Fitting New Compensated Saddles?

[vikki]

I just purchased a set of these....

Is there any particular way they fit, meaning is there a standard intonation problem on the tele or is it experiment and keep checking the intonation and if its not correct turn them around the opposite way?
Does that make any sense
Dumb woman question
Vikki(uk)

[Rich Rice]

Vikki, it's not a dumb woman question.. ;) If you turn these around, they will still be the same. You just install them, and set the intonation like always. It's still a compromise, but it will be closer than a straight set. I have used these exact saddles a number of times, and they are pretty good. The only thing I had to do was grind the set screws down a little, as I don't want to feel the screws when I'm palm muting.

[BluesOwl]

You prob. should fit them so:
(First: are they labeled underneath?, if so, just match that)

The Big E saddle portion is furthest "back" (away from neck)
Then the "A" portion is "ahead" of that.
So flip or find the first of the three saddles to get that.
(Then adjust it ahead and back to get the best intonation of the E & A strings. It's a compromise with non-compensated barrel saddles, but yours should be right on, i.e.; you can find a place where both the E & A are intonated right on.)

Then the D string portion of the next saddle should be ahead of the A, but the G portion of the next saddle (D-G) should be behind the D, so that saddle will be reversed compared to the E-A one.

Then, the B-E saddle will be slanted like the E-A one, E ahead of B, with the overall front-back placement of that one ahead of the G portion of the D-G saddle.

Cornfused? I am

Hope that helps.


P.S.
I think with your set the E-A saddle should be identical to the B-E saddle.
(Two slanted one way, the third slanted the other way) But check for labeling underneath, some sets have unique slant angles (peak offsets in your case) to the E-A and B-E saddles to adjust for the unique string gauges.

I have saddles like yours except they're not metal (friggin' blasphemy )
and I like that they achieve the compensation without actually being slanted.
I.E., they look "right" ('cept mine don't "look right" 'cuz they're not metal )

[vikki]

Thanks they are on, one of the 3 is different than the others that works best on the thin strings, intonation is improved, thanks again.
Vikki(uk)

[Wild Rice Chris]

Originally Posted by vikki

Thanks they are on, one of the 3 is different than the others that works best on the thin strings, intonation is improved, thanks again.
Vikki(uk)

I always put the odd one on the center pair of strings like this:


unless the string set has a wound third. In that case, I flip the center saddle upside-down like this:


Your intonation should be even better if you were to swap the D/G and B/E saddles.

[BluesOwl]

should be in the middle.

A lot of guits, when intonated
have the saddles going up like stair steps from left to right. Except it steps down between the D and G string. So L > R three steps up, step down, three steps up. The disparate groups of three corresponding to usually three wound strings, then three plain strings

[yegbert]

I used flatwounds on a Tele for a while and found that Tele intonated best with the middle saddle compensated like the outer two:



The compensated Stewmacs are great for this trick. Any compensated with that design (drilled/tapped at an angle) like this give you the opposite angle when flipped, which this Wilkinson design won't do. And the Stewmacs are otherwise symmetrical in features, the "bottoms" are not flattened or written on. And the ends aren't shaped when you get them, so you can shape the ends for best fit and appearance flipped which ever way you intend to use them. But if you shape the ends for one way and then flip the middle, its end shapes are wrong. I shaped these for this flatwound configuration, then switched back to roundwounds and shaped them again, so they are rather ugly now and just sitting in my parts bin, except for the E/B which I'm using on one Tele mixed with steel Glendales for the other two positions.

[Wild Rice Chris]

Yegbert, if you look closely at those saddles you will see that they are meant to be set up one way. The set screw holes are flared open on one side and not on the other. This is visible in your pic, the D/G is not flared while the E/B is flared. They do work either way, you just may run into string-falling-into-the-hole problems.

I didn't realise this at first, as the screws were installed incorrectly when I got my first set.

[vikki]

I've changed it so the odd one goes in the middle, i can't get the intonation quite as accurate that way though. Can you just turn them over and use the non staggered side?(back to square one then) I need a better tuner to set it up really, i'm just using a cheap Korg tuner, but it doesn't sound bad.
Vikki(uk)

[Wild Rice Chris]

Do you use a wound G string? If so, I would definately turn the center saddle over and use the non-staggered backside. Really the way to go is however it intonates best for you and your playing.

[Rich Rice]

Originally Posted by Wild Rice Chris

Really the way to go is however it intonates best for you and your playing.

Bingo!