Saddle types and undersaddle pickups

Gaby

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Hi guys,

I am wondering if any of you have extensively experimented with different types of saddles in combination with different undersaddle pickups?

E.g. how does bone, nu-bone, tusq or plastic go together with say, Shadow, L.R. Baggs and Fishman undersaddle pickups?

I would like to to know which type of saddle you think works the best with what Brand of pickup and why.

Please give real comparisons, e.g. you got a standard uke with Shadow undersaddle pickup and plastic saddle and replaced it with Tusq and found that it sounds better / worse because....

Or perhaps you found there's no real difference?

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on this!
 
I replaced the plastic saddle on my 8-String Lanikai (w/Shadow pickup) with a bone saddle. Acoustically, it sounded a lot better. It was crisper, brighter, and somehow seemed more responsive. I never really plugged the Lanikai in (I really don't like Shadow pickups) so I don't know how much it changed the amplified sound, but I'd have to assume that since the bone saddle is denser that it would transfer vibrations to the pickup element better than the "spongy" plastic.

All my other ukes with pickups have tusq saddles and I don't really feel the need to replace those :/

I'm kinda interested in what might come up in this thread though, I might have to go out and get some saddle blanks and do some experimentation....hehe
 
I am interested too what comes up as I found that on this particular uke, the bone saddle acoustically sounds nice, but amplified, the treble is so high that I need to dial it way back on the pa. Wondering if it's the bone...
 
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