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Epiphone EJ200 Bone Saddle and pick up


johnnyboy

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Just got new EJ200. Love the look of it!

 

First thing I did was fit Phosphur Bronze Elixir 12s - real improvement.

 

Second I fitted bone saddle and lowered the action by taking off about 2mm of the bone saddle compared to the plastic saddle the EJ came with.

Ouch... not so good. I was expecting a massive improvement - but got the opposite - no bass at all - sounded like a Mandolin.

 

So put old saddle back in for now. Anyone else had similar? Any ideas why? I thought the bass would improve - not take a hike!

 

Also tried LR Baggs M1 Pick up out to my AER Compact 60 amp - also sounded pretty dreadful too. Does anyone have a good pickup system installed they would recommend ?

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I put bone in my dove.. and went back to plastic.

I put tusq nut it.. tone was much better.

 

I have tusq saddle now but haven't got it in yet.

 

I was shocked.. first that the nut made more difference with tusq over plastic

and then that the bone sounded worse than plastic.

 

some guitars are contrary. give 'em what they like and to hell with the rest.

 

for me a piezo with an internal mic is best.. but problematic with feedback and needs special electronics to balance them out.

so I go with piezo alone... a little compressor pedal to lessen the harsh attack.. and plug into my modded vj.

 

TWANG

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I put bone in my dove.. and went back to plastic.

I put tusq nut it.. tone was much better.

 

I have tusq saddle now but haven't got it in yet.

 

I was shocked.. first that the nut made more difference with tusq over plastic

and then that the bone sounded worse than plastic.

 

some guitars are contrary. give 'em what they like and to hell with the rest.

 

for me a piezo with an internal mic is best.. but problematic with feedback and needs special electronics to balance them out.

so I go with piezo alone... a little compressor pedal to lessen the harsh attack.. and plug into my modded vj.

 

TWANG

 

Hey twang

 

I had a bone nut and saddle installed on my H'bird, recently got a Tusq saddle to compare with the bone and I've gotta say it's loads better. I guess that, as you say, some guitars like certain things better. You just gotta find what works.

 

Matt

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Its also possible that you shaved to much of the bone saddle and didn't have enough of a break angle left to give you enough bottom end sometimes we just need to have a higher string space to get the sound we want, I am a firm beleiver that you shouldn't always follow the norm when it coems to string heights at the 12 fret and that you really need to experiment with a guitar for several years to find that right sound for it. So it could be that or your guitar just doesn't like bone and works better with tusq or plastic to generate enough vibration to get the lows you are looking for.Ship

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  • 7 years later...
  • 2 years later...

I enjoyed reading the comments in this thread. I have just bought an EJ200 SCE VN and absolutely love the look and sound of this guitar. I am a rhythm guitarist and tend to like a lighter/ looser style guitar especially when finger picking. The strings are quite high at the 12th fret so I intend to take 1 to 2 mm off the saddle and also fit lighter strings than standard. Any advice on removing and lowering the saddle would be appreciated and I am going to try 11 - 47s; I have read that this will slightly improve the sustain but could reduce the bass. Again, any comments welcome. 

The comments about the bone saddle showing now real improvement over the original plastic are particularly useful.

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