Brass saddles on SF?

[Mungi]

Anyone tried brass or aluminum saddles on their harp bridged SF bass?

 

[Happy Face]

I am using a set now on my JS-II. They add a smidge of brightness. But hopefully the Monkey God will chime in.

 

[Mungi]

I am using a set now on my JS-II. They add a smidge of brightness. But hopefully the Monkey God will chime in.

How about sustain? And does it kill the "woodiness" of the tone? Or perhaps the JS does not have the same woody tone as a hollowbody to begin with....

I ordered a set from guildbassparts.com but they were out of stock. I got rosewood and ebony saddles right now.

 

[Happy Face]

The wood saddles are probably better for you. But only your ears can tell.

I have them on because a tech decided that the rosewood saddles needed to be augmented to create the same radius as the neck. I did not like it because adding shims to the saddles raised the action a lot. I just need to pry the shims off. But in the meanwhile, I figured I'd try the brass saddles again since they were in my parts drawer and I'm going to change the strings to rounds. When I get around to it.....

 

[mgod]

I have an Alembic-made set on my main SF, a 67, but the saddles came from the bass Phil gave me. They sound great.

I like the idea of ebony saddles!

 

[MARICOPAA]

I'm partial to the original wood saddles on Starfire's and M-85's but also really like the stock dense plastic saddles that came on Coronado IV's...same bridge...same shape saddles...just made from a different material. Just a different take way back then on the saddle idea from Hagstrom. They sound excellent on Coronado IV's.

 

[fronobulax]

Black plastic saddles were used on the earliest Starfire basses before Guild switched to the rosewood. I suspect Guild just bought the bridge and saddles from Hagstrom.

 

[Yggdrasil]

I'm partial to the original wood saddles on Starfire's and M-85's but also really like the stock dense plastic saddles that came on Coronado IV's...same bridge...same shape saddles...just made from a different material. Just a different take way back then on the saddle idea from Hagstrom. They sound excellent on Coronado IV's.

My 65 Coronado IV sounds mighty fine with plastic; and my 67 Starfire sounds mighty fine with wood. And my now-gone Alembicized Starfire sounded mighty fine with a mix (yes, a mix) of brass & wood. It's all good.

 

[mgod]

And my now-gone Alembicized Starfire sounded mighty fine with a mix (yes, a mix) of brass & wood. It's all good.

Its got all wood now.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Its got all wood now.

Hey, Dan - I kind of figured you guys would normalize that element. Do you think the brass one was leftover from all-brass from the Alembic modifications? I think there might have been some old saddles in a bag in the case, IIRC.

 

[mgod]

It was all wood when it got brought here; I never knew it had brass, but I imagine that was a remnant of days of yore (and even mine). It'd be groovy with 4 of them.

 

[Mungi]

I like the idea of ebony saddles!

I can get you a set if you want. It will take a while though.