People order “forever guitars” from him – an instrument they’ll treasure for the rest of their lives. Eric custom-builds the entire instrument from start to finish, from using exotic woods, designing the fretboard, and accommodating any special requests.
Because our product is also hand-crafted, we understand and admire his work. And we are very proud that he chose our Audible Steel™ saddles for his custom guitars!
When we told him this, Eric replied: “It somehow seems your saddles chose me! Hand crafted saddles for a hand crafted guitar!”
The Audible Steel saddles are designed for musicians by a musician (me). My design includes these 4 benefits:
Enhanced Tone
Improved Resonance
Tuning stability
Minimize string breakage at saddle end
I’ve been playing the guitar professionally for more than 35 years, and the Strat is my favorite.
However, there were a couple of things that bothered me as a professional musician. One was that the strings tended to break at the saddle end. The other was the tuning instability, especially when using the tremolo.
In addition, I noticed some variations in vintage Strat saddle design. When I was serving as the caretaker of a large collection of vintage Stratocasters, I had noticed that the vintage saddle steel gauges were not consistent. This meant that each vintage guitar had a unique tone.
Since I also have deep experience in sheet metal manufacturing, I researched each of these issues, and designed and tested prototypes to address them. I tested my saddle prototypes on a number of these vintage Strats.
My final design addressed these manufacturing variations and enhanced the sound of a good Strat. The Audible Steel™ saddles bring out a range of pretty frequencies and an overall improved sustain and tuning stability.
If you listen to this video (below) with a nice pair of speakers you’ll hear the improvement that I’m talking about. We have not used anything in the signal chain except a basic reverb.
Note: Our saddles are compatible with all S-style and some T-style guitars.
The saddles of a guitar are responsible for the sound quality, and to a large extent, for increasing the resonance. It also plays a key role in the clarity of the note and the stability of the tuning – especially when using the tremolo. The tiny details that have gone into perfecting the design of our Audible Steel saddles deliver tuning stability. Check out this video to see what we mean.
Have you ever had the outer strings of your vintage Stratocaster slip off the edge of the fretboard while you’re playing?
This is because some 50s and 60s Strats may have tiny variations in fretboard width.
The typical vintage Stratocaster guitar string spacing is supposed to be 2-7/32 inches. But in some cases, this string spacing varies slightly. In addition, the variation is not the same from instrument to instrument.
In such cases, the outer strings (low E and high E) are too close to the edge and tend to slip off the fretboard area — which not only makes playing difficult but also affects the notes.
The solution to this problem lies in the “middle width” guitar saddles.
The vintage Strat saddle width is 0.441” (11.2 mm) for 2-7/32 inches string spacing.
The contemporary S-style guitar saddle width (0.413” or 10.5 mm) for 2-1/16 inch string spacing started showing up in the 1980s Asian imports.
After that, a new “middle width” S-style guitar saddle emerged, which is between the vintage and the contemporary saddle widths.
This “middle width” saddle (0.425” or 10.8 mm) is the solution because it brings the outer strings on a vintage Strat a tiny bit closer and prevents them from slipping off the edge of the fretboard.
The string spacing of your S-style guitar indicates which saddle size you need. Therefore, the first step is to identify your string spacing.
The easiest way to figure this out is by measuring the space between the 2 outer strings of your guitar. Measure at the bridge using a digital caliper.
If the string spacing is 56 mm (2-7/32 inch), use 11.2 mm (0.441 inch) saddles
If the string spacing is 54 mm (2-1/8 inch), use 10.8 mm (0.425 inch) saddles
If the string spacing is 52 mm (2-1/16 inch), use 10.5 mm (0.413 inch) saddles
You can also determine string spacing through the guitar model. Check the serial number on your guitar and search online to find the model.
Vintage Stratocasters manufactured from the 1950s through the mid-60s have 2-7/32 inch string spacing, and therefore use 11.2 mm (0.441 inch) width saddles. Audible Steel model A112.
Most contemporary S-style guitars manufactured from the 1980s onward have 2-1/16 inch string spacing, and therefore use 10.5 mm (0.413 inch) width saddles. Audible Steel model A105.
Some modern “vintage re-issues” have the 2-7/32 inch string spacing, so these also use 11.2 mm (0.441 inch) width saddles. Audible Steel model A112.
NOTE: If your string spacing is just slightly less than 2-7/32 inch, it means your guitar probably has the vintage 11.2 mm sized saddles. However, you will fare better with the 10.8 mm sized saddles. Audible Steel model A108.
The “middle size” saddle for S-style guitars
Initially there were two standard saddle sizes: vintage and contemporary. A third “middle size” (10.8 mm) emerged over the years which is between the vintage and the contemporary sizes, and is made for 2-1/8 inch string spacing. This size also solves a particular problem with the vintage for 2-7/32 inch string spacing. See our article on this topic for details.
