Unless you believe that brass gets you a better tone/feel, get these for your guitar. These improved my strat's look, feel, intonation, and help the strings last as long as possible. These save not only your strings, but also your money in the long run!

Side note: If you don't like the all black version, they also sell one that is mostly metal with black tips where the string goes. Now only if they made an all white version...

I'm setting a Squier Strat for a 13 year old beginner. I think a deterrent to playing and practicing is the guitar be constantly out of tune if you bend the strings or use the tremelo. I went all in and got the graphtech saddles, nut and string trees. It was easy to install all the parts and setting the action and intonation were very smooth. I like that the saddled have a groove to locate the strings rather than the old bent metal saddles to insure that the strings stay in the same place. I'm certainly no guitar player, but after making some string bending and whammy bar sounds it is staying in tune. I'm pleased with the results and I have achieved my goals of setting up a guitar that stays in tune.

First off, let me say Jayden Brown is an absolute pleasure to work with. These Graph Tech String Saver Originals for Strat & Tele - 2 1/16" spacing are far superior than others. I've put these on almost all my Fender Strats & Teles, if not the Graphtech String Saver Saddles Chrome finish (PG-8000-0C). Graphtech products I've used Graphtech Saddles for 7 or 8 years now & they have never let me down. The intonation is spot on & comfort-ability to rest your palm is greater than stock 'bent steel saddles'. These are super easy to install & fix a lot of issues (imo) over other saddles. You will not be disappointed, if not changing all your guitars to these saddles!

I am unfortunately afflicted with acid-sweat, highly corrosive to the bent steel saddles and screws that come stock on most guitars. These are a great upgrade to anyone who despises rust!

Graph Tech saddles are the best I've ever used. Great tone and long string life.

These are a no brainer. You need these. Why haven't you bought these yet? What are you waiting for?!! But seriously, these are such an easy and super inexpensive mod to do that will drastically improve the tuning stability, string life, and very minor tonal changes. I noticed less of a pingy resonance after these were installed.

I install the String Saver on all my Strats.

First of all, I can't detect any tonal difference at all after installing these on 10+ guitars. With that out of the way, time to heap on the praises. Less broken strings, better tuning stability, and best of all- no rust! I have very caustic, mutant type sweat, and couldn't believe it didn't rust the hex screws. Called Graph Tech to ask what manner of sorcery they were using to accomplish this, and they told me the hex screws were stainless! Brilliant! Also, installation is easy as well as setting intonation- provided you do a little research. Hex screws aren't so long that they stick up and scrape my palms either, even with action set low. Go for it, you won't be disappointed! This is the first upgrade every Strat I own gets.

I bought these as an upgrade for my Squier Contemporary Telecaster RH, and I was blown away by how much they improved my action (5mm -> 2mm), sustain, and tone compared to the stock tuners. Great value for the price, and as a bonus, they look great!

Easy install and great tone.

I've reviewed this product before, but I wanted to come back to it as the initial review was pretty fresh after installation. Now I've had a few years with these on my American Professional Strat and can comfortably say that this upgrade pays off over the course of time.

The instant-difference that it made to my overall tuning stability was no fluke, as I've enjoyed nearly complete tuning stability since I've put them on, and haven't looked back. I used to have a problem breaking an unusual amount of strings right over the previous saddles, and since replacing them the only string-break that's happened on this guitar happened due to the locking tuners. These were pestering and constant issues that I used to have on my nicest guitar, and I was getting to a point of barely playing it anymore due to the frustration of never staying in tune and breaking strings randomly. I can hardly remember those days anymore as this one simple upgrade practically made this a whole new guitar, and in my opinion makes it play the way it was intended to.

My initial take on the tone difference was that it removed a lot of the piercing high-end, which is a take I still agree with. I also agree with another detailed review on this product that due to this, these saddles take the overall sound away from the vintage strat sound and move it to a more modern, compressed sound. However, it's not like you'll install these on a strat, and ever mistake the sound for being anything other than a strat. But, if you are looking to have a vintage strat sound with vintage strat tuning instability, than I don't recommend these saddles.

