Alrighty...a few weeks ago I had replaced the saddles on my '96 MIM Standard with a set of stainless steel saddles off of a Squire Standard. When I had replaced them, I had measured the width and length of the saddles to make sure they were the same size (and they were) but a couple of days ago somone pointed out to me that the strings weren't parallel with the length of the neck...everything was moved over a tich towards the low E side of the neck. I went back today and looked at the original saddles and it does appear that the mounting screws (that go thru the back of the bridge plate) are indeed slightly off center compared with the stainless saddles I had put on.

The difference isn't terrible by any means...not like it makes the guitar unplayable or anything and I hadn't really even noticed it until someone pointed it out but it -is- off just a bit. My question is...is this normal for MIM saddles to be slightly off set like this? Is it really the Squire saddles that are off instead? I'm considering a set of saddles from Callaham but I'm wondering now if I should or not...is this a Mexican thing or is it something unique to my specific guitar?

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!

Peace,
Jim

Timewise, you can choose between replacing the saddles with the originals, or loosen the strings, pop the neck and place a narrow shim to remedy the lateral offset.

You can account for the offset when comparing the original old bridge with the newer ones.

Don't blow your cash on fanatics like Callaham, 20 years ago it was brass, now its very expensive steel alloys, later depleted uranium, later still it won't be deleted and you can glow in the dark.
He can't prove it works, he can't guarantee anything.

I thank you both for your replies. I think at this point I'm just going to go ahead and put the stock saddles back on and just leave it that way. The reason I was considering the Callaham's was because I have one of their trem blocks on this guitar and it has made a -huge- difference in regards to the sustain and tone of the instrument. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt but the saddles are probably not going to make nearly as big a difference as the trem block did.

Anyways, thanks again!
Jim