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Thread: Custom shop nocaster saddles

  1. #1
    Formerly joe mama
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    Custom shop nocaster saddles

    Fender says they're "special design" while all the other teles just say brass. I compared a few sets and the Nocaster's saddles are quite a bit heavier and bigger. I noticed a difference in tone. Not just a little.

    How can I get another set of those saddles?

  2. #2
    Forum Member
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    Re: Custom shop nocaster saddles

    If it's one of those CS Nocasters, parts are almost impossible to get unless you know someone that works there and they're subject to routine cavity searches. I was able to get one of the milled jack cups from them (also a Nocaster part) took some time but anythings possible.

  3. #3
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    Re: Custom shop nocaster saddles

    Don't know which others you have been comparing them to 69strat, but the Nocaster saddles on my Nocaster are exactly the same as standard brass vintage saddles that come with the Fender Vintage Tele bridge, and presumably as aftermarket parts on their own.

  4. #4
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    Re: Custom shop nocaster saddles

    When Fender runs low on parts they'll use what they have on hand. The saddles on my '98 Nocaster are markedly thicker than on the '52RIs I've seen.

  5. #5
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    Re: Custom shop nocaster saddles

    But a '98 Nocaster isn't built to period correct specifications, whereas the Time Machine Nocaster, and currently available Vintage bridge, are. Perhaps that is where the discrepancy lies? There are brass saddles thinner than the current Nocaster/Vintage, and obviously some fatter, but I guess it depends on the year of the Nocaster and types of Tele 69strat has been looking at and trying out.

  6. #6
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    Re: Custom shop nocaster saddles

    What's different sbout the '98 versus current Nocasters specs? The paint is certainly wrong on the new ones.

  7. #7
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    Re: Custom shop nocaster saddles

    "What's different sbout the '98 versus current Nocasters specs? "

    The pre April 99 Nocasters are quite different from the current Time Machine series. The Time Machines are built to the original blueprints, whereas the pre TM's where a 'close approximation' of a Nocaster. The main areas that the pre TM's diverge in accuracy are neck radius, body routing, pup output, and neck girth.

    I'm not sure what you mean about the paint being wrong on the TM's though. Look at photographs of period Blonde Nocasters and Telecasters and both types of finish are prevalent, the clearer 'butterscotch' finish like the pre TM's and the current cloudy Honey Blonde. How the period instruments turned out was down to variations of materials and the environment, even though they both started out the same 'beige' Blonde. As I see it, the two types of finish on recent Nocasters are just a choice of the CS management, neither being 'wrong', but both being right.

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