bridge saddles

[blackdiamond]

This may have been asked before,I am new on this site so please accept my apologise... at the moment I am in the process of building my own guitar, and was wondering what the user opinions are of either the standard vintage saddles on a strat, or the more solid american block style , is there any notisable difference in tone.. your opinions would be most valuable... they certainly appear to be the least fitted on most strats.

[Uncle Fiesta]

Well people seem to prefer the vintage-style pressed ones. I don't know what difference they make to the sound; I just prefer them because they look nicer!!

[Tab]

There is a noticable difference in the 'feel' when it comes to muting.

The vintage saddles give that immediate comforting reassurance that you are in the right place to get the muting just right.

[R_Rbnsn]

I own Strats with both the American 'block' style saddles and the vintage ones. I'd say there's no difference in tone at all, only in they way they feel against your picking hand as 'Tab' said before.

I wouldn't worry about it unless you're planning to do any Jeff Beck style 'bridge bashing' with the heel of your hand!

[David Martin]

Hank was advised by Chris KInman to have the bent steel saddles on his 40th Anniversary Signature model on the basis of tone and changed the spec to account for this...

[JimN]

The preference for the original style of bent (pressed) steel saddles grew up in the age of the <spit> post-CBS Fenders, when the Stratocaster suffered from too many attempts at production cost-cutting.

In the seventies, the Strat bridge/trem assembly was cast in a single piece of Mazak (no separate block) and the saddles were also made of mazak - a casting material made up of a proprietary mix of zinc and aluminium. It was OK for car doors, etc, but not for small parts subject to the stress that Stratocaster bridge saddles are; it tended to crumble in use, at the point where the string crossed it. As well as that, the softer material imparted less snap and twang to the string. It was junk.

Modern Strat bridge pieces have changed and are made of hardened steel. Here are are some awaiting incorporation at the Corona factory.



Today, there probably isn't much difference in tone between the traditional vintage-style saddles and the modern steel block saddles fitted to the American Standard, etc. But the preference for vintage everything took firm hold during the CBS period.