Wilco Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Well, I've made the final mod to my 2014 Lennon Limited Edition EJ-160e that I've been meaning to do for some time now. I've replaced the Tusq bridge saddle with this bone saddle: http://www.ebay.com/itm/301848675873?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Not only have I wanted to do this from a tone standpoint, but I felt that the original saddle was a bit too low on the 1st string side. After removing it, I noticed that it also seemed like the production of it was somewhat haphazard, and hacked up. Not very precise, or efficient. Interestingly, the base of the cavity that the saddle sits in is angled – higher on the 1st string side. I'm not sure that my J-45 is like that...perhaps someone who has replaced the saddle on the Gibson can comment on this, as I'd like to replace that one as well. As the vendor's eBay page states, the bone saddle does need to be sanded and adjusted accordingly. I thought the 1/8" thickness would be fine right out of the package, but it wasn't. I had to sand it quite a bit to fit the slot. I then placed the original saddle on top of it, and drew a pencil line to get the angle of the bottom correct. I sanded this down accordingly, while leaving a slight bit more on the 1st string side to adjust the action. Word of advice on overall sanding adjustments: keep checking the fit as you're sanding little by little. I wanted to make sure it fit nice and snug in the slot, because the original saddle fit was also far too loose. I'm sure that affected the tone as well. Also note that the length of the original saddle is 3 inches, and this one measured precisely is 2.95 inches, but this still works fine. When finished, the tone was noticeably improved, and the action feels much better to me. Also, I put a capo on the first fret and then loosened the strings enough to be able to pull them out of the pin slots before doing the work, so note that you don't have to totally unwind and remove the strings if they're still fairly new. Listed below are the other mods I've done, as I've mentioned in another post: I put on Gotoh Vintage Tuners, and they're great...a big upgrade. Replaced the white nut with a black self-lube Graph Tech nut, because there was an audible buzz coming from the old nut. It sounds, and tunes much better now. I also replaced the plastic bridge pins with ivoroid pins with abalone dots. Replaced the amber knobs with the more accurate gold top hat volume and tone knobs, plus I put the nickel pointers on...way better to see my tone and volume settings now. I've also previously mentioned that I'm using GHS White Bronze 11s, but I think I'll be switching back to 12s on my next string change. I enjoy the 11s for chording, but I just can't seem to dig in as much on leads as I'd like. A bit too thin for my tastes, as I compare it to my J-45 with Elixir 12s. Also, I'm thinking of switching to Zebras to see if I like them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodger11 Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Looks great ( as does the Lennon sketch). I do a bit of sketching myself and if I get the edread case would love to copy yours! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilco Posted February 1, 2016 Author Share Posted February 1, 2016 Hey, Dodger11. Feel free to copy that Lennon pic when you get the eDread case. That's the very best case for the EJ-160e...nice snug fit. That standard case that they sell for all of the jumbos really doesn't fit this model good at all. For something different, I did this to my Revolution Casino case: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodger11 Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Equally as cool mate - nice job... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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