Buzz Feiten or Earvana

[buddastrat]

I played a Feitenized Les Paul and I've never heard more pleasing open chords in my life. It was night and day for me. It almost sounded too good and sounded fake!

I also have experimented with a zero fret on my tele. I just stuck an unused fret by the nut and tuned it up. I noticed instantly how much better everything sounded.

anyhow, I have a tele with three barrel saddle. That's not good for intonation from any compensated system. I want to keep my stock saddles. From what I read, both of these nuts will improve the intonation of the first few frets. That's where most of my frustration is.

I'm looking for any suggestions and experiences, especially with a tele's bridge involved. Or just what you think of the BF or Earvana thing.

 

[Richard Guy]

Just my .02 since having both systems installed on guitars and being a Earvana certified install tech for their products, the three adjustment saddle Tele would not fully benifit unles the saddles were changed to the six saddle type. Since the Feiten system is very dependent on exact offset tuning and offset intonation, I would choose the Earvana system only if I was keeping it a three saddle bridge. It would help a bit, but again, not benifit fully.

 

[BillJ]

I have an Earvana nut on a Strat. When properly intonated the saddles are very nearly even. Their instructions tell you to expect this. This sounds like it would be compatable with a three saddle Tele bridge.

Since you have a Feiten equiped guitar take look at the saddle positions. If they do not line up as pairs then your Tele bridge would compromise the Feiten setup.

Do you know that there are many sources of compesated Tele saddles? These saddles are angled to give you better intonation with modern guaged strings (10-46 or 11-50). This may improve your intonation enough that you don't need to alter the nut.

 

[Richard Guy]

BillJ,

Good reply. There have been guitarist who have even bent the adjustment screw on the three saddle Tele to get there

 

[BillJ]

BillJ,

Good reply. There have been guitarist who have even bent the adjustment screw on the three saddle Tele to get there

Yeah, that can work and it's free. But it is hard to adjust if you don't get it right the first time.

The least expensive compensated saddles that I have found are from Stew-Mac:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges...ts/Compensated_Telecaster_Bridge_Saddles.html

 

[buddastrat]

Thanks. That's a great point about the earvana allowing the saddles to line up. That would probably be better for the three barrel setup.


I have used the compensated brass tele saddles. The problem for me is I like the stock ones. I bought two sets of compensated saddles and I noticed how much lighter they were compared to the stock Nocaster saddles. I installed and tuned up and noticed a much thinner tone than my stock saddles.

Also, while they did help the intonation, it was nowhere near as good as when I stuck that zero fret in there.

What do you guys think about the enut?

http://www.monteallums.com/Stretch_Tuning_DW.html

Here's a link

 

[oxtone]

buddastrat,

Both my guitars (Walnut "The STRAT", and 62' Reissue Tele) have the Earvana Nut installed, and I wouldn't ever go back to a standard nut. The Tele I had converted to a Graph Tech Increased Oscilation and Sustain 6 saddle system, and it intonates well and sounds great.

 

[daddyo]

Is it safe to assume that the 1 5/8" Earvana retrofit nut will work for the stock 1.650" strat guitars?

 

[buddastrat]

Thanks Oxtone. Good to hear. There are so many compensating systems out there. They all get good ratings too, yet are so different. weird.

Daddyo, that's a good ?. 1.625 vs. 1.65 isn't much but I would still want it flush to the board.

 

[buddastrat]

Yeah, that can work and it's free. But it is hard to adjust if you don't get it right the first time.

The least expensive compensated saddles that I have found are from Stew-Mac:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges...ts/Compensated_Telecaster_Bridge_Saddles.html

Bill I have a set of those from Stew Mac sitting here. They felt cheap and lightweight compared to my Nocaster's saddles. When I put them on, I noticed the improvement in intonation, but I also noticed my tone was thinner and less full sounding. I didn't like the tone and couldn't believe the saddles could make that much difference.

So I tried some other set from a guy who sells on ebay and says they are the best brass blah blah. Well exact same as the Stew Mac ones. The Fender ones that sound good are round barrels with no flat bottom and have big screws for intonation. I think that added mass is part of what I like about the tone.

 

[Richard Guy]

I believe that you can order the nut longer and shape it. That's how I installed one on my Son's OLP Ernie Ball Licensed MM4. The material is not tough to work with.

 

[tone4days]

i am pretty sure that suhr has a feitenized tele model that uses the wilkinson 3 barrel bridge that is adjustable for the compensation required ... kinda pricey, but the tone was spectacular ...

wilkinson tele bridge

sadly, i apparently have beer-budget easrs because no matter how hard i tried, i couldnt tell the difference between the feitenized tele and a non feitenized tele when it came to intonation ... but otherwise, the suhr tele was a tone monster

good luck
t4d

 

[buddastrat]

Whoa, that's wild looking. I'd like to try one of those, but it looks expensive, just to try. I may try getting some replacement Fender saddles and bending them to get the intonation better.