2 Questions: String Tension & Bone or Tusq

[onemanband]

Hi, new member here but may I say "WHAT A GREAT SITE", full of useful information for someone such as me, who occasionally makes minor adjustments and "tweaks" to his guitars.
So here's the questions
1. Taking the make and type of string out of the equation, what are the influences in order of importance, that effect that "tight" feeling of string tension and what can one do to loosen up this condition?

2. Which has the greatest resistance to bridge saddle string wear (grooves) Bone or Tusq?

Cheers............Brian.

[Greg Mirken]

1. In no particular order; scale, action, responsiveness or efficiency of the instrument, other mysterious intangibles.

2. Bone, by far.

[Donald A. Fortune]

The string tension I cant help you with but -- bone is my choise every dsy of the week because of its ability to transfer tone better than any man made material that I have run into-- the nut dosent seem to have that much effict but bone is my choise there also.
Best to you,
Donald

[Tom Krebs]

1. Play hard - and build up strength. OR Light strings and/or short scale length. Try a Gibson with 12 and/or 11 gauge strings?

2. Bone.

[Rick Homan]

String gauge will make the biggest difference. A set which starts with .011 will feel much different from one which starts with .012, and one which starts with .013 will again feel much different. Within each size, the type of alloy makes a difference. 80/20 bronze strings have a noticeably lower tension compared to phosphor bronze of the same size, tuned to the same pitch.

[onemanband]

Thanks for the input so far. I play an Avalon 12 string usually fitted with D'Addario 80/20 bronze 10's. Thought I'd try some PhB's recently (Everly's, DR's and Martin SP's) but in each case they defintely seemed "tighter" which would seem to endorse the comment from Rick. Anyway, I've now gone back to my regular D'Addario's. I've also made a slightly lower bridge saddle from Tusq, that on this particular instrument, has a better response than the original fitted bone saddle. I'm just concerned about the longevity of Tusq.
Thanks again for the advice.

[Rory]

I gotta chime in on this one. I've built almost 90 instruments now. I use 'Tusq' almost all the time. After a few experiments, I found it adds volume and response to both the bass and treble of virtually any instrument I install it on. Drop a piece of bone on the floor, then drop a piece of 'Tusq'. Your answer is there- no comparision-the bone sounds like a thunk, the 'Tusq' sounds out a huge resonant 'ping'. I just received a 3 1/2 year old guitar back too- the tusq saddle shows no signs of wear. I've never had any instruments returned with worn tusq saddles. I will say, on some instruments, to some peoples ears, they may prefer the bone as it mutes the high tones. If the instrument seems to bright that is when I switch to bone.
Look at the number of respected companies that use Tusq and you have to know that they would not use it if it lessened the tone on their instruments or wore prematurely. I'm 100% all for natural materials when it makes sense, but in this case, my experience bears out that Tusq is a more responsive saddle material than bone.
Rory

[onemanband]

Thanks Rory.
I had a string imbalance on my 12string between the first pair (E) and the second pair (B). The fitting of the Tusq saddle resolved this. Having read that bone can suffer from "soft" spots and can be ununiform, I wasn't sure if it was the new saddle or simply a case of, in the course of the job, it being re-seated on the UST.
Bearing that in mind and having read your reply, I think I definetely come down on the side of Tusq.

So, thanks for all the advice, I've now fitted a new Tusq saddle, lowering the action to nigh on perfect and fitted D'Addario 10-47 80/20 bronze strings. "job done" !!!

Cheers........Brian.

[onemanband]

Thanks Rory, I had a slight string imbalance between the first pair(E) and the second pair(B). Since replacing the bone saddle with a Tusq one, this problem was resolved. I wasn't sure if this was the material (I had read that bone can suffer from "soft" spots and can be ununiform), or simply a case of the re-seating the saddle on the UST.
After reading your post, I think I agree that Tusq seems to be the better option.