Saddle material drop test- why I use Tusq saddles- VIDEO DEMO

Beau Hannam Ukuleles

Beau Hannam Ukuleles

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 4, 2011
Messages
3,019
Reaction score
122
Location
Grand Junction, Colorado
This is why TUSQ is the best saddle material, especially if an instrument has an undersaddle pickup.

Bone (or MOP, black horn) is a good choice if an instrument is overly bright and you are wanting to warm that sound up.

Materials tested- Tusq, MOP, Bone, Black horn

 
This is JUST TOO SCARY!

First, you post "fretting a bound fretboard" after I do a class on it at the UGH.
Now, you post a Tusq vid after I'm in email conversation with another builder about me putting in another order for Tusq nuts and saddles (as a follow up to our LRBaggs Five.0 deal).

Guess you need to come to Hawaii again. . . soon.
 
For what its worth, I have done this similar test years ago and found that dropping materials on a soild surface is no indication of quality in actual sound transference or wear longevity. Tusq is soft and wears fast but is better for saddle pickup electronics. I prefer bone. Just another opinion.
 
I'm with BlackBearUkes. To mute/filter some specific frequency contributes to sound character IMO. One of my favorite sounding instruments has a ebony nut and a rosewood saddle. TUSQ sure has its special character but it's just that I'm not very fond of it especially on my own works.
 
I also noticed the sizes of the pieces are different. (like Aaron mentioned) I was wondering what type of Tusq you are using, being from out of the country it would not be legal to ship some types of tusq into the United States, I noticed particularly because of the picture of an elephant on the card you showed.

AFRICAN ELEPHANT: This is on the C.I.T.E.S. endangered species list. The importation, selling and buying of this ivory IS NOT ALLOWED INTERNATIONALLY. It cannot be exported or imported to the U.S. and most of the countries delegated to the U.N., BUT... it is LEGAL TO OWN, SELL, BUY, or SHIP within the boundaries of the U.S. and there are NO PERMITS or REGISTRATION requirements! *The majority of african elephant ivory is "old estate" ivory that was brought into this country since its' inception.

ASIAN ELEPHANT : Also on the C.I.T.E.S. Endangered species list and is ILLEGAL to buy, trade, sell, import or export anywhere internationally or INTERSTATE within the U.S.
Click to expand...
http://www.ebay.com/gds/THE-LAWS-OF...uying-and-Owning-It-/10000000016709891/g.html

Edit: Feeling stupid I just noticed Tusq is man made ivory, not some sort of British spelling for Tusk
 
Last edited:
FWIW, I first saw Dave Dunwoodie to this exact exercise at NAMM a number of years ago.

I didn't put on my good headphones, but from what I know about how this sampling goes, it didn't do any justice to the Tusq, although the MOP sounded very interesting.

And you can cut the size of the Tusq in half, it'll still have that "ring", and no "thud".

If I had never actually met the staff at Graph Tech, I probably wouldn't go out of my way to try, much less buy Tusq. I like doing business with good people, and Graph Tech is definitely one of them. If not for them, I probably would've graduated from Corian to Bone eventually. Of course, most of my instruments have pickups installed, and the installs are usually uneventful.

Here's a list of manufacturers that may surprise some:
http://www.graphtech.com/who-is-using-graph-tech/manufacturers

Note: I think the manufacturers use Graph Tech from a "custom" standpoint, because they can make a profile exactly to order, so once the initial cost of setup is done (assuming they don't already have a stock item ready to go), eventually they get a ROI that makes it worth it. Actually, I know one case where this is exactly true - reduced cost in the long run.
 
Michael N. said:
A better test might be to make 4 'mini' saddles from 4 differing materials and string the Uke with the 4 same strings. Then do a blind listening test.
Click to expand...

Yes, then we can see what, if any, difference the material actaully makes.
 
"Softness" of Tusq- I've not found Tusq saddles to wear any quicker on steel string guitars then bone- The first guitar I made in 2002 has a tusq saddle and its fine.
On a uke with nylon strings, it simply isn't nor ever will be an issue.
I think Tusq nuts would wear quicker on a steel string instrument (as the strings constantly slide back and forth over the nut) but I like the look of polished bone, MOP or black horn for nuts.

Size of demo material - Yes the size of the Tusq was much longer then the others but the sound difference is not diminished when it is the same size. I have an older video on facebook doing the same demo with same sized pieces with the same tonal results:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=310793952342658&set=vb.100002361680367&type=3&theater

Blind test - It would be interesting to do so- I'll try next year.

Size Blanks- I buy the 4" long x 1/2" high rectangles as they are the same price as the shorter ones and cheaper then the pre shaped ones. I then compensate each to within 5 cents but this changes if the owner changes strings brands, tension etc.

