Break Angle On Saddle Lock Bridge....Solutions?

[deytookerjaabs]

So, I noticed on my SC-2 any .010" or smaller gauge gets a slight sitar effect from vibrating loosely across the saddle. It was driving me nuts and is a noted issue with regular tele toploader bridges too.

I was able to come up with a short term solution:




by cutting a piece of a hex key I had laying around. The difference was obvious, no more loss of vibration or sitar effect, punchier note with better sustain. But, as you can see, it's a pain in the ass to get that thing in there!! I don't want to go so far as to a string thru conversion on a vintage G&L but I would like to know if anyone's come up with any better ideas. I could get an even smaller hex key and on the next string change have it run under all the saddles but it's really a sloppy fix.

Granted, I know that the sitar effect isn't universal and depends on the cut of the saddle along with string tension, saddle height related to neck pitch et cetera.. But no matter what the steeper break angle made a positive bump in string responsiveness and string break.

Any ideas??

[Katefan]

Nah, I've never experienced what you mention and most of the Leo-era era models I own/have owned have saddle lock bridges. What strings and setup do you use?
I use D'addario strings 10 to 46 and tune standard pitch. Nice inventive solution you came up with but I'm wondering why you experience this… perhaps the bridge saddle is worn and has a burr on it that's causin the sitar effect…

Cheers,
KF

[deytookerjaabs]

Nah, I've never experienced what you mention and most of the Leo-era era models I own/have owned have saddle lock bridges. What strings and setup do you use?
I use D'addario strings 10 to 46 and tune standard pitch. Nice inventive solution you came up with but I'm wondering why you experience this… perhaps the bridge saddle is worn and has a burr on it that's causin the sitar effect…

Cheers,
KF

Same strings, standard pitch! At first I touched up the saddle but the effect was still there and whatever material it is it's tough on tools, not as blatant as nut buzz but definitely has an effect on the string.

[Craig]

Try Will Ray's (aka helle-man) solution in this post: saddle problem.

Hope this helps.