Where to get classical guitar saddles

[foxtrot]

Anyone know where i can get saddles for my classical guitars online? What saddle materials work good for classicals. i know steel string guitars work well with bone saddles but i find no information about what works well with nylon string guitars.
thanks

[portlandgreg2]

Luthiers Merchantile International at www.lmii.com

Your post begs the question, though. If you don't know where to purchase saddle blanks, should you really be thinking about shaping and compensating them?

[M. Stephenson]

Bone is alsways the best choice. I think that corian and another material called something like 'tsuq graphite' are also much better than using plastic. Corian is hard to work, I prefer to spend more money and buy bone.

There are many classical guitar makers that use compenstated saddles. The saddles are compensated differently than on a steel string guitar. Perhaps these pre-compensated saddles are available online. Go to your local music store that carries several types of classical guitars and study the way that they are compensated.

Two of my classicals have compensated saddles and two do not. Personally, I do not notice that much difference in intonation, but my ear is only so-so.

When doing your saddle work, it is a good idea to get the action set using a plastic saddle or by using a menas other than carving down the bone saddle (I have stacked wood & corian on the the top of the guitar to get an idea of the lowest action I can achieve - it was not compensated properly, but that was not the point). The reason find the height beforehand is that the bone is expensive and once you go to low, you have to start over (been there and done that). Discovering the target height before working with the bone can save money and heartache.

[Tu]

Try this from link from Ebay.
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?query=luthier+corian&ht=1&sosortproperty=1&from=R10&BasicSearch=

if it doesn't work. Go to Ebay and search for "luthier corian".

Good Luck

[foxtrot]

Thanks for the replaies folks...i have since ordered some uncompensated bone blanks from First Quality Music...i think the use of a trial peice of material to testing saddle height is a good idea...i think a popcycle stick shaped to size might work ok since it might fit in the slot as is...one of my classical has a comp saddle while the other doesn't.

[M. Stephenson]

I think the popsicle idea is excellent!!!

Man, I widh I had thought of that one. They are cheap, easy to work and strong enough for a temporary tunning.

Now I have a good excuse for buying some popsicles :wink:

[keith]

hey foxtrot--saddle adjustment etc. was intensely covered a while back (see the link--if this does not work, look in the luthier/guitar thread under ramirez r-4). also, see the specs on height, etc. which is towards the end.

http://forum.guitarsalon.com/viewtopic.php?t=226

when doing your saddle, you need to do the top first--you will notice a height differential from the bass side to the treble side. why the top first? because of the slope--if you slope the bottom you will get uneven contact with the bridge slot. also, you need to put you string angle slope on the back side of the saddle (approx. 45 degrees).

taping a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface really helps to sand down the bottom--you just slide the saddle along the sandpaper and you get a fairly flat and even reduction.

[Pepe Vergara]

Your best bet is ivory. Too bad it is banned. I have purchased old lamps, knifes made with pre-ban ivory to be able to use them. There is one guy who sell ivory on Ebay and provides a certificate of pre-ban existance. I discovered that a good cow femur will provide enough substance for a nice soup and several good pieces for nut and saddles. It takes a while to get to it. The fat has to be extracted from the bone. It usually takes a month of the bone soaked in naphtha to remove the fat. Then the air dry and bleach. I prefer unbleached bone. After that, I just shape according to my guitar needs. I have calculated adjustment for compensation (there are several scientific and empirical formulas around - almost as many as luthiers). The best way to compensate the nut or saddle is by careful ear and afterwards. I personally do not notice a big difference between compensated nut or sadlle and one not compensated. One customer of mine did notice, I had to work with her to successfully compensate it. Of course, for the compensation to work you have to stick to the same strings you use for the compensation. Unless you are Chris Parkening, do not worry about compensation in classical guitars.

[foxtrot]

Thanks folks...i made a temporary test saddle using a steel string guitar bone saddle. It required a lot of sanding and shaping but works well and i found out something i didn't realize before...the saddle i used is about a 1/2 inch (1cm) shorter than my classical saddle but all 6 strings fit easily on it and as an added bonus, because the top of the saddle is slanted i can just slide it left or right to adjust the action height as desired without the saddle sticking out of the slot end. once i find the best height i just mark the spot and can make a classical saddle to that height...or maybe i'll just use the shorter saddle instead...i hear fossilized walrus ivory works well for saddles as well and is legal but costly...maybe someday i'll try one out...i'm not going to bother with compensation since my ears aren't all that good either.

[Pepe Vergara]

I would use a saddle that matches the lenght of the opening, otherwise, you will be missing in transmissivity of sound to the soundboard. The slanted if good, do not abuse it.