Diamond Graphite saddles

[Yoko Oh No]

i played with a fellow from San Diego yesterday. he had a taylor guitar fitted with a diamond graphite saddle: http://www.obbligatoinc.com/acous_sdl.aspx

i'm not particularly fond of the taylor sound, but this saddle made it brighter and louder than any taylor i've heard. i'm not saying its a good thing or a bad thing...just that it was one loud and crisp guitar.

he says the saddle really opened up what was just an ordinary guitar and he say's he's going to fit theses saddles onto all of his guitars....does anyone have any experience with them?

 

[charliea]

Only $100 apiece? Guess I'll order some spares!

 

[SFIV1967]

Interesting, never heard of them before. The company (Obbligato) is from Austin, TX.
Ralf

 

[Guthriej]

i played with a fellow from San Diego yesterday. he had a taylor guitar fitted with a diamond graphite saddle: http://www.obbligatoinc.com/acous_sdl.aspx

i'm not particularly fond of the taylor sound, but this saddle made it brighter and louder than any taylor i've heard. i'm not saying its a good thing or a bad thing...just that it was one loud and crisp guitar.

he says the saddle really opened up what was just an ordinary guitar and he say's he's going to fit theses saddles onto all of his guitars....does anyone have any experience with them?

Yes I do have some experience with them, what do you want to know? The material is not daimond or graphite it is Pyrolytic carbon best known in the nuclear, and medical fields.
Here is the USPTO untilty patent # 8,110,729, also no need to buy but one per instrument (guitar, mandolin, ukulele, violin etc.) because they never string gouge, and need rework or
replacement. In the photo of the Martin 12 string that one is a hybrid you can also get them in solid carbon, and many others too. The picks are just as life changing too, and we are going to
also make nuts, and frets too. So in the future you can have nuts that never wear or grab when tuning, and frets that don't wear, and sound like Nickel Silver frets too. Let me know if you have
any more questions jim.guthrie@obbligatoinc.com

 

[dapmdave]

Interesting concept. Is it hard to shape the "traditional" black diamond saddles?

Dave

 

[Guthriej]

Interesting concept. Is it hard to shape the "traditional" black diamond saddles?

Dave

No Dave the material is not anywhere near diamond hardness. The company owner let me choose the trademark name
Black Diamond so people would not think it was graphite or carbon fiber. The material is about as hard as mild steel,
and you can't use metal files like you can with bone. You need sand paper or a diamond or saphire file to shape it,
and fine grain sand paper to finish, and polish it. The BD saddles never string gouge so on a very responsive guitar
you might want the unwound strings to have notches half the string diameter so they don't bounce or ping with a
hard player. Most instruments don't need that though.The solid carbon saddles need to be made for the correct radius, thickness,
and length because it does not come in blanks it is more like the preformed Tusq saddles than a blank like bone or Ivory. It is
as easy as bone to work with.

Jim

 

[dapmdave]

Thanks for the information, Jim.

Dave