Saddles on American Deluxe and Standard Strats

[ssites]

I notice the saddles on the Deluxe strats are different than the ones on the Standard series (which I have). They look more efficient and it appears the string only has one "groove" to pass through. On mine the entire saddie is flat and I have seen the string slip a bin during heady bending.

Would it be worth the upgrade?

 

[ganzosrevenge]

to an AmDlx bridge, no.

I would skip it altogether and either get an american vintage bridge American Vintage Bridge or if you want the absolute best in hardness, quality, and possibly note clarity, this Callaham bridge upgrade kit is hard enough to prevent grooving, has a CRS bock instead of a steel / copper hamburger block, is a bit heavier, and also may improve tuning stability because the block serves as a heavier counterweight (takes more force for the springs to pull).

just my .02

Jason

 

[candid_x]

American Standard Strats before 2008 use cast block saddles with the offset intonation adjustment screw. 08/09 and as far as I know 2010, went to a center adjusted bent steel. Callaham sells bent steel saddles to replace either type, an upgrade I'd definitely make to replace the cast block ones. I've even replaced my bent steel ones. Nicely made, they are.

One warning though. I've read, more than once, than the offset bent steel saddles don't always sit squarely, but canter to one side more than the cast ones do.

 

[ssites]

Do you guys experience "walking" on the saddle often? I was thinking the groove saddles would help that somewhat?

 

[rrhea]

to an AmDlx bridge, no.

I would skip it altogether and either get an american vintage bridge American Vintage Bridge or if you want the absolute best in hardness, quality, and possibly note clarity, this Callaham bridge upgrade kit is hard enough to prevent grooving, has a CRS bock instead of a steel / copper hamburger block, is a bit heavier, and also may improve tuning stability because the block serves as a heavier counterweight (takes more force for the springs to pull).

just my .02

Jason

Plus one on the Callaham bridge upgrade. Don't walk, run! It's totally awesome and totally worth it.

I converted two of my Strats over, so far, with two more to go:
http://funguitars.blogspot.com/2008/11/malmsteen-strats-get-callaham-bridges.html

RR

 

[djw]

Never really had a problem with "walking" strings on bent steel. Even the mid-quality saddles in my ancient partcaster were pretty stable (though I broke strings constantly).

More recently I upgraded my American Deluxe bridge with the Callaham kit (block, saddles & springs) and feel like I did a good thing. The block probably made most of the difference tonally -- the effect night and day. However I didn't assess the difference each component made since I did the swap all at once.

The original Dlx saddles were fine, I guess. I never really had a complaint about them specifically, I mainly wanted to improve my guitar's tone by improving the bridge. I don't think I can give you a good argument as to why the Dlx saddles are or are not as good as high-quality bent steel saddles. So you probably can't go wrong with the Callaham; not sure if the Dlx saddles will be much of an upgrade for you or not.

Oh, one other thing: I don't think you can swap straight across from the Standard saddles to the Deluxe anyway because the Dlx saddles have an offset screw; I'm pretty sure the Standards are centered, yeah? So maybe that changes things for you.

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Never really had a problem with "walking" strings on bent steel. Even the mid-quality saddles in my ancient partcaster were pretty stable (though I broke strings constantly).

More recently I upgraded my American Deluxe bridge with the Callaham kit (block, saddles & springs) and feel like I did a good thing. The block probably made most of the difference tonally -- the effect night and day. However I didn't assess the difference each component made since I did the swap all at once.

The original Dlx saddles were fine, I guess. I never really had a complaint about them specifically, I mainly wanted to improve my guitar's tone by improving the bridge. I don't think I can give you a good argument as to why the Dlx saddles are or are not as good as high-quality bent steel saddles. So you probably can't go wrong with the Callaham; not sure if the Dlx saddles will be much of an upgrade for you or not.

Oh, one other thing: I don't think you can swap straight across from the Standard saddles to the Deluxe anyway because the Dlx saddles have an offset screw; I'm pretty sure the Standards are centered, yeah? So maybe that changes things for you.

AmStd: centered
AmSe / AmDlx: offset

BIG difference where the screws go = mix n matching will put your Low E string all the way off the board. You'l feel like when it's all done.

 

[candid_x]

AmStd: centered

Only post '08 is centered.

 

[Boris Bubbanov]

Only post '08 is centered.

We're getting into some terminology here. Seems to me, FMIC's flagship guitar was the "Series" from 2001 through the end of 2007.

Yes, you're right the 2000 and older "Standards" were off center.

I note that such folks as Darren Riley and Bill Callaham and others refer to the 2001-2007 guitars as Standards, and FMIC has sorta quit any reference to those era guitars as "Series".

And now, FMIC has just introduced another model, the American Special Series Tele and Strat.

What a mess.

 

[Mechanicsn]

I have strats with both the cast saddles and the bent steel saddles. I feel that the bent steel saddles have more of a ringing and twangy sound than the block saddles you're referring to. It's just my opinion, but the block saddles sound better for heavier, high gain type stuff and the bent steel saddles work better for blues/country stuff.

 

[poolshark]

I prefer block saddles, myself. The last time I swapped between the two, I can't say it transformed the guitar, but the guitar was notably more resonant and lively. YMMV.

 

[Boris Bubbanov]

This here might be a reason why Fender took the offset saddle path, way back when the Standard was being born:

http://www.darrenriley.com/shop/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=2060

For this Bender design, an offset saddle is imperative. Unfortunately, the offset saddles, when played regularly over a long time, drift and wanna keep on drifting to the one side, and this messes up the setup and playability of these models. Bender or non Bender. I prefer the Centered saddle over the Offset, and there are other Bender designs I like more, as well.