Where to buy- I Called Graph Tect and got a luthiers discount (also, if you buy 10 you get 10% off) but the price happens to be about the same as buying 6+ or 12+ from Stew mac!!!!!
I usually get my black Tusq saddles from ebay, one at a time for around $8 free shipping.
http://www.stewmac.com/Materials_and_Supplies/Nuts_and_Saddles/TUSQ_Saddles.html

Saddle and Nut Buffing- I polish and buff my nuts with this cheap set up- it works GREAT for $4.50!!!!!!
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece-buffing-kit-43657.html
 
Last edited:
Yes, yes. I heartily agree that stringing up the same instrument with the different saddles would be interesting. However, as a former scientist but not in acoustics, I see problems with control in the experiment. The "player" should literally be blindfolded to eliminate bias. Also strums should be exactly the same which would be difficult to pull off. Worth a shot however... I actually go back a ways in the great Tusq debate. As a guitarist we embraced it and then people started dissing it and we went all negative on it without a shred of evidence either way. This is called bias.

Just my commonsense thoughts and I know very little about accoustical science: Obviously the stuff is acoustically "live", but might this not color the sound of the instrument? The question is: in a good way or a bad way. I wonder whether there might be some really high tones that would create some "sibalance" (characterized by a hissing sound; noting sounds like those spelled with s) tones to the treble sounds. I have NO evidence that this happens, thus I would love to hear some experimental sounds in a controlled experiment with bone as the control. Go for it I say.
 
Last edited:
Yes, the double blind test. But you will need at least 3 willing participants. It's extremely difficult to devise the perfect test, someone always has an objection as to it's validity. I prefer to take what I term a 'weight of evidence' approach. Do enough of the same test, with a spread of different Players/listeners and eventually you may see a certain consensus, one way or the other. It probably still won't convince everyone but at least one is armed with something to support a theory.
 
Also, Tusq does not possess an seemingly important element which is a factor in peoples decisions-
Simply put, Polished Bone sounds more romantic then a plastic product (Tusq), further evidence being that Graph Tec themselves called their plastic product after a natural one (Tusq/ivory). The irony is that Tusq sounds nothing like real ivory when dropped. Ivory exhibits a thuddy tone similar to bone- (that is, thuddy compared to the glass ring of Tusq).

It is similar to CF bridge plates and "hand made" over "factory". Hand made isn't necessarily better, similarly to a natural product "polished bone" being better then Tusq.

I bet my equipment isn't good enough to show a big enough difference in tone quality to warrant such debate, but when i FINALLY manage to send a uke to HMS i will be sure to include saddles in 3, 4, or 5 materials so their high end microphones can discern the differences.
 
Beau Hannam Ukuleles said:
Graph Tec themselves called their plastic product after a natural one (Tusq/ivory). The irony is that Tusq sounds nothing like real ivory when dropped. Ivory exhibits a thuddy tone similar to bone- (that is, thuddy compared to the glass ring of Tusq).
Click to expand...

I've always thought the name was odd. I've work a lot with different ivories. It rates between 2 and 2.5 on the MOHS scale (similar to fingernails). Bone on the other hand rates a 5. Just from hearing it on your test I assume Tusq is even harder.
(BTW, they'll probably outlaw Tusq anyway because it sounds too much like and endangered product! ;))
 
How a saddle sounds when it is dropped in irrelevant in the overall sound of uke IMO, except wood will sound more mellow than bone. If you are depending on the saddle material to make or break the sound you are after, good luck with that. Tusq is not a hard material, it breaks easily and sands like butter, and in my experience as a repairman for years, it wears much faster on guitars than bone or ivory. The only reason I have used Tusq is if the guitar or uke had an under the saddle pickup system. Personally, I like the sound of gold hitting a hard surface more than Tusq, but I don't use either.
 
Consider a 15" x 5" x 1/8" sheet of Tusq and sheet of bone (ie, the dimensions of a set of uke tonewood)

When struck, the Tusq rings like glass and the Bone less so.- Which would you use for back n sides and top wood???
 
A sheet of bronze would likely ring even better, doesn't mean I'm going to start making brass saddles. I agree with Black Bear a drop test while a nice idea has no bearing. And most especially when the dropped objects are different sizes and shapes.
 
Last edited:
Someone mentioned glass. Are glass nuts and saddles feasible? I wonder how they would sound?
I found out that the NuBone nuts and saddles are very closely related to Tusq, or maybe the same. I love the black NuBone ones on my Kala.
http://www.graphtech.com/products/brands/nubone
 
That tusq certainly is the stand-out of the bunch! Really sounds more like metal than glass. I'll have to give it a try sometime and see how it sounds on steel and nylon string instruments.

Next time you're doing a drop test, make some wood saddles too. I used African blackwood on my harp guitar just because nobody sells bone blanks long enough, and it sounds great. But I also tried an Indian rosewood saddle on a steel string guitar once, and bone was better, so I do need to try bone on the harp guitar eventually to compare. Honduran rosewood and pernambuco are both very glassy sounding, so I want to try them too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Explorer77
Saddle Material?
2
Replies
24
Views
1K
Timbuck
Timbuck
Explorer77
Saddle and Nut Material Discussion
Replies
17
Views
1K
Timbuck
Timbuck
J
nut/saddle: bone or synthetic material?
2
Replies
30
Views
4K
keenonuke
K
Henning
Material of the saddle, (choice of wood)?
Replies
5
Views
765
Henning
Henning
LarryS
Changing the nut /saddle material
2
Replies
23
Views
2K
PhilUSAFRet
PhilUSAFRet
Top Bottom