zombywoof Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Something that I have wondered about. Gibson obviously used two kinds of ADJ bridge saddles. Both wood and ceramic saddles could either be grooved on the bottom or flat. Was this simply a matter of when the guitar was built or was there a reason for it. OK, so it is official, I have no life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Can't answer that directly, but the adj bridge/saddle Gibson installed on my old 1950 J-45 in July, 1968 had the rosewood saddle that was flat on the bottom. I still have it in my parts box. It also had the slightly curved steel "spring" plate underneath the saddle, which I removed somewhere along the line, probably when I modified the rosewood saddle with a bone insert around 1971. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 The ceramics I've owned have been flat on the bottom. I believe the one rosewood saddle I have is also flat. Will report back if I can find it & confirm. Therefore, I don't believe I've seen one with the saddle grooved on the bottom. Every one I've had has also come with the flat steel plate under the saddle, which I typically remove for a better fit with the ceramic (never have had a ceramic crack under tension). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 My 1961 B45-12 came with a grooved bottom wood saddle which I am wanting to go back to as I liked it better than the flat bottom bone saddle I am currently using. I also just picked up another original Gibson 12 string wood saddle which also has a flat bottom so can go with that one and just not use the metal shim or whatever that thing is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boyd Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Sorry... not gonna remove the original rosewood saddle from my 1965 J-50 ADJ just to take a look at the bottom. 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Flat bottoms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 All mine are flat - 3 ceramics and a couple of rosewoods. But I heard (and seen) the clay-ones came both matt and gloss. Had me curious about sound. Never met a shiny one. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . @Burst - remember we talked about springs in the spring. See Nick's post and receive a clue 🔎 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62burst Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 1 hour ago, E-minor7 said: All mine are flat - 3 ceramics and a couple of rosewoods. But I heard (and seen) the clay-ones came both matt and gloss. Had me curious about sound. Never met a shiny one. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . @Burst - remember we talked about springs in the spring. See Nick's post and receive a clue 🔎 ✔️. But the images, and Wizz demo live half way down pg. 2 of the older thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 Here is a photo of the original grooved saddle and metal shim from my 1961 B45-12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Now that's interesting. The underside of the saddle was grooved so that the spring plate indexed to it. I suspect that was an early iteration, and it was dropped because it added (minutely) to cost and complexity. I have never seen that before. 1961 was fairly early in the adj cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuestionMark Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 19 hours ago, bobouz said: (never have had a ceramic crack under tension). I had a bone replacement saddle in my ADJ bridge break on the end. Couldn’t figure out why the guitar’s sound became so weak until I decided to try a tusq saddle in there and found the bone one’s end cracked under the screw when I went to take it out to put the tusq one in. With the uncracked tusq one put in, it made the volume and sound back to being strong. Amazing how a cracked saddle in the ADJ bridge hurt the volume. QM aka “ Jazzman” Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabarone Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 On 9/9/2019 at 8:08 PM, zombywoof said: Something that I have wondered about. Gibson obviously used two kinds of ADJ bridge saddles. Both wood and ceramic saddles could either be grooved on the bottom or flat. Was this simply a matter of when the guitar was built or was there a reason for it. OK, so it is official, I have no life. Ohhh, you have a life...it can be a "Life's work" trying to find rhyme or reason to anything Gibson does/did... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 9 hours ago, zombywoof said: Here is a photo of the original grooved saddle and metal shim from my 1961 B45-12. Whoa, very interesting! Have never run across one of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 That metal plate is more complex than the one I had, which was essentially just a flat piece of very thin spring steel shaped in plan view like ZW's. The one ZW has probably been formed in a hydraulic press and sheared to shape, since it has the "tongue" pressed into the middle. It would be interesting if someone here has another early adj--say, 1960 or earlier--they could take apart and have a look at. It isn't that hard if you do it in conjunction with a string change, and it is of some historical interest. (I do have a life, but I find this type of thing really interesting.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 Ill take a look tonight at a couple wood and ceramic bridges tonight from the early years that I have. Im pretty sure they may have a groove but no plates to match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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