Graphtech saddles changing tone?

[Mincer]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

yeah, they changed the tone- the guitar sounds a lot better when it is in tune. i use em on all 6 strings, and it sounds and feels great (no more cut up palms from the cheapie bent steel saddles).

 

[Bludave]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

I have graphit saddles on ALL my electric guitars except my Vintage Tele. That has brass barrels and will remain that way. I have installed the graphite on my 335, LP, SG, 3 Strats, and one Tele. I have never really noticed any major change in the tone, but I have yet to break any strings since I have changed the saddles on my guitars. IF you are Gigging you need to be confident that you won't break a string every other song. IF there is a difference in tone I think it is for the better. I recently compared my LP to 3 other LP of the same year, and I felt mine had more clarity to chords, and had a better edge to it. Go figure

 

[tone?]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

Dude, a friend of mine a while ago had a Vintage reissue Strat one made in around 1994 or something. it was one of the first ever made. They were supposedly REAL good or something. actually i remember the guitar being amazing.
So the guy is a real goof and goes and buys the Graphtech saddles and................there goes the tone!
Sorry but i am totally convinced that they ruined the tone of the guitar. They made it brittle Bright sounding, totally lost the vinatge smoothness.

I cant believe he did that to that guitar. I dont think that any famous tone guy plays with those saddles.
Anyway, if you have heard of the Callaham Trem i think it is a great way to upgrade you tone. The steel used to make this is great and the whole thing is a work of art. really. im not doing an ad for this guy, he is just really good.
Plus the MIM strats have trem blocks that are made out of crap. Zink or something like that totally bogus.

i would recommend that in the blink of an eye. And if you break the strings more often.........who the heck cares????

 

[B2D]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

Dude, a friend of mine a while ago had a Vintage reissue Strat one made in around 1994 or something. it was one of the first ever made. They were supposedly REAL good or something. actually i remember the guitar being amazing.
So the guy is a real goof and goes and buys the Graphtech saddles and................there goes the tone!
Sorry but i am totally convinced that they ruined the tone of the guitar. They made it brittle Bright sounding, totally lost the vinatge smoothness.

I cant believe he did that to that guitar. I dont think that any famous tone guy plays with those saddles.
Anyway, if you have heard of the Callaham Trem i think it is a great way to upgrade you tone. The steel used to make this is great and the whole thing is a work of art. really. im not doing an ad for this guy, he is just really good.
Plus the MIM strats have trem blocks that are made out of crap. Zink or something like that totally bogus.

i would recommend that in the blink of an eye. And if you break the strings more often.........who the heck cares????

I'm gonna go back to the original metal ones and see if it makes a difference. Now that I think about it it makes sense for the metal saddles to affect the sound in a positive way.

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

I'm gonna go back to the original metal ones and see if it makes a difference. Now that I think about it it makes sense for the metal saddles to affect the sound in a positive way.

if they still break, what i do is take a pencil and rub it in all the spots strings pass over. it really helps string breakage and tuning problems, and i havent noticed any averse effects

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

I prefer the tone of bent steel saddles for my strat, but I need one guitar that I know won't break a string at a gig, so it has graphtech saddles. It's a compromise I can live with, and it means I can take one guitar if I have to and know it'll be fine.

My PRS and tele have stock hardtail bridges, but they don't break strings nearly as often as my strats have.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

Dude, a friend of mine a while ago had a Vintage reissue Strat one made in around 1994 or something. it was one of the first ever made. They were supposedly REAL good or something. actually i remember the guitar being amazing.
So the guy is a real goof and goes and buys the Graphtech saddles and................there goes the tone!
Sorry but i am totally convinced that they ruined the tone of the guitar. They made it brittle Bright sounding, totally lost the vinatge smoothness.
?

I never heard a vintage strat described as 'smooth' - a Gibson, certainly. Breaking more strings and cutting up my right hand is not an acceptable tradeoff.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

The first thing I did when I got the Strats and the Bastard Tele was to change the saddles to GraphTechs. They DID change the tone, only it was for the better. It became a little edgier, a bit more full bodied. When I bought my LP Custom it had the GraphTechs already on it. I took those off when I replaced the bridge. They just didn't sound as good as the original parts.

 

[FretFire]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

I just replaced the tuneomatic bridge on my Schecter (all steel) with a Tonepros that has graphite saddles. I noticed no drastic tonal changes. Maybe a bit more warmth on the plain strings, but that's about it. That makes sense to me, I fail to see how a graphite saddle could be brighter than a metal one.

 

[Mac-P]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

The string save saddles definitely changed the tone of my guitar. Made it thinner. I went back to the stock saddles and sanded them nice ans smooth. Worked like a charm.

 

[B2D]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

I fail to see how a graphite saddle could be brighter than a metal one.

I'd agree with you, normally. I thought there was no damn WAY Graphtechs could be brighter then metal ones. But lo and behold, all the bass got cut out.

Maybe its not so much a materials issue but a MASS issue?

BTW I contacted Stew-Mac and they said I could return the saddles for a full refund.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

Do graphite nuts impart the same problems? I was thinking of putting 1 on my Legacy.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

...I dont think that any famous tone guy plays with those saddles. ....

**** Dale, Adrian Legg, Tommy Bolan ...

As I´ve said before, tone is subjective, what you think sucks may be someone else´s holy grail, I think we all need to remember that sometimes....

But either way, Graphtech has introduced the Ferraglide to counteract exactly this problem, and from what I´ve heard (incl. comments in this thread) they seem to work great. Never tried them myself, though...

 

[B2D]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

I'm gonna return those Graphtechs and get some ferraglides and see what happens. Wish me luck.

 

[Imp]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

ferraglides are AWESOME. one upgrade i've never regretted. if anything, they put almost a smiley-face EQ on the tone of the guitar as a whole - i did a big fat review when i first got mine, and i still love them.. its my firmly held opinion ferraglides keep and accentuate everything anyone ever liked about pressed metal saddles, whilst p*****g over the stock ones for player comfort, string sustain and string breakage.

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

i have two strats with graphtech saddles and one without i find the ones with it tend to be a small bit warmer sounding not by much but they sure do help keep things in tune and strings from breaking.

-Mike

 

[daCaT]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

It always struck me as strange that you would use graphite for saddles when the material is used to absorb vibrations in almost all other applications.

 

[FretFire]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

It always struck me as strange that you would use graphite for saddles when the material is used to absorb vibrations in almost all other applications.

Well, at least when talking about the Ferraglides, it's not actually graphite. The package says they are stainless steel saddles with Delrin inserts. Not sure what that means though :laugh2:.

 

[B2D]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

Well, at least when talking about the Ferraglides, it's not actually graphite. The package says they are stainless steel saddles with Delrin inserts. Not sure what that means though :laugh2:.

IIRC, delrin is what Dunlop makes picks out of.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Graphtech saddles changing tone?

It always struck me as strange that you would use graphite for saddles when the material is used to absorb vibrations in almost all other applications.

Remember, Graphite is not equal to graphite...all graphite says is "carbon"...there´s powdered graphite (lubricant), loosely packed graphite (Coal), molded graphite (Nuts + saddles, Pencil lead...), high temperature / Pressure pressed graphite (Diamonds), and carbon-fibers for example, all of which (save diamonds) are commonly referred to as "Graphite", but none could do the job of another....

??...But where is graphite used to absorb vibrations?? It´s early in the morning here...