Compensated Bridge Saddles for Tele

These saddles are very easy to install and the compensation made for perfect intonation with very little fuss.

Now, this isn't a complaint, but more a warning. These saddles are quite a bit bigger around than the standard saddles that came on my Tele, so I wasn't able to get the action as low as I like due to the barrels bottoming out before I could get them low enough. Not a huge deal, but I will need to install a neck shim to get the action just right. But these things are so nice, I don't mind a little extra work.

If you want to easily and accurately intonate your telecaster while keeping that stock 3 barrel saddle look, then these are the ticket!

Not much else to say. They aren't magic, and they may need a little tweaking to get them just right, (I had to bend the positioning screw just a bit to make my D and G acceptable to my ear) but in your setup they may be just right. I installed these on my Squire Classic Vibe 50s style along with a fat fat fat Musikraft neck, and an already stout sounding Tele became *HUGE*. It's all I play anymore.

I have a Highway One Telecaster as well as a Highway One Strat and a Vintage Mahogany Les Paul w/ Burst-Bucker pickups. Before putting these saddles on the tele, it was my least favorite guitar of the three and now I can't put it down! These saddles are beefier than the stock ones so I'm not sure if I could have gotten the action as low as the original setup but that's fine with me. I find the tone and sustain improvements well worth the price. Also, even though some of the screws still stick up a bit, it doesn't feel like a cheese grater on my picking hand when laying it on the bridge - so much nicer!

I looked at several compensated saddles and bought a couple to try. These were the only ones that got it right. I quickly got these saddles intonated as well as any six-saddle bridge, yes they were that close on my Tele. Other saddles were over-compensated or were too long so they interfered with each other on the bridge plate. The round Stew-Mac saddles also retain the classic look as opposed to the wedge-cut style.

The fit and finish are good, no complaints. The intonation was very close. I was able to get 4 strings perfect and 2 pretty close (hence 4 stars). I have not used other manufactures much more expensive saddles on a tele so no comparison. If you are switching from steel to brass be prepared for a darker tone.

I bought these for a Squier CV Tele and they fit just fine (they are 21.2mm wide & 8mm thick). You will need to move the screws around to the other side for the D/G string so that the angle is correct but that's no big deal. Getting the intonation set is a bit trickier than with 6 saddles, I wouldn't say the intonation from these is 100% (maybe 98%/99%)but it is ALOT better than standard straight saddles no question. I would definately recommend these, i've never been dissapointed with any stewmac product in terms of quality. Stewmac, it would be good if you could include the measurements on the website for these saddles, I'm really surprised that you haven't. All in all a good upgrade!

These allowed me to achieve perfect intonation on a tele. I noticed an increase in punch and sustain as well.

Pretty easy to install -- I just loosened the strings -- took the old ones out - and popped these in! Make sure to reverse the screw on the middle saddle to get the intonation right. Also, make note of the approximate position of your previous saddles as a guide. After installation, intonation seems dead on -- and the vintage look of my 52 RI is retained!

My Tele came with uncompensated brass saddles. The replacement (compensated) saddles are much more massive. Not only have they improved the intonation of my guitar to near perfection (at the 12th fret), I've also noticed an added bell-like chime that wasn't there before.

Be warned that the springs are very long, so threading the intonation screws is a bit tricky. It would probably be best to remove the bridge so the body of the guitar isn't in the way... but who am I kidding. I didn't even remove the strings.

These saddles do improve intonation but there are a couple of things that should be made clear.

Most importantly, the saddles are not ground flat on the underside like vintage saddles. On my '52 tele I could not get the action low enough on the high E because the underside of the barrel bottomed out on the ashtray bridge. This could be a good thing if they work on your particular guitar because they can be flipped over when they get excessively worn from the strings. Of course, they'd all have to be rotated to keep the intonation correct.

It should also be noted that compared to Fender vintage saddles, the screws are smaller (the intonation screws have a phillips head) and the springs are lighter so they don't have quite the same look.