SampsonRustic
TDPRI Member
Recently acquired a 2017 AV52 in excellent condition. It’s one of the few guitars I’ve felt needed nothing… almost.
Decided to replace the saddles to compensated ones. Originally the goal was to improve intonation, but I soon realized the additional benefits were to also improve the string spacing (to be more even) and to reduce string slippage…
Now the important aspect of this guitar in relation to the saddles is that it’s a 7.25 radius, which means the 2 outer saddles end up being very slanted to be setup the way I like it. Keep this in mind…
So first I went with the Wilkinsons. $12, what’s the harm?
I quickly realized that due to the relatively extreme slant of the outer saddles, the B and high E kept slipping off. They were totally adequate otherwise, and if I had a flatter radius I probably wouldn’t hesitate to use them. I thought about trying to make my own slots but it kind of seemed counterintuitive after buying saddles specifically to be correctly distanced from the bridge!
I forgot to take a picture of the wilkinsons but I’ve attached a stock photo so you can see the issue.
So I sent those back and decided to try the Gotoh’s - surely these $27 saddles would do the trick right?
They certainly look the part, and they have nice slots to keep the strings in place. So what was the problem?
The Gotohs are fully tubular/cylindrical. This means they do not have a flat bottom. This resulted in 2 issues.
For one, per my specific guitar, I could not get the outer strings (high and low E) low enough to give me the desired action height that I wanted, as the bottom of the saddle edge would hit the guitar body before I could lower it enough.
Secondly, the bottom, inner edges of the outer saddles, due to the “extreme” radius angle, was protruding into the sides of the middle saddle. This caused them to stick out slightly too far, giving me an uneven string spacing and pushing my e strings just ever so slightly closer to the edge of the fretboard. This resulted in more slippage of the high e.
I don’t have photos of these mounted on the guitar, but I do have some comparison shots with the Rutters to show the difference. The string spacing was very clearly off with the Gotohs, further apart for strings across 2 saddles.
So finally, realizing I was still on the return window for the Gotohs, I decided to order the Rutters for $50-odd dollars.
They came quickly, are clearly handmade with care, and get all the important details right.
I did end up using the bridge screws from my AV52 saddles to keep the flat head theme going, and as the threading was the same (details, people!) but otherwise they solved all the issues I listed above. String spacing looks dead on, and the height set easily, which I believe is due to the flat bottom.
I haven’t fully intonated yet but will update tomorrow after I have some more time to dial them in. Based on the experience so far I’m sure they’ll be great.
Here are some shots comparing the Rutters to the original AV52 saddles.
So hopefully this helps someone thinking about going down the compensates saddle route.
Decided to replace the saddles to compensated ones. Originally the goal was to improve intonation, but I soon realized the additional benefits were to also improve the string spacing (to be more even) and to reduce string slippage…
Now the important aspect of this guitar in relation to the saddles is that it’s a 7.25 radius, which means the 2 outer saddles end up being very slanted to be setup the way I like it. Keep this in mind…
So first I went with the Wilkinsons. $12, what’s the harm?
I quickly realized that due to the relatively extreme slant of the outer saddles, the B and high E kept slipping off. They were totally adequate otherwise, and if I had a flatter radius I probably wouldn’t hesitate to use them. I thought about trying to make my own slots but it kind of seemed counterintuitive after buying saddles specifically to be correctly distanced from the bridge!
I forgot to take a picture of the wilkinsons but I’ve attached a stock photo so you can see the issue.
So I sent those back and decided to try the Gotoh’s - surely these $27 saddles would do the trick right?
They certainly look the part, and they have nice slots to keep the strings in place. So what was the problem?
The Gotohs are fully tubular/cylindrical. This means they do not have a flat bottom. This resulted in 2 issues.
For one, per my specific guitar, I could not get the outer strings (high and low E) low enough to give me the desired action height that I wanted, as the bottom of the saddle edge would hit the guitar body before I could lower it enough.
Secondly, the bottom, inner edges of the outer saddles, due to the “extreme” radius angle, was protruding into the sides of the middle saddle. This caused them to stick out slightly too far, giving me an uneven string spacing and pushing my e strings just ever so slightly closer to the edge of the fretboard. This resulted in more slippage of the high e.
I don’t have photos of these mounted on the guitar, but I do have some comparison shots with the Rutters to show the difference. The string spacing was very clearly off with the Gotohs, further apart for strings across 2 saddles.
So finally, realizing I was still on the return window for the Gotohs, I decided to order the Rutters for $50-odd dollars.
They came quickly, are clearly handmade with care, and get all the important details right.
I did end up using the bridge screws from my AV52 saddles to keep the flat head theme going, and as the threading was the same (details, people!) but otherwise they solved all the issues I listed above. String spacing looks dead on, and the height set easily, which I believe is due to the flat bottom.
I haven’t fully intonated yet but will update tomorrow after I have some more time to dial them in. Based on the experience so far I’m sure they’ll be great.
Here are some shots comparing the Rutters to the original AV52 saddles.
So hopefully this helps someone thinking about going down the compensates saddle route.
