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AJ220SCE - change saddle to bone


Ramseize

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Hi guys,

 

I recently bought an Epiphone AJ-220SCE guitar and really like it, I also read online that if you change your guitar saddle to bone it would sound more better. Would anyone please help me on how to buy a bone saddle for my guitar:

 

1. What is the correct dimension(Length x Width x Height) of my guitar saddle? as when I check online there's too many type that made me confused?

2. Must I buy compensated or uncompensated?

3. Should I also buy bone pins? will it affect the over-all sound?

4. My last option to buy is the bone nut, is it alright to buy last?

 

 

Hope you guys can guide me through in making my guitar sound better.

 

Your kind replies are deeply appreciated.

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Making a saddle is a job for someone who knows what they're doing because there are a number of issues involved. Here's a Frank Ford tutorial on how he does it:

http://frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/MakeNewSaddle/newsaddle01.html

 

I'd recommend you take the instrument to a good repair shop and have them do the work. Yeah, it costs money, but the saddle is an important part of the guitar and if it ain't right, the guitar won't be right. It should be compensated, but compensating the saddle is not a job for amateurs.

 

Generally speaking, bone is a very good saddle and nut material, although not all pieces of bone are created equal. That's why man-made material like Tusq is popular -- it is very consistent from piece to piece. As for bridge pins, yeah, some people go with bone. I have camel bone pins on my IB'64 Texan. On another guitar, I have ebony pins. And on a third guitar, I've got Tusq pins. People often experiment with different pins (as well as nut and saddle material) to figure out what combination works best, and camel, ebony and Tusq worked out to be the best on those particular guitars.

 

Keep in mind that the saddle, nut and bridge pin materials will only take a guitar so far, sound-wise. They can improve tone and playability, but the impact is usually minimal.

 

As to your last question, yeah, you could do the nut last. That said, my advice would be to have a competent repairman (or repairwoman) do the saddle and nut at the same time. It just makes sense to have all the work done at once.

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Hi Dhanner,

 

Great advice, but sending my guitar to a repairman and let them do the saddle is a bit expensive for me. That's why I'm looking for other alternative options, but will try to check the link that you just gave and start from there.

 

Deeply appreciate your reply.

 

Thanks

 

Making a saddle is a job for someone who knows what they're doing because there are a number of issues involved. Here's a Frank Ford tutorial on how he does it:

http://frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/MakeNewSaddle/newsaddle01.html

 

I'd recommend you take the instrument to a good repair shop and have them do the work. Yeah, it costs money, but the saddle is an important part of the guitar and if it ain't right, the guitar won't be right. It should be compensated, but compensating the saddle is not a job for amateurs.

 

Generally speaking, bone is a very good saddle and nut material, although not all pieces of bone are created equal. That's why man-made material like Tusq is popular -- it is very consistent from piece to piece. As for bridge pins, yeah, some people go with bone. I have camel bone pins on my IB'64 Texan. On another guitar, I have ebony pins. And on a third guitar, I've got Tusq pins. People often experiment with different pins (as well as nut and saddle material) to figure out what combination works best, and camel, ebony and Tusq worked out to be the best on those particular guitars.

 

Keep in mind that the saddle, nut and bridge pin materials will only take a guitar so far, sound-wise. They can improve tone and playability, but the impact is usually minimal.

 

As to your last question, yeah, you could do the nut last. That said, my advice would be to have a competent repairman (or repairwoman) do the saddle and nut at the same time. It just makes sense to have all the work done at once.

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I know expense can be an issue. That said, the saddle can be such a critical piece that it may be worth the professional expense.

 

As an alternative, check out a ready-made and compensated Tusq saddle by GraphTech, or their new material, NuBone. Both are quality products and you probably won't be disappointed.

http://www.graphtech.com/products/brands/tusq/tusq-acoustic-saddles

http://www.graphtech.com/products/brands/nubone

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The day after my EJ-200SCE arrived, I had it over to my luthier to have a bone nut/saddle installed. ($75)

Although the stock compensated saddle was very sufficient, the nut def needed to go... just because. ;)

 

I also changed the stock strings to Elixer PB's, which is just my personal preference for all my acoustics.

Now that I found the correct size, I ordered a set of bone pins w/ ebony dot inlays. (pin size = .200" w/5 degree taper)

 

The guitar truly is absolutely fantastic box stock.. but the string change and adding a bone nut & saddle REALLY makes this the maple jumbo I've been wanting without having to cut loose with the extra $3300.

 

Epiphone has really stepped up their game the last couple years!

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