I have a decent collection of guitars that I use with my live band. I use some of them regularly whenever my band plays and some I just keep to use in the studio. Today I’m going to talk a little bit about my Gibson Les Paul Custom. My Les Paul Custom has a beautiful Wine Red finish with gold hardware and it plays like butter. It’s a really great guitar and I have to say it’s almost as good as my Fender Stratocasters. I use the Les Paul Custom a lot when I play live and it has quite a bit of playing hours on it. I had been using it for about a year when it developed a severe problem with string breakage.
It was a real drag because I hardly every break strings when I play. I’m very careful about replacing strings before they wear out completely and I always use Big Bends Nut Sauce. Still, the Les Paul Custom started breaking strings almost every gig. It was breaking them at the same spot on the guitar every time. Right on top of the bridges Tune-O-Matic saddles. So I pulled the strings off and examined the bridge saddles. Just by playing the guitar, the strings had worn the saddles to the point where the saddles had ridges and sharp points in them. The strings were literally getting sawn in two. I knew I was going to have to replace my bridge saddles but I wanted to upgrade them and make them better than the original.
So I did some research and that’s when I read about Graph Tech String Saver Saddles. The Graph Tech website states “Graph Tech Saddles are very unique because they are made out of a unique combination of materials that work together to enhance tone and drastically reduce string breakage. They are impregnated with Teflon which is 500% more slippery than graphite and the Teflon is spread throughout the material. That means they never lose their lubricating properties.” They sounded exactly like what I was looking for to put on my Les Paul Custom. So I figured “what the heck” and ordered a set.
When I got them I thought they were fairly cheap looking and I honestly didn’t think they would help very much. They look like black pieces of plastic and I wasn’t impressed initially. But my old saddles were shot so I put the Graph Tech saddles on my Les Paul. I was quite worried that they would affect the tone of my Les Paul but those worries were quickly put to rest. The guitar still sounded fabulous and I couldn’t hear any noticeable difference in tone. The Graph Tech website claims you will hear a more balanced tone with sizzling highs, full mids and big open lows but I really didn’t hear much if any difference between the Graph Tech saddles and the OEM saddles. That was fine with me because I didn’t want the saddles messing with my Les Paul’s tone. I also didn’t use any Big Bends Nut Sauce on them as the literature said they would lubricate themselves.
Remember, the reason I went with these saddles was to reduce string breakage. Well I couldn’t be more pleased! I have had the Graph Tech String Saver saddles on my Les Paul Custom for 5 years now and I haven’t broken a single string. Not one, single string!! That amazes me because I do break strings on my Strats sometimes but they don’t break on the Les Paul anymore. I guess I’m going to have to pick up a set of Graph Techs String Saver Saddles for the Strat now. I also haven’t had any tuning or intonation problems with the Graph Tech Saddles. So it’s with 100% confidence that I’m recommending the Graph Tech Saddles to you today. Just follow the links below to pick up a set for your guitar.
