Guitar Saddles – Types, Differences & Which To Choose

• Understand what a guitar saddle does
• Gain insight into the tonal qualities of various saddle materials
• Pick up some hot tips for specific guitar bridges

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What Is a Guitar Saddle?

The guitar saddle is a piece of material located on the bridge of a guitar. It plays a crucial role in transmitting string vibrations to the guitar’s body and ensures proper intonation. The saddle is a detachable and upgradeable component. It is considered to be a part of the bridge.

Although a guitar saddle is technically a part of the bridge, most are upgradeable without touching the bridge itself.

Experimenting with different materials will throw up new tonal qualities and can fix issues like excessive string breakages (at the bridge end), intonation issues, and tuning problems.

Acoustic Guitar Saddles

Acoustic guitar saddles are mostly held in place by string tension. When fitting strings to your guitar, you will thread the strings over the saddle, across the nut, and into the tuning heads.

The distance between the nut and the saddle is critical to ensure the guitar keeps tune all of the way up the neck. 

There are three main types of acoustic guitar saddles:     

Straight Acoustic Saddle

The straight saddle is the simplest design of all. The picture above demonstrates how a shallow angle determines string length. To the left of the picture, the saddle is lower, making the strings effectively longer. The saddle is higher at the right of the picture, making the strings shorter. The saddle is slotted into an angled recess in the guitar’s bridge.

Straight acoustic saddles can be filed to achieve the correct set-up. The only adjustment available for intonation is the radius of the saddle where the strings touch. This means the guitar build has to be spot on, as large errors cannot be compensated. For this reason, straight saddles are common in mid-range to high-end acoustics.    

Compensated Acoustic Saddle

Compensated saddles are more common on budget guitars.  If you have an issue with intonation with your straight saddle, you can use a compensated saddle to correct it. As the picture above shows, a compensated saddle has sections of the top edge offset from each other, depending on the string.

Acoustic Saddle Blanks

When intonation is particularly troublesome, or if you are building your own custom guitar, you may do well to consider an acoustic saddle blank. As the name suggests, a blank is simply a rectangle of your chosen material, allowing you (or your luthier) to custom shape a saddle. 

Popular materials for Acoustic Guitar Saddles

Acoustic Guitar Saddles (By Material)	Characteristics (subjective)	Pros	Cons	Price range
Tusq™	Bright tone, comes in three composite variations, each with its own tonality.	Easy to work with,  durable,  man-made material, popular brand	Not ideal for high-end guitars	$11 plus
NuBone™	Bright	Durable man-made bone alternative. Rich harmonics	Not ideal for high-end guitars	$8 plus
Graphite	Warm tone	Bright tone comes in three composite variations, each with its own tonality.	Hard-wearing, natural material.	$20 plus
Micarta™	Warm tone	Lower transients and overtones, quieter volume. Increased bass and reduced finger noise.	Fossilized Walrus Ivory	$20 plus
Bone	Warm, rich tones.	The standard material for most mid to high-end guitar manufacturers. Easy to work with.	Although the best quality bone is hard to beat, the market is flooded with cheap bone with inconsistent density.	$8 plus
Ebony	Warm tone	Ideal for vintage archtop guitars	Only good for an archtop guitar or custom build. Rarely used.	$7 plus
Fossilised Walrus Ivory	Warm, deep tone	Fossilized Mammoth Ivory	Some concerns over environmental impacts. Limited source.	$80 plus
Warm tone with brighter top end.	Loss of volume may disappoint some. Essentially, it’s a better-quality plastic saddle. Not great for high-end guitars.	Another high-end alternative for those with the budget.	Some concerns over environmental impacts. Limited source.	$100 plus

Top Tips for Acoustic Guitar Saddle Upgrades

• Trade out your cheap plastic saddle and immediately hear the difference
• Pick Tusq for a brighter upgrade from plastic
• Pick Micarta for a warmer upgrade from plastic
• Don’t expect the same performance from an $8 bone saddle as a $25 bone saddle. It is all about the density and consistency of the bone
• For the ultimate saddle, if you can reconcile the environmental concerns, mammoth ivory is considered the ultimate saddle material for its consistent density and full frequency response range.   

