Saddles

[pedalman]

Ok so I got my new Mexican strat tremolo (massive block difference ! LOL)
But the saddles that came with it look like crap. They look like a machine was stamping out these noodly things by the millions. Anybody have any feedback on them ? At least my old Squier ones look like a solid chunk of metal. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Maybe its just me, but Id think a solid saddle would ring better.

[croquet hoop]

What really matters, much more than looks (bent style vs solid) is the material they're made of. Brass or stainless steel are fine, even if the saddles are the bent-type. If your solid saddles are made of pot metal, they're much more likely to be a tone killer than bent brass saddles.

By the way, the way you set up your bridge — floating angle, intonation and string height — is even more important. So set up your bridge properly and play the guitar a bit. If you feel no problem, there might be no need to fix it by buying new saddles (you could always buy Callaham's for $40 just because, but I doubt you really have to).

[pickdropper]

I'm have tempted to buy a Callaham bridge for my MIM strat, just because I like it so much on my Callaham strat.

[midwayfair]

^ Eh, you can get Graphtech saddles for like $20 from TGP all the time. Pretty much superior to any metal bridge unless your guitar is hopelessly dark already (and then I'm not sure a stainless bridge is going to help much). They pay for themselves in strings really quickly. I haven't broken a string on an electric in eight years (except when I took the strings off several times in a row to swap pickups ... I broke a D string I think).

[GermanCdn]

+1 on the Graphtechs, next time I break a string on my red strat, there's a set going in.

[atreidesheir]

Go with the TUSQ.  They sound beautiful.