Tele GAS

[badco33]

I bought my first Tele. It's a James Burton Signature Model that I got off of eBay. I'm not too crazy about the Candy Apple Red finish but the neck is an absolute dream and after I put an aged white pickguard on it it it looks a lot better. I put Wilkinson compensated brass saddles on on it and have it all set up and it sounds real nice. I will eventually put some duncans in it but for right now the stock pickups are alright.

One question I have is about the saddles. I have the saddles set to the bridge radius and the action I like but I noticed a couple of the strings slide a little on the brass saddles while bending. Do you Tele guys usually file string slots into the saddles once you have it set-up or is this a common problem that you have to deal with? I am new to teles (I have 3 Les Pauls and a strat) so any help would be appreciated.

 

[mrfjones]

Re: Tele GAS

i have never filed anything into the saddles but i do have a "slot" worn in my oldest teles steel saddles.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Tele GAS

I have 2 Teles. One has six saddles. This is a California Tele. It has a Strat PUP in the Neck. The saddles have a channel for the string to stay in. My other Tele is a 52RI. This has 3 saddles or barrels as they are called. They have no grooves in them, and it has not presented any problems(other than the normal intonation issues associated with the 3 barrels). Once the strings are on the guitar for a while the string will find a place it wants to be and settle in. I would leave it alone.

 

[badco33]

Re: Tele GAS

Thanks for the input. They are the compensated saddles so I haven't noticed any intonation problems, just a little string slippage. I have noticed that the strings are starting to make slight indentations in the barrells so I think your right, I'll just leave it and over time they will wear a little spot and find a home.

 

[butnut]

Re: Tele GAS

Congrats on the JB Tele, that is a sweet neck. My brass comp saddles have worn their own grooves, when I put a Bigsby on my Esquire, they moved too much...I got some threaded brass saddles and problem solved. On my Tele-Gib, the brass saddles notched themselves nicely over a few years.
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[Ez74]

Re: Tele GAS

i just got my first tele also.... a lite ash tele... and it has the 3 brass barrel saddles. there are 2 grooves on each barrel... 1 on each end.... so 1 groove per string