J.R. Kohler Saddles!! Amazing!!!

Thanks for the review, Bill.

I don't feel that it's out of line for Bill or any member, pro or not, vendor or not, to express an opinion about what they like. The price is a little steep for me, but I'm not ruling them out!

I'd also like to say that it would be great if some saddle expert would look into making a compensated set for the classic vintage Fender electric mandolin (unofficially, the "Mandocaster"). An excellent machinist make me a set which are a big improvement over the stock uncompensated mando saddles. He didn't have the instrument in hand, though, and worked off my measurements, so I think that they could intonate even better. There aren't too many old Fender mandolins around, so I believe that it would mostly be a labor of love. Sorry for the micro hijack.

 

I reckon Sam Bush would like a set.

 

The copper set is fantastic. If my old memory is correct the kohler copper is mixed with other metals to make it harder. Should work great on your bender.

 

Has anybody tried the Kohler Stainless Steel saddles yet?

 

interesting slant on saddles - I like the concept. I enjoy hearing about anything 'Tele' - we're all big boys here - we can process the information and decide whether or not we want to check it out.

 

Decided to try the Kohler Aluminum E/A saddle. Definitely added TWANG. I like it a lot with the Brass set. It's the best of both worlds. The aluminum is really great for that country bottom end tone while the brass is terrific for the mids and high. These saddles changed my Tele much more than I ever imagined.

 

Fender have just re-issued the mandolin so maybe there might be more people interested.

The angle of the saddles looks pretty much the same as for a Tele - have you tried using off the shelf compensated Tele saddles, or is the string spacing different?

 

Just installed my brass saddles today. It made more difference than anything Ive tried other than a pickup. So what is the difference. It sounds a lot better. Bottom line. Someone ask about the pickup in the guitar in the video. The green one had a Ron Ellis, Scottys three pickup guitar had a seymour duncan stack, and the guitar in the lesson something else. They all sounded almost the same. What does that tell you, Guess that was off topic

 

All of my Teles use brass - vintage or modern except my '70 which has the stock steel saddles. And, that one does have a tone all its own. So, I agree...the saddle material and design do have an impact to some extent.

 

Copper!!

 

Wow, Doc that is one great looking Tele. Love the knobs. So how do the Coppers sound on your guitar? What pickups are in it?

 

The pickups are OC Duff Big Boy neck and Plankster bridge. I expected the guitar to be overly bright due to the hard neck (Chechen, aka Caribbean Rosewood) but the tone is very nicely balanced - big, articulate bottom end and full mid/upper mid, and just the right amount of snap in the bridge position. I like these copper saddles even more than Kohler's brass saddles. They're oxidizing pretty quickly and have lost the shine and bright orange hue (which is fine for me, but if you want to maintain that vibe you'll have to polish them on a pretty regular basis).

 

Ok, so I've got a set of these Kohler's and I'm having trouble getting them to line up when intonating...I'm pretty sure it's because I replaced the bridge pup at the same time and have not perfectly realigned the plate. Any good resources for lining up the plate? I have very limited tools and no experience doing this...but I want to get them locked in together. Cheers!