Martin Style Bone Guitar Saddle

Martin Style Ox Bone Saddle including Tailoring

Material
This saddle is hand made from high density Ox bone and is for use on acoustic guitars. These saddles are renowned to give excellent tone, playabilty and instrument projection. We make the parts using precision measurement, precision cutters with careful hand finishing and polishing. An accurate, high quality manufacture results. We communicate closely with the buyer to make sure we get the right specification and you receive the full benefit of our knowledge of guitar saddles.

Dimensions
For many Martins using these saddles, typical dimensions are : length: 74mm; Width: 2.5mm; Height: 9.0mm; Radius: 16 inches. However our experience has shown the requirments for variations on these dimensions due to obvious aging affects on guitars and player preferences. To position the crown features I assume an E to E at the saddle of 55mm - if your guitar has a significantly different E to E at the saddle please let me know.

Length: The length should fit the saddle slot and I make the ends rounded.I can provide the length up to 79mm

Width: Please select the width to ensure a good fit which will benefit the tone. I can provide the saddle width to a maximum of 3.5mm thickness.

Height: The height of the saddle will determine the action (fret to string distance) - this should be about 2.6mm for low E string at 12th fret and usually a bit lower for high E string at 12th fret. A useful fact is that a change of saddle height by a certain amount - 1mm reduction for example, will make a change of half that amount - so 0.5mm at the 12th fret. I can make the height to a maximum of 10mm (and as low as about 3.5mm).

Fretboard Radius
Fretboard for steel strung acoustics are generally curved from low E to high E - this makes it comfortable to play. The curve follows a radius and is part of a big circle. The strings must sit close to this curve so you press them down onto the fretboard easily - but if they are too close you will get a rattle. Hence the saddle - and the nut - also follows this curved profile so the strings nicely sit just above the fretboard. The radius is expressed in inches usually and is typically 12", 14 ", 16" 18" 20" or 24" - the bigger the radius the flatter the fretboard. Typically Martins with this type of saddle are 16 inch radius.

Action Drop Off
The thicker the string the more room it need to vibrate and so the low E is positioned a little further away from the fretboard compared to g=high E - the difference is only about 0.5mm at 12 fret which is brought about by a slight change of 1mm to 1.5mm in saddle height from a perfect circle profile - usually saddles can be seen to be a little lower at the high E side.

Compensation Shape:
In this design the string contact points are Low E (Bass) string is set back, ADG strings are set forward, B string is set back and High e (treble) is set middle. Please see photo on this listing to see the string contact line. Compensation slightly alters the pitch of the fretted notes from each string, by altering the vibrating length of the string by moving the string contact point on the saddle. The altered pitch acts to cancel undesirable pitch changes that occur mainly as a result of the string stretching when you push it down onto the fret board for a fretted note.

Fitting Recommendations: Its recommended that the width is made a bit larger than the existing slot width and its sanded to fit perfectly by the fitter (this is an easy job and we supply an instruction video and the sandpaper!). Acoustic guitar saddles should be a good snug fit to get maximum coupling from the string to the top of the guitar.

We supply complete design and manufacture ensuring that you end up with the best possible sound and playability from your guitar.
FREE: We include fitting instructions and a DVD showing how best to install a saddle.
FREE: We include plenty of abrasives and polishing material - the better the fit the better the tone