jimitom Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Hello everyone. I finally got the Masterbilt DR-500MCE VS. I've been waiting for it for ten months (ordered in May 2010). The guitar seems really nice overall. Its my third acoustic - i had a Fender CD-140S, and I still have a Seagull Entourage Rustic. Epi seems like the best one of the three. The sound is great and full, a lot of bass wich I didn't expect, nice mids and treble too. The strigns that were on are some kind of 12 gauge with no coating, and honestly i think they suck. I will put Elixirs 11 custom light today. The playability and action of guitar are good (i had to adjust the truss rod just a bit to remove the bow). The thing that I noticed is that the saddle is not compensated as shown on Epi ang gibson sites. Its just a regular (bone) saddle that I'm planning to replace with a new one. I have a feeling that it would improve a sound a little bit. So, I was wondering if you could recommend me a replacement saddle, because I've read that ''sharper'' compensated saddles made of quality materials such as bone or tusq can make quite a sound (resonation) improvment on acoustics. I will probably be ordering it from ebay. Here is the picture of my saddle.. Hope that you experienced guitar-people will help me. Sorry if my English is not so good. Thanks. Tom [/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diverden Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Hello everyone. I finally got the Masterbilt DR-500MCE VS. I've been waiting for it for ten months (ordered in May 2010). The guitar seems really nice overall. Its my third acoustic - i had a Fender CD-140S, and I still have a Seagull Entourage Rustic. Epi seems like the best one of the three. The sound is great and full, a lot of bass wich I didn't expect, nice mids and treble too. The strigns that were on are some kind of 12 gauge with no coating, and honestly i think they suck. I will put Elixirs 11 custom light today. The playability and action of guitar are good (i had to adjust the truss rod just a bit to remove the bow). The thing that I noticed is that the saddle is not compensated as shown on Epi ang gibson sites. Its just a regular (bone) saddle that I'm planning to replace with a new one. I have a feeling that it would improve a sound a little bit. So, I was wondering if you could recommend me a replacement saddle, because I've read that ''sharper'' compensated saddles made of quality materials such as bone or tusq can make quite a sound (resonation) improvment on acoustics. I will probably be ordering it from ebay. Here is the picture of my saddle.. Hope that you experienced guitar-people will help me. Sorry if my English is not so good. Thanks. Tom [/img] Why not just contact your dealer and have them supply you with the proper saddle. The Epi website clearly shows a B compensated saddle on that model. However, they may have a disclaimer stating that models may vary from images. Couldn't hurt to call. Why pay for something you can probably get for free. FYI : My AJ 500 ME came with a bone B comp. saddle. If that doesn't work for you. Bob Colosi can make you any kind of saddle you want. http://www.guitarsaddles.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gta05 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 What is the difference between B compensated saddle and regular saddle? I have the same guitar DR500MCE VS and here is my saddle. No B compensated saddle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimitom Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 Hey Diverden and Gta05, thanks for replying. Unfortunately my shop isn't willing to supply me with a proper saddle because they say that they just sell what they get from manufacturer and that's it. I can't blame them. I decided to consider replacing the saddle with a B compensated one because I think I could get a bit of improvement. As I understand the B compensated saddles have a sharper top edge, and maybe a slightly different angle wich also helps in intonation improvement. First I did is go to Bob Colosis' site and explore their products, but they are a little over the price range for me (+ the shipping costs to my country if they even ship to Europe). Gta05 - your saddle looks just like mine. Have you been thinking about replacing it? Can you tell more about how your guitar sounds and are you satisfied with it? (action, playability, etc.) Yesterday I restringed my guitar with Elixirs 11, and man what a change. I couldn't beleive. It started singing right off. Do you guys think that it makes sense trying to replace the saddle with a b compensated one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diverden Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Hey Diverden and Gta05, thanks for replying. Unfortunately my shop isn't willing to supply me with a proper saddle because they say that they just sell what they get from manufacturer and that's it. I can't blame them. I decided to consider replacing the saddle with a B compensated one because I think I could get a bit of improvement. As I understand the B compensated saddles have a sharper top edge, and maybe a slightly different angle wich also helps in intonation improvement. First I did is go to Bob Colosis' site and explore their products, but they are a little over the price range for me (+ the shipping costs to my country if they even ship to Europe). Gta05 - your saddle looks just like mine. Have you been thinking about replacing it? Can you tell more about how your guitar sounds and are you satisfied with it? (action, playability, etc.) Yesterday I restringed my guitar with Elixirs 11, and man what a change. I couldn't beleive. It started singing right off. Do you guys think that it makes sense trying to replace the saddle with a b compensated one? I am always of the mind, "if it aint broke , don't fix it." Judging on Gta05's pic it appears that model no longer comes with a B compensated saddle. But if you notice the saddle is mounted at an angle. Surely the guys that design these guitars know what they're doing. I find it rather amusing when I read discussions on saddles, nuts, bridge pins etc. and the effects on the tone of the guitar. I think if any of these things were changed the difference would be negligible. I'm sure if Eric Clapton picked up any of my guitars they would sound like a million bucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimitom Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 I get what you're saying. It sure ain't broken.. but I'm always for trying to improve if I can because it's fun to do at the end. I'm sure that any guitar would sound good in Claptons hands. I also think that good acoustics on a guitar comes from a wide range of more or less important elements, former are wood and strings, and other; and a thing like a saddle would surely be of the latter. I have seen some noticeable improvement in the sound (or at least in sustain) of a guitar when it comes to saddle replacement. Anyway, thanks for your opinion Diverden. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gta05 Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 Has Epiphone DR-500MCE has B compensated in their spec, i won't be satisfy until someone from Epiphone told me why i do not have one? I would try to speak with service there to ask them to send me a B compensated saddle. Let you know what happen then. I feel like my guitar is out of tune when i put a capo on it at the second fret? Don't know if it has something to do with the saddle or is it the "placebo effect"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimitom Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 Hey Gta05 let us know if you find something out about the saddle. I'm sorry to hear about your situation with capo and intonation. My intonation is almost perfect up the neck.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gta05 Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Here is the answer that i received from Gibson/Epiphone. Thanks for writing. There was a running spec change to a non-compensated saddle for this model in late 2010. We’re having the web team change the specs on this. Thank you for the inquiry, and we apologize for the confusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimitom Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 Here is the answer that i received from Gibson/Epiphone. Thanks for writing. There was a running spec change to a non-compensated saddle for this model in late 2010. We’re having the web team change the specs on this. Thank you for the inquiry, and we apologize for the confusion. Can't say that I didn't expect that kind of answer. Anyway thanks for the info man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gta05 Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Can't say that I didn't expect that kind of answer. Anyway thanks for the info man. They change the spec but not the picture... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gta05 Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 And i still have intonation problem. Really unhappy with it. Why did Epiphone customer services did not send me the right saddle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diverden Posted September 30, 2012 Share Posted September 30, 2012 Go here and order a B Compensated saddle from Bob. His work is high quality. http://www.guitarsaddles.com/products.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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