ADJ Conversion

[jibberish]

Has anyone here every had their ADJ saddle replaced with standard bone?

How much did it cost?

[duluthdan]

https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/acoustic-parts/replacement-adjustable-bone-saddle-for-gibson-acoustic-guitars/

[j45nick]

7 minutes ago, duluthdan said:

https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/acoustic-parts/replacement-adjustable-bone-saddle-for-gibson-acoustic-guitars/

That is the easiest solution.

It will not yield exactly the same results as removing the exposed adjustment hardware and saddle, filling the resulting slot in the bridge, and re-slotting for a conventional bone saddle.

In my adj saddle replacement job,  we removed the adj bridge to allow access to all the adj hardware, removed that and filled all the holes, removed the 1968 oversize plywood bridgeplate and replaced it with a thin maple bridgeplate, and made a new belly-up conventional Gibson bridge with a slot-through saddle, as that 1950 J-45 had before re-topping by Gibson in 1968.

Cost for that little operation was about $500 as part of a much bigger project on the guitar

[dhanners623]

I had it done on a J-45 ADJ in the '90s and can't recall the cost. I no longer have the guitar, but the change definitely improved the sound. To my ears, anyway. As I age, I do tend to wonder about the placebo effect of guitar tweaks, although replacing an adjustable saddle is more than a mere "tweak."

Frank Ford describes a similar operation on a Hummingbird, but this guitar needed more work than just a simple saddle slot filling and re-routing: http://frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Technique/Guitar/Bridges/HumBirdBr/hbirdbr1.html

Edited December 9, 2021 by dhanners623

[cunningham26]

i have the drop in saddle on my '68 and it improved volume and a perceivable lift in mids and highs- definitely wouldnt go back to the rw saddle but happy it sits in a bag in the case if someone wants to return it to the original spec. 

getting rid of the thick bridgeplate and hardware is certainly going to lighten things up  but the intangible  question would be does this alteration affect the sound you expect from this guitar? if you modify a gibson to be as light and airy as a martin, and it sounds like a martin, is that an improvement if you lose some of the gibson thump? 

im totally biased because the sound of mine is THE sound i look for most of the time (depending on the room) so i don't see the appeal in heavy mods to get a guitar to sound like something other than what it is. really happy with that bone saddle though- marginal, reversible gains.

[kirstenw23]

On 12/9/2021 at 8:21 AM, duluthdan said:

https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/acoustic-parts/replacement-adjustable-bone-saddle-for-gibson-acoustic-guitars/

When did you buy this @duluthdan? And how much was it in the time when you bought it? Thanks a lot! I am asking this because I would like to know if the seller added or decreased the value over time?

[E-minor7]

Here's a custom version I ordered 10 years ago - bone/rosewood. 

Tried many if not all approachable variations and can't recommend something general. It depends on the guitar and your ears, , , plus of course the song you want play. 

That said, I'm a huge fan of the original adjustable ceramic saddle and it's back in the 63 SJ above.