Rosewood saddles

villafranca

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I've noticed that some uke builders use rosewood saddles, instead of bone or tusq. My question is: why?

Anyone here prefer rosewood over bone or tusq? If so, convince me as to why it's preferable...

- Sean
 
This might be a good thread for the luthiers section...
 
Generalization, here:

Bone & Tusq = brighter, chimier, sometimes drier

Rosewood & Ebony = sweeter, woodier, warmer

I agree, but I have switched saddles and generally unless a saddle is "wrong" you do not notice a huge change. If a saddle is the wrong height or badly compensated you will hear a huge difference, but just changing from wood to bone, if both saddles are "right" then the difference is subtle.

Still, if I am changing a nut or saddle, it is usually plastic, so I always change to bone or ebony, just because they are more traditional and they do not cost a lot more. I've been sawing all my bone parts out of a $1 bone I bought at a pet food store, and I bought two ebony scraps that will provide nuts and saddles for many ukes as well.
 
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My understanding is that the difference in hardness between high quality ebony and bone, synthetic or real, isn't that great. That being said, I have an ebony nut and saddle on my KPK concert, and even with Aquilas, it's sweet and woody sounding, same with my Mele Koa tenor, though It has Southcoasts on it.
 
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My 2 cents, experiment with each uke. I find rose or ebony can be very chime and loud. Some tusk or bone can be weedy sounding and wood saddles can focus and control the sound.
 
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