Electric Guitar Saddles 

Your choice of bridge dictates the type of saddle you will pick for your electric guitar. However, most bridge types have a wide variety of retrofit options. Although the design and shape will be similar to your original saddle (so it will fit the bridge), the choice of material makes a difference to your guitar’s tone.

By design, electric guitar saddles are adjustable for height and lateral positioning, making guitar set-up a breeze.  

Electric Guitar Saddles By type	Pros	Cons	Available for
Chrome Plated Steel	Smooth finish, brighter tone than standard steel. Little known alternative for Tun-O-Matic bridges only. Looks super cool.	Cheap chrome will tarnish. Cheap steel will cause more string breaks over time.	Most makes
Nickel Plated Steel	Attractive finish	Nickel plating can tarnish over time.	Most makes
Brass	Warmer tone than steel.	Brass is soft, and string grooves may need attention over time	Most makes
Zinc Alloy	Zingy, bright tone, contributing to that harsher, heavy metal sound.	Limited retrofit options.	Floyd Rose, Ibanez, Gotoh.
Tusq	Bright, a durable alternative to metal	Limited ranges and distinctive sound may not suit purists.	Strat, Telecaster, Tun-O-Matic, Wilkinson, Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Mustang
String Saver	Man-made alternative to Graphite for hard-wearing, warm tone. Superb for those who bend and break strings regularly	Acquired taste tonally.	Strat, Telecaster, Tun-O-Matic, Wilkinson, Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Mustang, Ghost Parker Air
Bone	Smooth finish, brighter tone than standard steel. Little know alternative for Tun-O-Matic bridges only. Looks super cool.	Limited range and acquired taste for your Tun-O-Matic bridge. Expensive at $100 +	Tun-O-Matic only

Is a Guitar Saddle a critical component?

Your guitar strings are the source of the vibrating sound waves that become music. The active part of a guitar string is the section between the “nut” (at the headstock end) and the “saddle” (which is part of the guitar bridge).

Therefore, the material these two components are constructed from dramatically affects the sound of your guitar. Denser materials deliver a crisper, brighter tone. Less Dense materials are warmer to the ear.

The position of the saddle is critical when adjusting intonation.

The height of the saddle directly affects the action of your guitar strings. A higher action (strings further away from the guitar body) is more dynamic but harder to fret when playing. A low action (Strings closer to the guitar body) is easier to play, but some dynamics and sustain can be lost. 

Which Saddle materials are the best?

As with many guitar components, the various saddle materials are not necessarily “better”. Rather, they are different. If you have more than one guitar, you may even consider using different saddle materials on each guitar for a range of tonalities. 

Watch this video to hear the difference in resonance between these popular guitar saddle materials:

Plastic is the worst (and most common) material for acoustic guitar saddles. When combined with a good guitar set-up, changing your plastic saddle is one of the best value-for-money upgrades you can do to a sub-$ $300 guitar.

Electric guitars generally use steel at the budget end of the market. Upgrading cheap steel saddles will reduce those string-bending breaks at the bridge end, improve your tone, and increase your options for setting up your guitar. 

Let’s dive a little further into each style of guitar and the options available.  

Wrapping Up

Upgrading your acoustic guitar saddle is a great way to get more out of your budget guitar. If you want a brighter tone, get rid of plastic in favor of Tusq™ or Nubone™ at a very reasonable cost. Go for Micarta if you want increased harmonics and a warmer tone.  

Venture into exotic alternatives such as high-end bone or fossilized ivories for high-end guitars.

If you own an electric guitar, pick the saddle that fits your bridge. Look to anodized steel for classic sounds and performance. Consider brass for a warmer tone and softer edges, which may reduce string breaks. String Saver™ is a great graphite alternative for those with regular string break problems.