Overall, you really can't go wrong with these saddles. If you have tuning stability issues, or if your vintage style saddles buzz a lot and don't intonate well, this is a great solution to your woes. These saddles are a bit pricey, but are totally worth it for the issues they prevent, and the endless joy you will get out of your axe for having installed them!

I got a set of Graph Techs for a Squire Thineline Telecaster which had wrong size saddles. They worked but watch the re-installing of the screws because they seen plastic and can be easy crosstreaded. I rather have brass because those are overpriced.

Fits my stock squire bridge for the bullet mustang. much nicer than my originals

I haven't installed these saddles yet, but just looking at them I can tell they will be a big improvement over the stock Jackson saddles.

These saddles are great! I bought them mainly because I prefer the feel of block saddles to bent steel. And these feel great, very smooth. But what I didn't necessarily expect was improved tone with noticeably more sustain. And the improvement in tuning stability is remarkable. Both with bends and the tremolo bar. As others have said, the tone change and added sustain do pull you away from the vintage strat sound slightly. So these might not be for you if you're a strat purist, but for everyone else they're a must have.

I've installed these on several Stratocasters, Telecasters & even Squier Mustangs! I have never been disappointed. They are made with precision & the sound is awesome!!

Finally a graph tech saddle set that actually works for the the mim and offshore Fender 2 1/16 string spacing.
A quality product that performs well in both the strat and tele platforms they also aid on string volume/output balance and actuality do reduce breakage while cutting out that metal, razor screech string attack; they keep the glassy with the smooth.

I recently purchased the GraphTech saddles for my vibrato guitars. They look kick! I got the black "originals" I finally got rid of the "metal to metal" 2k hertz peak problem I had with two of my Wilkersons vibrato systems! These two guitars sound smooth and full! A big improvement that I noticed when I installed and played them! It's a good upgrade!

Would give 5 stars but one of the set screws to raise and lower the action was seized, so that one went on the D string. It moved just enough to slightly lower it. They're a little shorter than the stock ones, but that can work in your favor of you have a stuborn low E string when setting intonation, you can go further towards the bridge now without cutting the spring.

Need understood the need for these until recently. Had a really cheap black bridge with horribly uncomfortable and tough to adjust saddles on a Kramer Baretta Special and swapped it out for these graphtec saddles. Wow! What a difference! Not only is it more comfortable to play, but the tuning feels more stable and the saddles are so smooth and easy to adjust. Highly recommended if you need to replace saddles and you tend to rest your hand on the bridge. My sales rep James is the man by the way! Thanks again.

I recently purchased the GraphTech saddles for my vibrato guitars. They look kick! I got the black "originals" I finally got rid of the "metal to metal" 2k hertz peak problem I had with two of my Wilkersons vibrato systems! These two guitars sound smooth and full! A big improvement that I noticed when I installed and played them! It's a good upgrade!

This is the first time I've tried these components, I wasn't sure what it expect. The installation was easy, I did have one spring that was to short ( I don't know why) Once I got past that the rest was smooth. After a few adjustments, they sound great, play smooth, and ring clear. I will use them on my other strats!

I've been a big fan of Graph Tech products for years. These are by far the best replacement saddles on the market.

First of all, I have Graph-Tech nuts on 3 Warmoth necked guitars and a Graph-Tech saddle on my Alhambra 9-P Classical Guitar.

