be aware that you may find some inexpensive bone saddles on these sites. If so, those saddles often contain the incorrect dimensions, such as the wrong top radius for your guitar, or are 3.0 mm thick instead of 3.2 mm. Also, they may use overly porous bone and/or bone processed with harsh chemicals, which might expedite bone processing time, but results in weak bone that produces poor tone. Those inexpensive bone saddles might sound better than the factory plastic saddle does, but they will not compare to the tone produced by a quality bone saddle and are also unlikely to last long.
To find a quality bone saddle, please view ourAcoustic Guitar Saddle Size Chartto see whether we have a saddle to fit your guitar.The Yamaha JR2 provides a decent budget guitar for those looking for a guitar for children, small adults, or a travel guitar. Compared to the Yamaha JR1 model, we found that the JR2 had a subtly richer and warmer tone worth the extra cost. Presumably this results from the wood differences. Yamaha’s Mahogany Ultra-Thin Film back and sides on the JR2 model, whereas the JR1 has Meranti back and sides.
How The Classical Guitar Is Made：adjust The Nut And Bridge To Suit The Actual Guitar
The JR2 provides enough volume for personal playing, but would be drowned out in a group setting. Furthermore, it has little headroom, so an aggressive or dynamic attack won’t work on this guitar. We found that a consistent light or medium attack worked fine. Yamaha produces decent overall construction, but with the minor construction flaws that you would expect on an instrument at this price point. Factory Set Up The factory set up was decent overall. Most of the strings were properly seated at the nut, and not buried or pinched, which can result in a muted tone and/or poor playability. However, the exception was the treble E string, which was set quite low – please see the below picture.
The factory twelfth fret action measured at 6/64 and 5/64 for the bass E and treble E strings, respectively. Intonation was OK for most strings, but a bit off for the bass E string, particularly when forming chords. The factory saddle was a non-compensated plastic saddle with a 74.5 mm length and max height of 8 mm. The saddle had a 2.85 mm thickness, whereas the saddle slot thickness measured a touch over 3.0 mm. This resulted in a subtle forward lean and a visible gap on the back side.
When we took the saddle out, we found that it in addition to being too thin for the slot, was also not level on the bottom, resulting in poor contact with the bridge.
Acoustic Guitar Action: Lowering The Saddle.
We replaced the factory saddle with one of our bone saddles designed to fit many Yamaha steel-string guitars. Our saddle is slightly larger than the factory saddle, so we made the minor adjustments to produce a snug fit.As a result, this produced a subtly fuller tone and improved intonation for the bass E string, which was apparently a combination of eliminating the forward saddle lean and saddle compensation.
Although the compensated saddle worked better for this particular guitar, we typically advise replacing a non-compensated saddle with a similar non-compensated saddle. Yamaha has often used a very sharp saddle angle rather than a compensated saddle. Placing a compensated saddle on a guitar designed to use a non-compensated saddle can have a negative impact on intonation. Increased compensation does not necessarily equal improved intonation. You should only use a compensated saddle in place of a non-compensated saddle if there are specific intonation issues you with to address.
Do you have questions about which saddle would work best for your Yamaha guitar? Please see our Guide to Yamaha Acoustic Saddles for more information.Most guitar manufacturers that produce budget priced acoustic guitars typically save costs by installing a plastic saddle and nut instead of using bone. Bone costs more than plastic. It makes good business sense using plastic saddles and nuts on value priced guitars as it helps keep the street price lower for the consumer.
Bone Guitar Saddle For A Recording King Rp 06
Plastic saddles are more brittle than bone and are subject to breakage over time. Plastic saddles are not high density in structure compared to bone. Bone saddles will transfer the string’s vibrational energy through the bridge and the sound board or the top of the guitar much better. You will find bone nuts and saddles on all higher end guitars for this reason.
I recently purchased a new budget Yamaha FG830 for $340.00. This is the perfect guitar for vacations and for keeping around my office desk. I won't weep buckets of tears if it gets dented or scratched which is a plus. This model Yamaha guitar has a solid spruce top and laminated rosewood back and sides. When I first got it, I thought it sounded really good for the price. I tried different string brands in search for a boost of the low end. I was pretty
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