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Thread: Graphite saddles- worth it or not?

  1. #1
    Forum Member
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    Graphite saddles- worth it or not?

    Hey! I've a Fender Strat MIM with the standard Fender saddles, but I was wondering if Graphite saddles make a difference of not? Are the worth £40/$50 to replace the ordinal ones? Will I actually hear a difference?
    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Forum Member S. Cane's Avatar
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    Re: Graphite saddles- worth it or not?

    Frankly, I never bothered.

    I really don't think it will make a difference, but I am kind of a skeptical type who really believes in physics and that even the fretboard wood is irrelevant to tone, at least considering what human hearing can make out of it.

    I'd stick to the original saddles and just give the guitar a proper set up.

  3. #3
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Re: Graphite saddles- worth it or not?

    I used to use them, and I really couldn't tell a difference in tone. I got them because I was breaking a lot of strings at the bridge. It helped a little with that, but the guitars I've had for the last 10 years have the stock saddles, and I've had very few string breaks. I'd leave it stock and get a tech to check it out if you're breaking strings. If it's just the tone difference, you won't hear an improvement.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  4. #4
    Forum Member Offshore Angler's Avatar
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    Re: Graphite saddles- worth it or not?

    They were nothing more than snake oil sold during the Tone Wars.
    "No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim

  5. #5
    Forum Member VibroCount's Avatar
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    Re: Graphite saddles- worth it or not?

    I found on my Jazzmaster, with the floating bridge & tremolo system, that the single-slot graphite saddles were the correct width (unlike Mustang saddles) and solved both the strings jumping to other slots on the bridge and the strings going out of tune when the bridge rocked. I imagine it would be the same with Jaguars.
    Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don't. -- Pete Seeger

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