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Post subject: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:23 pm
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Long time Fender player, first time on forum. I own and love a 1 yr old American Special strat in Honeyburst. It is not clear in the description if it has the bent steel saddles. If it does not, is it worth the upgrade? StewMac has some for $25 so they aren't expensive but just curious if I will notice any improvement in tone. Thanks for your help!

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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:27 pm
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You OWN an American Special Strat and you don't know if it has bent steel saddles? :shock:

Unless you or someone else has changed them, yes, they are.

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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:30 pm
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Good to hear! The specs for a lot of the high end strats say specifically "vintage bent steel saddles". The description for mine simply says "vintage saddles". Thanks for clarifying.

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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:50 pm
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Bent steel saddle:

Image

Not bent steel saddle:

Image

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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:13 pm
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Speaking of this, is there advantages to using the non bents? and is it cool to swap them out on a two point trem?

I've always preferred the vintage look of the bent steels and have thought about switching them out for a while, but I've been worried I'm going to;
A) have issues fitting them
and
B) potentially cause myself intonation issues.


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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:43 am
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Battery Chicken wrote:
Speaking of this, is there advantages to using the non bents? and is it cool to swap them out on a two point trem?

I've always preferred the vintage look of the bent steels and have thought about switching them out for a while, but I've been worried I'm going to;
A) have issues fitting them
and
B) potentially cause myself intonation issues.


You mean like this?

Image

Why do you think there would be problems?

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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:58 am
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Battery Chicken wrote:
Speaking of this, is there advantages to using the non bents? and is it cool to swap them out on a two point trem?

Hello Battery Chicken: I wonder if there might be an argument for concentrating more on the playing at this stage and worrying about small mods later on?

But for what it's worth a popular view on saddles is that the modern/cast-block type have a bit more mass and so give better sustain while the vintage/bent steel type give less sustain but more classic style Fender twang. Whether there is any truth to that or if it's a load of dingo's kidneys is for your ears to decide. People argue about that stuff forever on forums without coming to any useful conclusions.

Some folks also think the block type feel nicer under the picking hand when palm muting: others get on just fine with vintage saddles.

You pays your money you takes your choice.

Cheers - C

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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 1:40 pm
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I agree with Ceri .... I would concentrate more on the playing, because I won't sound vintage if I can't play what I want to play.

Having said that, I heard Robin Trower say, somewhere on youtube, that saddles do make a difference, and I guess he's right. For me, I can't say that this has been my experience, but anyway I prefer the cast steel out of convenience and I don't mind the "modern" sound of a strat so long as it keeps with its basic straty quacky characteristic.

Enjoy your strat !
Cheers
H

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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 5:28 pm
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In 2008 Fender made improvements to the American Standard Stratocaster bridge. Bent Steel Saddles and a Copper infused Steel Block were used. I think the pickups were tweaked a bit also. These improvements were made to get the tone closer to the original sound of the 50/60's Stratocaster. The tone became a bit brighter sounding when compared to the solid stainless steel saddles and old block of previous models.

I do like the tonal differences between Strats of different era's. Each has a wonderful sound all it's own. However, when playing in a band you really can hardly hear any difference between any of them.


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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 4:07 am
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I bought a 2008 because they put the improved bent steel saddles on there, I don't care for the block saddles. At the same time, I disliked the new block, it made the sound too bright and thin. I installed a good steel block and it was good to go. :)

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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 4:57 pm
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Ceri wrote:
Battery Chicken wrote:
Speaking of this, is there advantages to using the non bents? and is it cool to swap them out on a two point trem?

Hello Battery Chicken: I wonder if there might be an argument for concentrating more on the playing at this stage and worrying about small mods later on?



What can I say, I'm an inccessant tinkerer. That being said, it's fairly presumptuous to assume that I concentrate more on mods than my playing based on a handful of forum posts.


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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 7:16 am
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Battery Chicken wrote:
What can I say, I'm an inccessant tinkerer. That being said, it's fairly presumptuous to assume that I concentrate more on mods than my playing based on a handful of forum posts.

Hello again Battery Chicken: I have no interest in being "fairly presumptuous" - like everyone else here I'm good naturedly trying to give helpful answers to your questions. None of us have met you, none of us have any idea of your level of playing experience and none of us are out to insult you or anything similar. You've asked a beginner's question: we've given you a row of useful answers. That's all.

- C

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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:05 pm
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Obviously being new to the forum I wasn't aware that there have probably been dozens of threads on this subject. Sorry about that. My original question was answered so thank you. I was well aware that my saddles had the look of bent steel vs modern block but I wasn't sure if there were bent saddles made of other materials since, again, the description for my strat did not specifically say "steel". Thanks again!

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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:47 pm
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southdakota wrote:
Obviously being new to the forum I wasn't aware that there have probably been dozens of threads on this subject. Sorry about that. My original question was answered so thank you. I was well aware that my saddles had the look of bent steel vs modern block but I wasn't sure if there were bent saddles made of other materials since, again, the description for my strat did not specifically say "steel". Thanks again!


No worries. Threads tend to wander sometimes. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Vintage Bent Steel Saddles
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:01 pm
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I have both types of saddles on two different guitars and I really can't tell any difference, palm muting, twang, etc... when I'm playing either of them. I did see some block style saddles in the Stew-Mac catalog that had transducers in them, what's that all about?


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