G&L ASAT Special 1998 with worn saddles: what to do?

Hello there!

My ASAT Special is showing the first signs of ageing. It's been my only guitar for the last 14 year and has been played a lot, 90% of the time at home.

The saddles are starting to wear beyond the "it looks cool" limit. Here you can have a look at the bridge. As you can see the low E side is pretty beaten up.

I have to say I'm a bit concerned for future issues. However, so far I haven't faced intonation problems or weird stuff such as strings breaking up.

The other day I was taking a look at the G&L shop and to my surprise I discovered that the company changed the size of the saddle-lock bridge, hence I cannot replace the saddles straight away. That's a bit of a bummer.

However, in theory I could buy a new saddle lock bridge and replace it entirely. But here I'm a bit hesitant. How does the new bridge fit with older guitars? I see there's a protrusion at the bottom of the bridge. Also, I'm unsure about the distance of the mounting screws.

Has anyone faced the same situation before? What would you suggest me to do?

Thank you for your help!

Here is the Note on the Saddle lock saddles:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

Due to at least three changes to the bridge plate casting in three decades, it is possible that these saddles may not fit the within the space original bridge plate on your guitar. This current bridge plate has 2.64" (66.9mm) width for the saddles. The current set of (6) saddles has a combined width of about 2.60" (66.0mm). Before ordering, measure the interior width of your bridge plate to be sure the current saddles will fit in that space.

Many earlier bridge plates from the 1980 through mid 2000s have around 2.58" (65.5mm) width, usually less space when black powdercoating ("wrinkle finish") was added. For example, an early '80s wrinkle finish bridge plate measured 2.56" (65.0mm). The current saddles will not fit these early Saddle Lock bridges. You may order a complete Saddle Lock bridge instead.

Did you measure the interior width of your bridge plate? A complete Saddle Lock bridge will fit your guitar without any modification.

Hope this helps.

Thank you so much for your reply. Yes, I measured the interior of the bridge plate and apparently is one of the older ones. However, knowing that the new bridges are a perfect fit for old models reassures me.

I understand that Tributes and US made instrument share the same hardware, right? If that's the case, I assume that a bridge from a Tribute model will fit mine as well.

Provided the guitar is still playable I would check Ebay and Reverb for an old bridge. Occasionally guitars get parted out and you might be able to pick something up.

Thank you so much for your reply. Yes, I measured the interior of the bridge plate and apparently is one of the older ones. However, knowing that the new bridges are a perfect fit for old models reassures me.

I understand that Tributes and US made instrument share the same hardware, right? If that's the case, I assume that a bridge from a Tribute model will fit mine as well.

The saddles in your '98 ASAT Special are zinc die-cast and the saddles in the Tribute models using the Saddle Lock bridge are chrome-plated zinc die-cast.
The current Saddle Lock bridge in the G&L OnLine store have chrome plated brass saddles. So, the current Saddle Lock bridge would be an upgrade for the
Tribute models and the older US models.

Hope this helps.

Provided the guitar is still playable I would check Ebay and Reverb for an old bridge. Occasionally guitars get parted out and you might be able to pick something up.

Thank you for your suggestion. I'll keep an eye out for it. I'm based in Europe, where G&L instruments are not very popular, but you'll never know!

The saddles in your '98 ASAT Special are zinc die-cast and the saddles in the Tribute models using the Saddle Lock bridge are chrome-plated zinc die-cast.
The current Saddle Lock bridge in the G&L OnLine store have chrome plated brass saddles. So, the current Saddle Lock bridge would be an upgrade for the
Tribute models and the older US models.

Hope this helps.

It helps indeed! Thanks for the insights!

If a seller is willing to ship to Europe via USPS, I shouldn't think Cutoms and VAT could be more than a few Euros.