Dear Guitar Players,

Please let me explain what we have done and do in order to create the best possible true Vintage Saddles.

Back in the day Leo Fender designed his Stratocaster in such a clever way that it could be relatively easy mass produced. In that speedy production process it so happened that sometimes the best woods, pickups and hardware all came together on these view (now Vintage) *magic* Strats that have that exceptional Tone and playability that other Strats – made in the same period – to some degree don’t have. Steel for their Saddles in that period was bought from their Supplier in large quantities under the same Product Name, but these could differ slightly in both composition and hardness. This is confirmed by Callaham. Maybe some of you have read the Callaham website and what is said about Fender bent Steel Saddles regarding their material and hardness. After investigation Callaham opted to use much harder Steel than the original Fender Saddles. The result is what some now say are Saddles that emphasize upper mid and high. Although that might be useful in some cases – as Strat (type) guitars are not all alike – it is not desirable.

I think we all can agree that to recreate the best Vintage bent Steel Saddles that produce true Strat Tone we need to use the exact same quality Steel as what was installed on these Magic Stratocasters. That is exactly what we do. The side effect of wanting the same quality Steel each and every time is that we pay more for our Steel than others. Hence the price difference. But we think it is worth our effort to offer you the best Vintage Saddles that money can buy.

Sincerely,
Piet Laan

Highwood GuitarParts

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PS We love to share the opinion of John Cruz masterbuilder of Fender Guitars but now creating it’s own Custom Guitars! John is sharing a lot of tech stuff  and after 14 minutes in this video John explains why he likes our Highwood Saddles so much.. Thanks for that John 🙂 John Cruz Factory Tour – YouTube

For questions about intonation, parts such as intonation screws, hight adjustment screw and hex allen wrench of our bridge-saddle please see our FAQ-page.