# tusk saddles soft?



## jimmy c g (Jan 1, 2008)

ive been noticing my tusk saddle on gibson j 45 seems to develope notchs fairly quickly,also when I play hard ( i love the volume) I think that sometimes the high e string may move a bit and now seems to have double notches, anyone else notice this about tusk ? I just ordered a new saddle and will install myself but wonder if I should have gone for bone or ?


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

yeah, i always found bone to be harder.
havent used tusk in years.
think i only did a few times and gave up on it.

i gather my own bone- but its a pain cutting it up so i keep purchased blanks around.
but im finding some of those are kinda weak as well.
stew macs blanks are great- but ive got some from other sources that were just garbage.

i did manage to score a good size chunk of corian and can get lots more.
looks like good stuff.
dont need to make any nuts or saddles right now though.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Tusq saddles are softer than bone, despite what their website says about the drawbacks of bone. The idea of the Tusq material is to obtain consistency in hardness and density. They do achieve that but I am not convinced they are better than a good quality piece of bone. That said, I think they are very likely better than what passes for decent bone on the market nowadays. The continually diminishing quality of materials in guitar building today is sometimes forgotten and/or downplayed due to the trumpeting of the virtues of modern machining methods and a tightening of tolerances. I have real bone (good bone) on one of my acoustics and Tusq on the other two. I don't know that there is a difference large enough for me to hear but I can say with certainty that my bone saddle is harder than the Tusq saddles. There's not a mark on it after a dozen years. The Tusq saddles have clear wear marks where the windings have chewed into the material. To answer your actual question, have I noticed a widening of the saddle grooves? No. It seems to me they grooved out fairly quickly and then stopped. I presume it's because eventually the string pressure per area and the increase in contact surface area moved together until they found equilibrium. My grooves deepened up to a point and stopped but I noticed no widening once the wear stopped and I do not experience side-to-side play on any of my strings.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

What gets called Tusq can vary considerably, so much so that I've often wondered if there are different grades of the stuff, if some is counterfeit, or maybe simply misrepresented by the manufacturer. Acoustic guitar saddles of the stuff can develop depressions, chips, and deformation worse than I've ever seen with bone. Tusq is okay acoustically, though I'm happier with bone. With a few exceptions if I acquire an instrument with anything other than bone I replace the part(s) immediately.

Peace, Mooh.


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## Geetarz (Jan 19, 2016)

Good quality bone is harder...the bleached white stuff, maybe not. I have my guy put unbleached bone on anything that may have had plastic/tusq, and polish up the bone. Looks great. The consistency in material is one thing I've been told about tusq that I agree with and was similarly told this is the reason why some companies that offer bone saddles will use tusq in its place on their acoustics with an undersaddle pickup; a better chance of a more consistent transfer from the strings. I still swap out for bone but I understand the logic.


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## Geetarz (Jan 19, 2016)

Mooh said:


> What gets called Tusq can vary considerably, so much so that I've often wondered if there are different grades of the stuff, if some is counterfeit, or maybe simply misrepresented by the manufacturer. Acoustic guitar saddles of the stuff can develop depressions, chips, and deformation worse than I've ever seen with bone. Tusq is okay acoustically, though I'm happier with bone. With a few exceptions if I acquire an instrument with anything other than bone I replace the part(s) immediately.
> 
> Peace, Mooh.


Graphtech, makers of "Tusq" also manufacture "NuBone", which I think is a lesser quality "Tusq" alternative...not positive but that is my understanding. I also think some sellers may be stating "Tusq" when it is not...


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## jimmy c g (Jan 1, 2008)

sometimes I really lay into the strings ,possibly to hard especially near the bridge ( love the volume) , here is a pic of the stock gibson saddle 2 months old, Ive ordered 2 graphtech tusk compensated replacements ,will see how they hold up....


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

Geetarz said:


> Graphtech, makers of "Tusq" also manufacture "NuBone", which I think is a lesser quality "Tusq" alternative...not positive but that is my understanding. I also think some sellers may be stating "Tusq" when it is not...


Not a lesser quality version, just a different option.

TUSQ is designed to improve lubrication and string life. NuBone is designed as an alternative to bone. Supposedly tonally similar and rigid


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

I'm a big Graph Tech fan. I have their products in one shape or another on all of my guitars, and the Tusq acoustic saddles are the only product of theirs that I'm not too fond of. For a while, I had them on all of my acoustics; until I discovered Bob Colosi and his bone saddles. I found that bone saddles do provide a bit more clarity and top end sparkle to acoustics. On top of that, you don't get nearly as bad of divots on them as you would on Tusq. I'm sure that once you go with a bone saddle on your acoustic, you'll never go back.


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## Geetarz (Jan 19, 2016)

jbealsmusic said:


> Not a lesser quality version, just a different option.
> 
> TUSQ is designed to improve lubrication and string life. NuBone is designed as an alternative to bone. Supposedly tonally similar and rigid


Good to know. Thanks.
I was just checking the Graphtech page as they actually state a "difference" in their FAQ's section, saying Tusq is "a slightly harder material and has a slightly brighter sound". They don't reference it much to bone but state it as "a great alternative to plastic for your repair shop".


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

Geetarz said:


> Good to know. Thanks.
> I was just checking the Graphtech page as they actually state a "difference" in their FAQ's section, saying Tusq is "a slightly harder material and has a slightly brighter sound". They don't reference it much to bone but state it as "a great alternative to plastic for your repair shop".


It appears you're right and I was misinformed. That's why I love forums!
http://graphtech.com/support/faq/nubone-faq


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