Tele bridge saddles won't budge.

lovestrat74

My saddles are stuck. Won't screw in or out. What's the best solution for this? I've removed the height adjustment screws and tried gripping the barrels with pliers, but they are stuck...

GSPBASSES

They look a bit rusty, so possibly good old WD-40 might solve the problem.

paulnb57

Heat might loosen them, try holding the tip of a soldering iron at the join between saddle and screw, until each get hot then try unscrewing, do one at a time and try unscrewing while still hot, stick a bit of cardboard under the height adjusters to insulate from the baseplate,  perhaps a squirt of WD or similar the night before


Worst case Dremel (or similar) the screw heads off, stick  the screw shafts in a vice and soak in WD and heat with something a bit more aggressive, then replace the screws

Even worse case Dremel the heads off and replace the complete saddles

Funkfingers

lovestrat74 said:

My saddles are stuck. 

My smile is stuck.
I cannot go back t'yer Frownland.

Kurtis

Some penetrating oil might help.

You could grip the screw (below the head in case you damage the thread) with some needle nose pliers and twist the saddle rather than chewing it up with a screwdriver. 

lovestrat74

 I tried the WD40 treatment before. Think I might try the heat method. Then if not get some penetrating oil

SteveRobinson

lovestrat74 said:

 I tried the WD40 treatment before. Think I might try the heat method. Then if not get some penetrating oil

In some cases the combination of the two often works.

CountryDave

Had a similar situation a while ago.
Pushed the screws back through the rear of the bridge and Dremel cutting blade did the hard work.
New set of compensated saddles fitted.

lovestrat74

Same here Dave
Rusty barrels 1
@lovestrat74 0

ICBM

Cut the screw heads off and remove them from the bridge, grip the screw shaft tightly in a bench vice, and wind the saddle off.

Funkfingers

Nah. They are the "threaded" steel type. Bin 'em!

BillDL

The last time I had seized up parts on a bridge I mixed up about 25% engine oil (5W-30 synthetic, not that I think it matters) with about 75% white spirit, poured it into a glass jar, and allowed the whole bridge to sit in it for a couple of days. It worked well, but I had no basis for comparison other than the fact that WD-40 hadn't worked.  I think the difference simply was that it's impossible to submerse components in WD-40 without spraying out a jar full, and soaking the parts with it and leaving it in a ziploc bag isn't really submersion.

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

Nah. They are the "threaded" steel type. Bin 'em!

Well, you could, and replace them with the plain steel ones which are actually the best .

I’m not totally convinced the threaded ones don’t sound slightly better though… I know it’s odd, or maybe just very subtle, but I think it may be that the threaded ones seem to be a very hard steel.

Bruce had plain steel ones on the Born To Run guitar though, so they are by definition the best.