Please educate me about nylon saddles, are they still avil if i need to replace one ?

[West 8th ST NyC]

Im about to buy a 70 Lp with nylon saddles ..if they are worn , is it something easily replaceable ?...When can i find replacements ?

 

[ARandall]

Google doesn't work in your part of the world??

 

[LPTDMSV]

Im about to buy a 70 Lp with nylon saddles ..if they are worn , is it something easily replaceable ?...When can i find replacements ?

I bought a set in Europe from Crazy Parts, but they're a USA-made product so I'd expect them to be available elsewhere. Allparts have them too, my bet is you would be able to get them from a serious Gibson dealer

p.s. see my follow-up message below, apparently what I bought was not actually Nylon!

 

[bossaddict]

Philly Luthier has them.

https://www.philadelphialuthiertool...1-parts/abr-1-bridge-string-saddles-set-of-6/

 

[LPTDMSV]

Philly Luthier has them.

https://www.philadelphialuthiertool...1-parts/abr-1-bridge-string-saddles-set-of-6/

Cheap, too

 

[Uncle Vinnie]

What model '70?

Please post pics when you get it. Looking forward to them.

 

[Andrew1225]

The modern stuff doesn’t even come close
to replicating the vintage stuff.

The modern stuff is way too soft, after daily playing for 3 months and 6 string changes the saddle slots were so deep that they started to hit the adjustment screws on the plain strings. Utterly garbage.

I went on a search binge, and found that Tonepros G-formula bridge comes with the closest reproduction to the nylons saddles of old.
They work awesome, rock hard without the brittleness of the vintage ones.

Only downside is they don’t sell the saddles and you’ll have to buy the whole bridge unit.

 

[Cozmik Cowboy]

I disremember who or what thread, but someone here said that if you send him your saddles, he will reproduce them in nylon 6/6 - which what Gibson used back in the day (also for nuts).

And I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again; I think nylon saddles get a bad rap. Probably the 3 best best electrics I've ever played had them (2 '59 ES-330-TDs & a '53 LP converted to an acoustic-style ToM). Tone out the wazoo!

 

[LPTDMSV]

The modern stuff doesn’t even come close
to replicating the vintage stuff.

The modern stuff is way too soft, after daily playing for 3 months and 6 string changes the saddle slots were so deep that they started to hit the adjustment screws on the plain strings. Utterly garbage.

I dug out an old receipt and it seems what I actually bought was not Nylon! They were out of stock of Nylon or something. These ones are listed as ABS and I had them firstly on an SG then on my LP - they are kind of grey/white in colour, and pretty hard material similar in hardness to what I vaguely remember from vintage Gibsons.

ABR-1 Bridge ABS Plastic Saddles Set (6) [ABSSADD] 9,95 EUR

I've had no wear problems with them so far (obviously don't play often or hard enough )

 

[Andrew1225]

I dug out an old receipt and it seems what I actually bought was not Nylon! They were out of stock of Nylon or something. These ones are listed as ABS and I had them firstly on an SG then on my LP - they are kind of grey/white in colour, and pretty hard material similar in hardness to what I vaguely remember from vintage Gibsons.

ABR-1 Bridge ABS Plastic Saddles Set (6) [ABSSADD] 9,95 EUR

I've had no wear problems with them so far (obviously don't play often or hard enough )

View attachment 586683

I’d argue that those are actually harder and longer lasting than the allparts nylon haha.