New nut and saddle

Bob-Dubery

A quantity of warthorg tusk has come my way (courtesy of a generous person). The Morgan has a tusq nut and saddle. Tomorrow that guitar is going into McGibbon's, along with said tusk, and a new nut and saddle will be cut. They don't know yet which of the several pieces they are going to cut. They are going to tap them all and then decide what they want to slice up in order to cut the two pieces required. I am hoping that there will be enough left over to cut a new saddle for the Smoothtalker (which has a bigger than usual saddle).

Experts cannot agree on what the results will be. One tells me that warthog tusk is crap and hippo tooth is the thing to use. Another tells me that. depending on the piece used for the saddle, things may get brighter, but then again they may not.

I suspect that we may be talking about the sort of differences that only dogs can hear. But I shall report back.

I am particularly intrigued by the prospect of a new saddle for the Smoothtalker. Mervyn Davis has used leadwood for that. Conversations I have had with him lead me to conclude that every part of his design is well considered, nothing is "just sommer" on those guitars. So I expect that the change of saddle material will have a noticable effect here, and I have to be willing to accept a failed experiment.

Interestingly the Smoothtalker is very loud plugged in. This despite saddle material that is, theoretically anyway, not ideal for use with under saddle transducers.

Jack-Flash-Jr

We're only interested in your electric adventures Mr Dylan ?

aja

Jack Flash Jr wrote: We're only interested in your electric adventures Mr Dylan ?

haha LOL! :roflmao:

Bob-Dubery

Ok... the job is done.

First point I want to make is that there will be wastage doing a job like this. Your eye sees X nuts and saddles in that piece of tusk, you will get a number less than X. There may be rot within the tusk (presumably some wild animals eat too many sweets and drink too much cola) and the material is not as consistent in terms of density or appearance as modern artificial materials such as Tusq or Micarta. Also bear in mind that the craftsman will cut blanks out of the tusk and will cut them bigger than needed so that they can be filed and sanded down to the right size.

Mark at McGibbon's did this job. I thought the results showed his usual high level of work.

Here's the tusk now

Note that there are some lines running through it. This is a fact of life. In my case Mark knew that I want to make the material stretch as far as possible and concentrated on getting pieces that were solid and "tapped" well, rather than cutting and cutting to find pieces that were flawless in appearance.

Here's the nut. Note that there's a very apparent blemish in it, although the piece is solid enough to do the job.

Here's the saddle. Mark used the better looking of the two blanks here.

The finish on this piece is very good, and note the very neat offset for the 2nd string.

OK.. so does it sound any different. The answer is "yes". Mark and Andy say that it has more warmth. Jacques (sales manager and a man who lusts after Morgan OMRs) described the difference as "more butter" especially when playing single strings with a flat pick.

I tried it unplugged and plugged in. Surprisingly it was brighter plugged in, and especially with the internal mic dialled out and just the UST running. This is not a bad thing for me - I always liked the dark sound of the Morgan but thought it would be better still if it had some of the tops that my Larrivee has.

Unplugged I sense more tops and upper mids.

The original nut and saddle were fashioned from Graphtec's "tusq" material.

So the material DOES effect the sound. Obviously the differences going from tusq to bone are less dramatic than if you were to go from plastic to either bone or tusq. The original nut and saddle were removed intact, and I do have the option of reverting to them.

The tusq saddle has a typical McGibbon's modification - a piece of material removed from the bottom of the saddle under the 2nd string. Andy feels that the b string is over emphasised on most guitars. I think he has a point. When playing finger style I used to notice that string ringing a little louder. For a time I thought it was something to do with the nail on the relevant finger being stronger or having a different angle. Filing it down never quite solved the problem. When the Dual Source pickup system was fitted Mark made the "McGibbon's mod" and this slight imbalance was corrected.

When Mark cut the new saddle he didn't do this cut at first. He tested the guitar and found the balance to be good. I think it's OK too, but if the b string starts to get loud again I just take the guitar back to the workshop and the "McGibbon's mod", which takes only a few minutes will be made.

Executive summary: There are differences in sound when nut and saddle material are changed, and you don't need to be a dog to hear them.

Bob-Dubery

X-rated Bob wrote: The tusq saddle has a typical McGibbon's modification - a piece of material removed from the bottom of the saddle under the 2nd string.

Here is the old saddle. You can clearly see where material has been removed below the 2nd string.

Fingerpicker

Interesting stuff,
Thanks for sharing.

Bob-Dubery

OK my good friend Mike has been around. Mike & I have this sort of karmic bond because he was the Morgan's original owner. Mike & I have been working up some material IE we have spent lotS of time playing each other's guitars.

Our findings are
* better definition in the low end
* a little extra "sparkle" in the top end
* maybe a little more volume.

I think it may be slightly less dark, though that may really be that there's stronger tops. In any event, the gains outweigh the possible loss & the guitar is better for having this work done.

Bob-Dubery

X-rated Bob wrote: Ok... the job is done.

First point I want to make is that there will be wastage doing a job like this. Your eye sees X nuts and saddles in that piece of tusk, you will get a number less than X. There may be rot within the tusk (presumably some wild animals eat too many sweets and drink too much cola) and the material is not as consistent in terms of density or appearance as modern artificial materials such as Tusq or Micarta. Also bear in mind that the craftsman will cut blanks out of the tusk and will cut them bigger than needed so that they can be filed and sanded down to the right size.

Mark at McGibbon's did this job. I thought the results showed his usual high level of work.

Here's the tusk now

Note that there are some lines running through it. This is a fact of life. In my case Mark knew that I want to make the material stretch as far as possible and concentrated on getting pieces that were solid and "tapped" well, rather than cutting and cutting to find pieces that were flawless in appearance.

Well poor old varkie did not die in vain. My good friend Mike recently bought a 30-something years old Yamaha FG-580. It needed a fair amount of work, including a refret, so I asked Andy to make a new nut and saddle from the same tusk.

So we're now down to this

Note the streaking in the bone, and also that crack, which really signifies the start of the hollow area inside the tusk.

The Yamaha sounds fab. Comparisons are more difficult in this case because Mike didn't have the guitar that long before it went in for the remake, but again he reports an increase in volume. Andy managed to work down the blanks that he cut in such a way that none of the blemishes are apparent on the nut and saddle after fitting.