Graphtech mods

[Kiichi]

Hey,
I read in some threads the advice to use products from Graphtech to imrpove a guitars performance. Now I wonder what they can actually do? I am talking about saddles, nuts and also bridge pins here.
For me it would concern a Dean Vendetta 1.7 and an Ibanez JSA 5BK.
Does anybody know if the strings really slip better?
Does the tone improve/change in any way?

Thanks
Kiichi

[vansinn]

I'm pretty sure the tone will change a bit, but can't say how much and how..
Whichever material, like brass, hard alloy steel, aircraft grade aluminum, 12000 years old mammuth bones, ebonol, graphite, or some composite like what Graphtech is using (which isn't always graphites..), will all do something to tone/sustain.
In general, if lesser quality components are used, things like Graphtec will likely improve matters, but do note that one persons idea of improvements aren't nessesarily the next one's cuppa'tea.
You may end up with hardly any change at all, tone/sustain-wise, but still a more slippery action, which may itself be enough to justify the added costs and labour.

IIRC, the Vendetta has a ToM bridge and through-strings. As such, the break angle over the saddles is fairly high, so Graphtech String Savers may be good solution, that is, provided you feel there's a problem with the original design.
Likewise, the more slippery the nut, the better, to keep strings from hanging in a spot when tuning and bending.

I'm not familiar with the JSA, so can't comment on that one.

It's sometimes said that a Graphtec saddle can make the tone a Bit more brittle; whatever.. I think it sounds really good factory outfitted on Taylor acoustics
Also, note that the fairly new Schaller Hannes bridge has several parts made by Graphtec; I guess there's a reason to this..

[bostjan]

Bridge pins? For a solid body?

Graphtec stuff does improve tuning stability, and it looks better to my eyes.

Also, if you have ever broken a string, Graphtec saddles might prevent it from happening again.

Graphtec Ghost saddles have an additional piezo pickup, which many of us think is pretty cool, too.

One way to get a pretty basic idea of how a Graphtec nut works is to take a soft-lead pencil (#2 / HB or softer, like #1 / B) and color in the slots on the nut (on your standard plastic stock nut) to coat them with low-grade graphite. You should notice better tuning stability right away.