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Post subject: Highway One Intonation
Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 2:29 pm
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For those of you that own a Tele Highway One, have you had any intonation issues with your tele? and If so, How did you solve the problem?
thanks.
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 9:37 am
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No problems with mine. It was dead-on right out of the box.


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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 10:16 am
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Mine was good out of the box, but while I was having it professionally setup with 11s, I had them replace the stock steel saddles with compensated brass ones. The stock steel saddles are fine, but intonation cannot, by virtue of the strings being treated in pairs, be *technically* perfect.

The degree to which this matters is a personal choice, but I also found that there was a slight tonal improvement with the brass saddles (slightly warmer sound, a good combo with the rosewood fingerboard), and the sustain is clearly better with the brass saddles.

If you play high up on the neck, you will notice better intonation with compensated saddles as the string length and height can be more accurately adjusted than with the parallel steel saddles that come on a lot of new Fenders with the vintage style bridge ('69 thinline Tele has them, too).

Again, not *necessary* unless one is extremely tuned into these variances, but it also only cost $35 for the brass saddles, so not exactly an expensive experiment...


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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 10:54 am
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Thanks for the input, I just bought (I'm waiting for it to be delivered)an '07 in Daphne Blue and it had a Joe Barden bridge plate installed with Joe Barden brass saddles, so I am curious to see how it sounds and how it compares to my American Standard Tele.
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Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 8:34 am
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Hey Nic, did you have the Barden bridge installed in your HW1? If so, how does it sound? Any problems? Would you recommend it? Any pics?

I've got a wine red HW1 that I had set up with 11's, sounds great but often wonder what it would be like with a quality bridge & brass saddle set up.


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Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:33 am
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My Highway 1 was bought new at Guitar Center and it sounded pretty good but as explained earlier, you can not get perfect intonation with the stock saddles. I also replaced mine with compensated brass. The first think I noticed is how bright the steel was and how much better the guitar was in tune higher up the fret board. I much prefer the sound of brass over steel.

These are the saddles I recommend:

http://www.hometown.aol.com/ujaxman/saddles.html

25 bucks plus shipping and you just loosen the strings, unscrew your old saddles, screw in the new saddles, tighten up strings.

The reason I prefer these is because the saddles are made to your radius (you tell him what it is when you order) and they are designed to touch for better sustain.

Here's a pic:

Image

-Mc


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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 11:54 am
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Are those 'allen' screw adjusters in the new brass saddles the adjusters that came with the steel saddles from the original guitar? Or did they come with the new brass saddles?


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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 3:45 pm
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Hi Sabre-

I don't know if I have the exact same ones as those in the photo, though my brass saddles look identical (they were installed by Randy Parsons of Parsons Guitars in Seattle). He told me that the saddles come with the new screws, and that they actually stay in place nicely as the stock steel saddles (and Fender's own brass saddles) sometimes wiggle down on the screws. No way for me to validate that, but again, it was only $35 for the replacement compensated brass saddles to be installed.

Honestly, I think the intonation issue is more a mental concern than a physical one. I do hear a slightly warmer tone from the brass saddles (which is part of why I like the warmer tone of the rosewood fingerboard), but as to whether or not the additional precision of the compensated saddles is makes a real difference up high on the neck, that is both objective and subjective...

As a friend of mine who is a professional recording engineer noted jokingly: "guitars aren't rocket surgery..." ;-)

Best,
Brad


Last edited by hamsong on Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:48 am
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sabre wrote:
Are those 'allen' screw adjusters in the new brass saddles the adjusters that came with the steel saddles from the original guitar? Or did they come with the new brass saddles?


yes. They came with the allen screws.

When you buy replacement saddles, it usually comes with everything you need except the springs (which are used from your original saddles).

-Mc


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