Tusq Strat/Tele Saddles

[treyhaislip]

I was doing maintenance on an acoustic guitar that is going to be a Christmas present and as I was polishing the top it occurred to me that I always upgrade the nut and saddle to bone or tusq. Which made me think, all of my Strats have a bone or tusq nut but not on the saddles.

I did some searching and found these:

View attachment 59452

Anyone tried these/your thoughts?

 

[Oinkus]

Re: Tusq Strat/Tele Saddles

Have Tusq nut ,saddles and pins on 2 of my acoustics and it made a pretty large change in feel and sound. Only heard good things about using those for upgrades.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Tusq Strat/Tele Saddles

I love tusq on my acoustics. My Warmoth Strat neck came with a black tusq nut and I love it.

I just never knew they made tusq saddles...got me thinking

 

[SJ318]

Re: Tusq Strat/Tele Saddles

Well,
I know how good they are, I have used them as nuts on all my guitars but 1 a J Beck LSR, and they show no apparent use, from a .009 all the way to a .048.
So they must do well under pressure, and most younger folks don't know that some of our first great rock guitar stars: Clapton W/Mayall, Bloomfield, Albert King, Peter Green, early Mick Taylor, etc. a lot of those guys back then made all those master recordings using NYLON saddles. Those things are softer, although firm, than Tusq.
Even Clapton's 335 can be seen in some pictures with yellowed nylon saddles when he was with Cream. I rear rare shot of him with Mayall and his saddles were white in a black and white photo with his Les Paul, the one with the double white NECK pickup. Very rare photo. So if he and the others can get the sounds they did, the Tusq will sound probably better. Not as hard as metal, but way harder than nylon. Stay in tune better, break strings less.
Where do I sign up! Gotta be a great product.
SJ

 

[SJ318]

Re: Tusq Strat/Tele Saddles

Also,
Didn't Tusq sell metal Strat saddles with Tusq inserts in the string section of each metal saddle?
I had a set on one of my Strats and they were great, I just don't remember if Tusq was the brand or if it was another brand "featuring" Tusq inserts.
SJ

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Tusq Strat/Tele Saddles

I saw these on eBay...really thinking about giving it a shot. I believe these are completely tusq minus the screws to adjust the height and connect to the trem.

 

[SJ318]

Re: Tusq Strat/Tele Saddles

They look like all the screws are there in the picture you posted.
SJ

 

[CTN]

Re: Tusq Strat/Tele Saddles

Not tusq but i used to have graphtech string saver saddles on my strat until several months ago. Great stuff. Retained most of the strat vibe while being a touch warmer than the bent steel saddles. Better for tuning since it holds the string in a groove and is slippery to boot. I'd imagine the tusq saddles to be bright and harmonically richer in comparison. Probably as bright as bent steel.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Tusq Strat/Tele Saddles

Hmm...I might just have to give it a try! Thanks for the input!

 

[atreidesheir]

Re: Tusq Strat/Tele Saddles

The Tusq saddles made my 3 G&L sound very piano-like with acoustic attack.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Tusq Strat/Tele Saddles

The Tusq saddles made my 3 G&L sound very piano-like with acoustic attack.

That would be interesting to hear...I like the sound of that!

 

[the toad]

Re: Tusq Strat/Tele Saddles

i have graph tech tusq saddles and a tusq nut on my strat... the saddles smooth out the high end icepicky noises amazingly well compared to the stock steel ones... i dont feel like im losing any high end from them but rather just cleaning it up and making it sound better. i love them.