--my new bone saddle--

[Jay]

i got it from http://www.fqms.com , which sells good quality stuff. they sem to be the choice for a lot of guitar parts over on the taylor forum, and most of them have multiple taylors, so they dont cheap out on parts.

it cost $12 including shipping, but i had a bit of sanding to do afterwards to have it match the radius of my old saddle. if you have patience, it's worth it. (get 180 grain sand paper for the adjustments, but also have something like 400 grain on hand to smooth it out and level it.)

there is also a guy on taylorguitarforum.com who makes them specifically for taylors.

[Steve-O]

Would the sound still improve if you upgraded to a bone saddle but kept the nut the same?

[Jay]

yes..the nut makes less of a difference. my nut is still tusq.

[jkanter]

PLEASE EVERYONE READ THIS BEFORE GOING OUT AND BUYING A BONE SADDLE. There is one EXTREMELY important thing in knowing when thinking about replacing your saddle with a bone one. IT DOES NOT VIBRATE AS MUCH. You may think, what would that matter? Well, If you have an under-the-saddle pickup bone will not sound as good as other ones. It is stiffer and will not provide as clear tones as your previous saddle. This is what I have been told by every person I have ever asked about Bone. If you do not have an under-the-saddle pickup or do not plan to get one, then the bone will def be worth it....but otherwise, stick w/ what you have for a better plugged in sound

[grock]

PLEASE EVERYONE READ THIS BEFORE GOING OUT AND BUYING A BONE SADDLE. There is one EXTREMELY important thing in knowing when thinking about replacing your saddle with a bone one. IT DOES NOT VIBRATE AS MUCH. You may think, what would that matter? Well, If you have an under-the-saddle pickup bone will not sound as good as other ones. It is stiffer and will not provide as clear tones as your previous saddle. This is what I have been told by every person I have ever asked about Bone. If you do not have an under-the-saddle pickup or do not plan to get one, then the bone will def be worth it....but otherwise, stick w/ what you have for a better plugged in sound

i have to disagree. the bone is denser and will transfer the vibrations better than plastic.

it is very important that you shape a bone saddle different when there is a pickup. without a pickup you want it to fit very snug. but with a pick up if you have a little play, you want it to be able to move and not bind to the sides of the bridge so i makes good contact with the transducer. it sounds a lot louder. and ringers out better.

[jkanter]

PLEASE EVERYONE READ THIS BEFORE GOING OUT AND BUYING A BONE SADDLE. There is one EXTREMELY important thing in knowing when thinking about replacing your saddle with a bone one. IT DOES NOT VIBRATE AS MUCH. You may think, what would that matter? Well, If you have an under-the-saddle pickup bone will not sound as good as other ones. It is stiffer and will not provide as clear tones as your previous saddle. This is what I have been told by every person I have ever asked about Bone. If you do not have an under-the-saddle pickup or do not plan to get one, then the bone will def be worth it....but otherwise, stick w/ what you have for a better plugged in sound

i have to disagree. the bone is denser and will transfer the vibrations better than plastic.

it is very important that you shape a bone saddle different when there is a pickup. without a pickup you want it to fit very snug. but with a pick up if you have a little play, you want it to be able to move and not bind to the sides of the bridge so i makes good contact with the transducer. it sounds a lot louder. and ringers out better.

Well, I honesly do not know personally....but if your disagreeing with my statement, then you are disagreeing with every single professional guitar luthier I have ever asked about bone saddles....but again, I was just repeating everything I had been told

EDIT: Here is an excerpt from the website fretnotguitarrepair.com . This person SEEMS extremely knowledgable on the subject as they have been doing this professionally for some time.

"Undersaddle pick-up's and saddles - When a guitar is fitted with an undersaddle pick-up (Fishman Matrix/Martin Thinline for example) it is important that the saddle be able to compress the pick-up beneath it while maintaining equal and continuous pressure along it's length.
When making or fitting new saddles I prefer them to fit tightly to prevent leaning and provide solid surface to surface contact. However, when an instrument is fitted with an undersaddle pick-up the saddle must have the opportunity to compress the pick-up on which it sits. Therefore, bridges with these types of pick-up's will require their saddle to fit a little differently.
It has also been my experience that some, but not all, instruments with undersaddle pick-up's benefit from the use of a synthetic saddle. Why? I believe it's because most synthetics are more flexible than bone and are able to bend a bit with the bridge slot bottom if need be to insure more equal pressure across the pickup."

Direct link to the page to learn all you need about ALL types of saddles is here: http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/saddles.htm

[Jay]

it's been my impression that a bone saddle was more difficult to work with when you have an under saddle pickup, but not a hinderance if it's done right....

but i have an ES so...

[grock]

PLEASE EVERYONE READ THIS BEFORE GOING OUT AND BUYING A BONE SADDLE. There is one EXTREMELY important thing in knowing when thinking about replacing your saddle with a bone one. IT DOES NOT VIBRATE AS MUCH. You may think, what would that matter? Well, If you have an under-the-saddle pickup bone will not sound as good as other ones. It is stiffer and will not provide as clear tones as your previous saddle. This is what I have been told by every person I have ever asked about Bone. If you do not have an under-the-saddle pickup or do not plan to get one, then the bone will def be worth it....but otherwise, stick w/ what you have for a better plugged in sound

i have to disagree. the bone is denser and will transfer the vibrations better than plastic.

it is very important that you shape a bone saddle different when there is a pickup. without a pickup you want it to fit very snug. but with a pick up if you have a little play, you want it to be able to move and not bind to the sides of the bridge so i makes good contact with the transducer. it sounds a lot louder. and ringers out better.

It has also been my experience that some, but not all, instruments with undersaddle pick-up's benefit from the use of a synthetic saddle. Why? I believe it's because most synthetics are more flexible than bone and are able to bend a bit with the bridge slot bottom if need be to insure more equal pressure across the pickup."

Direct link to the page to learn all you need about ALL types of saddles is here: http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/saddles.htm

ok, yeah i agree with this. i thought you were saying it was worse. that's not true if you do it right. it is DEFINATELY more difficult to get a perfectly flat bottom and make good string to string volume right.

i went through quite a fit when i replaced one saddle and found the strings were all different volumes when plugged in. it sounded fine acoustic, but plugged in the highs were deafening and the A string was bearly audible. no i have remade the saddle and made it flatter, but still i have to EQ it a bit.

there are a couple tricks too. one involves taking a bit of clay. see this article for a description. http://littlebrother.nlpd.com/Clay-UST/ i've done this on a friends guitar and am going to try on my own this winter break.

for my other guitar, i made my own bone saddle and put it in and there was consistant string volume and excellent tone. so this is definately an issue specific to each guitar.