Replacing my saddles

David_

David_

Facepalmist
I was adjusting my saddles a while ago, as the action was set too low for me and I was getting lots of string buzz. While attempting to adjust the saddles, I discovered one or two weren't designed very well and I had problems keeping the little adjusting screws set. So I went to GC and purchased their only available replacement saddle pack.
Today, I'm replacing the remaining saddles and I've discovered that they don't sit squarely together. Is this an issue? My expectation is that they would have a little room to move and they would align neatly. It's a little bit of a struggle to get them in place, and they aren't all square with each other. Picture below shows the current state. Is this a problem? If so, how can I correct it? File the sides of them down a little?
And is there a description for the type of bridge this is?

DSCN1232.jpg
 
You might be able to make it playable but I think you should get the correct saddles. Most times the saddles are not the issue if you have a high action. You probably would have been better off with a truss rod adjustment, intonating those saddles is going to be a pain in the ass.

What kind of guitar is that?
 
reverend1 said:
You might be able to make it playable but I think you should get the correct saddles. Most times the saddles are not the issue if you have a high action. You probably would have been better off with a truss rod adjustment, intonating those saddles is going to be a pain in the ass.

What kind of guitar is that?
Click to expand...

Yamaha pacifica
 
I'm with reverend on this. You probably could make those work, but I bet it will be a challenge to do so, and you are going to be left with a pretty ugly looking bridge.

There are lots of different size saddles out there, so you really need to be careful to get the right ones. Graphtech has pictures and measurements on their site, so you can see what you will get.

I also agree with rev that saddles are not usually the problem in a buzzing situation, especially one that develops over time from a buzz free guitar. That is usually a truss rod issue. In general, I set my string heights at the bridge once when I get a new guitar, and never really move the saddle heights again. I may move the saddles a bit to adjust intonation, but this too stays pretty much the same. So, once you get it set up, you shouldn't really need to mess with the bridge much, if at all. I have guitars that have not had a saddle screw turned since I bought them 20 years ago. Truss rod is another issue.
 
Here's a pic with the old saddles on the left and the new saddles on the right.

They are the same width, as far as I can measure. I thought they'd work. In fact my old saddles didn't sit square, if I remember correctly.

I did have the guitar "set up" Paid $75 to have an experienced guitar tech do it. He said he intonated it and adjusted the truss rod. He didn't touch the string height though, and it was really low when I got it brand new. I had fiddled with the string heights by adjusting the original saddles. You could pluck the low E string with a moderate amount of force and you'd hear it buzzing like crazy.

DSCN1235.jpg
 
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Are the screw holes in the same place on both sets. Old style fender saddles have an offset screw on some of the saddles, and modern versions tend to have the screw holes centered. This doesn't matter unless you put the new style on a bridge plate with holes meant for the old style. The saddles fit, but the holes are too close together on the old style plates for the new style tuners. You wind up with a mess of poorly crowded saddles that are very hard to line up to the pickup poles.

Offset screw posts...

22.jpg


versus straight screw models....

29525840-260x260-0-0_Graph+Tech+Graph+Tech+Ferraglide+Saddles+for+Impor.jpg


Also, fender style bridges come in lots of different string spacing. Imports, american standard, vintage styles are all different widths, and have different saddles. Some you can swap, and some you can't. The differences in specs are REALLY small, and pretty hard to see by eye, until you try to use them on a different spec guitar.
 
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Then it is the spacing that is off, meaning your pacifica is an import spaced bridge and you have fender american spaced saddles.

To give you some idea, the low E to high e string spacing can vary by a lot with different saddles, and these have to jive with the space between the holes in the bridge plate.

Old fenders were 2.076 inch E to e string, later models are 2.179 inch, and the offsets are like 2.3 inches. Imports tend to be the really narrow spacing. So, 0.1 to 0.2 inches of overall space across the strings can make a huge difference in how well you can fit the saddles. Obviously form your picture, your spacing is narrower than the saddles (as they don't fit and are 'crowded').

If it was my guitar, I would take them off and return them. I would put the original bent steel ones black on and forget about it....or ask around on some yamaha sites to get the right model and then get some graph tech or similar saddles. I wouldn't try to move forward with the saddles you have.
 
Tiltsta said:
Then it is the spacing that is off, meaning your pacifica is an import spaced bridge and you have fender american spaced saddles.

To give you some idea, the low E to high e string spacing can vary by a lot with different saddles, and these have to jive with the space between the holes in the bridge plate.

Old fenders were 2.076 inch E to e string, later models are 2.179 inch, and the offsets are like 2.3 inches. Imports tend to be the really narrow spacing. So, 0.1 to 0.2 inches of overall space across the strings can make a huge difference in how well you can fit the saddles. Obviously form your picture, your spacing is narrower than the saddles (as they don't fit and are 'crowded').

If it was my guitar, I would take them off and return them. I would put the original bent steel ones black on and forget about it....or ask around on some yamaha sites to get the right model and then get some graph tech or similar saddles. I wouldn't try to move forward with the saddles you have.
Click to expand...

OK, thanks for the info.
 
I was bored, so I looked up the correct saddles for your pacifica. I linked them below from amazon (graph tech saddles). FYI, your guitar has a fender import saddle spacing (2.076" E to e string), so avoid american standard stuff. A little googling suggests these fit pacificas and are a common swap.

http://www.amazon.com/GraphTech-PS-8000-00-Electric-Guitar-String/dp/B0002E4Y9C

If you want metal saddles, they have some that look like the ones you bought on the left of this page, for around 20 bucks.The number is BP-2333-010. [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/saddles_aftermarketstrat.htm
 
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Tiltsta said:
I was bored, so I looked up the correct saddles for your pacifica. I linked them below from amazon (graph tech saddles). FYI, your guitar has a fender import saddle spacing (2.076" E to e string), so avoid american standard stuff. A little googling suggests these fit pacificas and are a common swap.

http://www.amazon.com/GraphTech-PS-8000-00-Electric-Guitar-String/dp/B0002E4Y9C

If you want metal saddles, they have some that look like the ones you bought on the left of this page, for around 20 bucks.The number is BP-2333-010.

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/saddles_aftermarketstrat.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the info, Tiltsta. I went to Graph Tech's web site and in their FAQ, they said "see below for our chart" to figure out which ones to get. Problem was, there was no chart. :/ So I googled and checked ebay and craigslist and found nothing I could get quickly, so I went to Guitar Center and they had an narrow set of saddles available that worked great.

Everything is now square and centered. I took it up to a local guitar store that I hadn't been to before as I was frazzled and he re-setup my guitar for me.

Thanks again for the information!
 
Glad you got it all sorted.

Guitardom is filled with silly little things like this. I guess it is bound to happen when products are made continuously for 60+ years. Manufacturers make spec changes over time, and others copy the original design and don't change when the original manufacturer does. What is left is a hobbled mess of confusing parts that are often not interchangeable, even though they look the same. :messedup: Fender is terrible at this stuff, and during transition phases they often used mixes of parts, or the old parts on guitars several years after the transition (must have found a case in the storage room).
 
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