Greyrider Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 I just bought this guitar for a quite reasonable price. Pretty impressive box. Very sweet neck reminds me of of my 92 Gibson Starburst. My question is, did these guitars come w/ bone saddles & nuts or plastic. The later is what I have... w/ a few shims under the saddle. Had a chance to play w/ a few folks last night, the all said it sounded good.. So far pretty happy with it. Think it needs some bone on it though.... Rebel __________________________ Gibson 92 Starburst Martin D15M 40 year old Pan Recording King RAJ 26 Republic Resonator Epi AJ500M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diverden Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 I just bought this guitar for a quite reasonable price. Pretty impressive box. Very sweet neck reminds me of of my 92 Gibson Starburst. My question is, did these guitars come w/ bone saddles & nuts or plastic. The later is what I have... w/ a few shims under the saddle. Had a chance to play w/ a few folks last night, the all said it sounded good.. So far pretty happy with it. Think it needs some bone on it though.... Rebel __________________________ Gibson 92 Starburst Martin D15M 40 year old Pan Recording King RAJ 26 Republic Resonator Epi AJ500M Should have come with bone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarLight Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 The AJ-500M and all Masterbilts, come standard with bone nut and saddle. If yours has shims in it, it is possible the previous owner may have modified it. I don't care for shims because they can hinder tone. You may possibly need a new bone saddle if you are not satisfied with the tone or volume. If the previous owner sanded or ground the bone saddle down a bit too much, he may later have needed to add shims to heighten it again. I love my AJ-500M. One of the best guitars I ever owned. I replaced the plastic pins with ebony pins, and it definitely made a good guitar sound even better...elixir 80/20 nanoweb lights, or Martin 80/20 lights work great on these guitars also. PB's will give it a deeper tone and 80/20's keep it bright and crisp in tone. I just bought this guitar for a quite reasonable price. Pretty impressive box. Very sweet neck reminds me of of my 92 Gibson Starburst. My question is, did these guitars come w/ bone saddles & nuts or plastic. The later is what I have... w/ a few shims under the saddle. Had a chance to play w/ a few folks last night, the all said it sounded good.. So far pretty happy with it. Think it needs some bone on it though.... Rebel __________________________ Gibson 92 Starburst Martin D15M 40 year old Pan Recording King RAJ 26 Republic Resonator Epi AJ500M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red 333 Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 The bone saddles on the Masterbilts without undersaddle transducers have shims underneath them. This is why some players report high action. They are there so the player can easily lower the action without sanding the bottom of the saddle. The bone saddles are compensated, which is somewhat unusual, so yours may only appear to be plastic. Test it with a hot pin. Plastic will melt (the pin will sink in); bone will not. Red 333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanstreak Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 My DR-500M had a shim under the saddle. I did test it and yep it was bone. Replaced it anyway I don't like shims. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greyrider Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 Thanks for all the replies. It is a compensated saddle... looks like plastic, but maybe not. Will try the pin thing. Not a fan of shims myself, so a new saddle may be in order.. Again, thank you for the replies... Rebel ------------------- Gibson 92 Starburst Martin D15M 40 year old Pan Recording King RAJ 26 Republic Resonator Epi AJ500M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greyrider Posted June 22, 2013 Author Share Posted June 22, 2013 Well, per the hot needle test, I reckon the saddle is bone. Seeing as it doesn't sounds pretty good, I'll leave it as it is till next string change, then put a new saddle on it. The guitar is really easy to play, and easy to like. I'm very glad I bought one.. I'm liking it better than the Recording King... Rebel --------------------------------------- 40 year old Pan Gibson 92 Starburst Martin D15M Republic Resonator Recording King RAJ 26 Epiphone AJ500M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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