tusq nut and saddle: You want to do what???

quincy451
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Sun Dec 13, 2009 2:50 am

Ok I replaced the plastic nut and saddle on my yahama with a tusq units and was very happy with the results.

Now I have a new guitar. It has a solid spruce top. But they went with a vintage amber finish then they went with a light yellow binding and a light yellow nut and saddle. Yea very much plastic units.

Now for the WHAT question: I really want to put a TUSQ nut and saddle on the new instrument. It would improve the sound greatly. But how might I tie or paint the TUSQ material to a light yellow?

I have asked the manufacture as well. Just thought I might through this out and see what ideas come back.


michelew
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Sun Dec 13, 2009 3:41 am

You could always go completely bananas and consider a walrus tusk saddle and nut. It would already have the yellow colouring (with variations) and should give you sound that is even nicer than tusq depending on the guitar. Of course it might cost you more than the guitar did...


quincy451
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Sun Dec 13, 2009 5:41 am

Michele...you are a bad influence...first you find interesting guitars on ebay. Then you find interesting nut and saddle materials.

Yea walrus tusk. $47 for the saddle and $45 for the nut. The instrument was $50.35. From the colors I saw in this page vintage bone looked like a good color match. But West African Hard Ivory seemed like a interesting choice, and not a bad color match either. About the same price.

My source for my info:
http://www.guitarsaddles.com/products.asp


michelew
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Sun Dec 13, 2009 6:21 am

Glad to be of service. ;) :P :silly:

So I guess relevant questions are:

- How good is the guitar's sound now?
- What is the improvement likely to be?
- How much is it worth to you to get that improvement?

I'm guessing that it isn't worth spending 2 times what you paid for the guitar on a new nut and saddle, but you have it in your hands and are the only one that can answer the above questions.

I'm sure you've have fun exploring the options regardless of what you decide to do. Enjoy the hunt.


wammer
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Sun Dec 13, 2009 10:26 am

I have to pipe in again. Changing from plastic to Tusq, Walrus, Ivory, Ebony or Jello only changes the sound, it doesn't necessarily make it better. For instance, Tusq might improve sustain, but what if you think you have just the right amount of sustain now?

Call me Captain Obvious, but if your guitar would sound better with a plastic saddle, then replacing it with anything will diminish the quality of the sound.

A guitar is the sum of it's parts, and most of the magic is in your fingers anyway. Replacing a part with another is no guarantee of improving the sound. Replacing my fingers with Neil's would, but what that has to do with this I don't know.

That said, feel free to go buy a Tusq set. It's easy enough to switch it back to plastic if you don't like it.


wammer
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Sun Dec 13, 2009 10:31 am

oh, BTW, both Tusq and Corian yellow after about a year.

You could try soaking them in Coffee. If that doesn't work, force them to smoke cigarettes too. :)


wrench
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Sun Dec 13, 2009 11:41 am

I'm not certain what thermoplastics are used in Tusq, but if wandoctor is right about the yellowing after a year or so, then it oxidizes under UV light. This is the case with many plastics and rubber materials.

One way to accelerate the process is to drop the parts in water for maximum exposure to oxygen and simultaneously expose it to UV light. I'm not a terrarium/aquarium guy, but this sounds like a glass fishbowl and a blacklight, no?

If it works, though, watch out for a little more brittleness in the parts.

wrench


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