Graphtech saddles effect

daveyh

My Les Paul had Graphtech saddles on when I got it, so I have no idea how it sounds without them. So I was wondering what effect they generally had on the sound of a guitar, Les Paul in particular. I have the original saddles.

axisus

Personally I'd swap them back as I don't like the look of graphtech saddles. I like a trad look. Many people will sing the praises of better sound I'm sure, but no bugger who ever listens to you will hear it.

Just my 2c.

Phil_aka_Pip

One of my guitars, maybe even the lester has graphtech saddles. I never had any complaints about them.

stickyfiddle

They make very little difference to the sound in my experience. I have them on my 336 and Tele,  it has ha givers from my “heavy-handed string breaking period”. It’s maybe s slgihty softening of the attack compared with steel, but so small as to not be worth worrying about 

stratman3142

My experience is similar to @stickyfiddle. I occasionally broke strings on my main gigging HSS Strat but have never broken a string since I installed them.

There's maybe a subtle slight softening of the sound but not in a bad way and I like the tone with them installed. I also had a graphtec nut and string tree installed and that guitar happens to hold tune incredibly well, even with whammy bar use.

So they're the right practical choice for my main gigging guitar that I can be totally confident in for live use, but I haven't bothered with my other guitars 

guitarfishbay

They make the attack slightly softer. I took them off my Strat pretty quickly, they weren’t for me. Probably something only the player will notice.

ICBM

I really don't like them, to me they take away the attack and body of the sound. Not as bad on a tune-o-matic, but terrible on a Strat or Tele. As already said it may make less difference if you're not actually playing it though.

Philly_Q

There is a definite slight softening of the sound - it takes away some of the initial attack, which may be a good or bad thing depending on the guitar.  I think it does slightly change the feel when bending strings but that may be my imagination.

On a Les Paul type, I quite liked the GT saddles, they made it sound less "plinky" when picking near the bridge.  On Fenders, I've been less keen on them, they make the sound duller.  I still have a set on a modern Tele but I'll be putting the metal saddles back.  One day.

This is all unplugged, by the way, I don't know if it translates into the amplified sound at all.  They're good enough for Robert Cray and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, apparently.

digitalscream

I've never really noticed a difference in tone...guess I've got cloth-ears. The only effect I've noticed is a slight improvement in tuning stability.

...which should be quite novel on a Les Paul

jellybelly

I had some of those graphite saddles on my main guitar (a Yamaha Semi) as part of one of their ‘Resomax’ tune-o-matic bridges for at least a year. When I tried the original steel bridge again it was very clear that the graphtech saddles robbed it of that ‘clang’ that you’d expect to hear but is hard to explain. I got rid. 

I imagine jazz players would love them on a semi acoustic though. 

daveyh

ICBM said:

I really don't like them, to me they take away the attack and body of the sound. Not as bad on a tune-o-matic, but terrible on a Strat or Tele. As already said it may make less difference if you're not actually playing it though.

I was wondering about the attack, it does have a slightly soft quality that I’m not a fan of. I prefer a sharp, raw, woody sound on a Lester so I think I May be changing them back