Saddle/Nut material

HoldinCoffee said:

Please excuse me for highjacking this thread, but back to TUSQ/nubone, the nuts are pre-slotted. And Graphtech doesn't list a Nubone ukulele nut. Are the preslotted Tusq Nuts made to fit most production line ukes: Kala, Lanikai, Ohana, etc..?
...

Click to expand...

I used a TUSQ nut and saddle on my concert Oscar Schmidt. Yes, it fit perfectly with just a little sanding on the sides to fit the width of my neck. They are made a little long, tall and wide to help fit most uke necks.

I use only TUSQ on all my acoustics as well. They are really easy to shape/sand to perfect intonation. I usually mount then mark with a pencil for where I want to move the "saddles" via sanding, then lastly I sand down the bottom to get the action I like.

The little OS mahogany concert already sounded alright with bone and plastic but now it really resonates and sounds right after the TUSQ and intonation/action work!! I recommend them!

When I get my Tenor, i'll be using a TUSQ blank and custom compensating it as well as installing a pickup under the saddle.

I learned how to do all this from books at the library, btw!!

ichadwick said:

It's a plastic. Tusq makes them. I put one on my Pono mango and there was a small but noticeable improvement in brightness and sustain over the original bone.

The saddle is arguably the most important component in an instrument: it sends the string energy to the bridge and topboard where it gets translated into sound. So the better the material is at transmitting the full spectrum of the energy, the fuller the resulting sound.

Click to expand...

...AND not just the material but how it's mounted to the bridge that counts too. A loose saddle or improperly fitting saddle will not do the job as well. I like getting the TUSQs from graphtech, they are always alittle too thick and require a little sanding to fit into the slot for a perfect tight fit! it's important to keep the bottom perfectly flat when sanding down for action as well to help transmit that vibration to the bridge. just FYI