These Graph-Tech saddles, taking everything into consideration, are really amazing. What a difference! First of all, my ears can hear lots of detail and if you were out of tune, I could tell you which string and how far out you are - sharp or flat (1/4 tone, etc). As I put these saddles on, I set the action and noticed that the strings could be much closer to the neck without buzzing. I didn't expect that. Then after I got the action set, I started setting the intonation. How amazing! The notes are so clear and so precise that I could set the intonation precisely, so that every part of the neck sounds perfectly in tune. Wow! Next, the tone changed. I wouldn't say for the better, nor for worse, but it definitely changed and took some getting used to. It's like the higher end frequencies have gone bye bye, maybe from 10k - 12k, especially on the treble pickup. That's ok because I've got some stainless steel frets that had a hi end ping that I wasn't fond of. That's gone. And maybe since the 10-12k hi frequency spectrum is decreased substantially, I can hear a warm mid range "ping" with a quick attack. It seems like note slur and blur is cut, and what's left is a very clear, nicely defined note with immediate attack. Someone said in another review that it feels like notes are compressed. I agree. It seems to compress the note. The bass notes are similar, but with the neck pickup, there wasn't that much hi range to begin with. If I'm honest, I probably liked the tone better before I put these on. It was more true to a Strat sound. I have a Trem-V Blade Runner that had some great saddles to begin with. The neck is a Warmoth Modern with a maple fretboard, no finish, stainless steel frets, and my pickups are Vand Zandt blues that I lower pretty far down close to the body to get more of a sweet and sustained sound because I play clean on my Strats a lot.

Now for another surprise - I went to play the lead for Another Brick in the Wall, part 2, and I could actually hold those long, sometimes 2 1/2 note bends, all the way to the end, and they were clear! I could shake them to get that vibrato and it sounded like I was channeling Gilmour! Another wow moment! Let's say you enjoy playing fast runs, and bends. These saddles are the way to go for sure. What a change. It's already improving my playing. There is nice dynamic control, too, even though the notes are compressed. If you hit them softer, they still have that quick attack, and that compressed feel, but the compression doesn't rob, or isn't overbearing on, the dynamics. The saddles actually seem to assist in retaining the quieter note playing due to the increased sustain and the clearer harmonic content that they provide. Overall, the playing experience is freer, less effort, because there is more control and a clearer tone. You don't have to pick the guitar hard enough to get the notes to come out. That is nice, people. But you should really like a modern sounding Strat because that's the direction these saddles will take you. If you're into that loose, vintage Strat vibe with a bell-tone, percussive chimey thing going (because there is no sustain), then this may not be the way to go. The Graph-Tech saddles seem to have given my Strat a departure from that direction.

And... Because you get more of a mid-range focus, using overdrive works much better with these saddles. It enhances overdriven tones. The notes seem clearer, the sound sits where it should without a spraying of shrill hi end. Overtones from the natural harmonics that are added by the distortion work out better because the high frequencies are suppressed and they are derived more from the mid range. And you can really hear the difference between these saddles and traditional saddles when playing with distortion. They are superb for a warm, lead tone.

Good Stuff:
• Great feel and playability - bends are easier, dynamic playing is smooth, more precision overall
• Stability in tuning and intonation
• Clearer notes
• Increased sustain
• Improved distortion sounds
• A compression to the notes that gives a quick attack to your playing
• Takes the guitar into a modern direction

Downside:
• Seems to pull the Strat away from bell-like tones and the natural start sound

They're a great product and they work as advertised... mostly... My only issue is the 2 3/16" saddles were too wide but these (2 1/16") are a bit thin which leaves space between the saddles. Even on my 2021 Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster, an Official Fender guitar
BUT the saddles having space between them does not affect the playability as far as I can tell. So, it's just a visual thing, I suppose.
Other than that they could have been machined a little better or cleaned up more before packaging. There are tiny bits of metal sticking out from the cast, (I'm assuming they were cast, I don't know) but this is just visual, they're only inside the channel, don't affect the playability, and don't poke my hand.

Now, you'll notice these are very first-world problems. And they are, but they're good to know before you buy. Overall, I'd recommend this product over all others! They look great, they feel great, they sound great and they're sold at a great price! And if the tiny imperfections in manufacturing bother you just take a small piece of high grit sandpaper, fold it and slowly take off the bits sticking out.

Replaced the stock saddle's in my Squire Strat with the Graph Tech String Savers, very good fit and pleased with the quality.
Once again great service from Ben Porter and Sweetwater!!

I got these for both my partscaster and player series fender. A huge upgrade if you lower your strings to the point the screws stick out the top of the stock saddles. These allow me to drop the strings and keep the bridge nice and smooth. Helps with tuning stability and looks awesome to boot.

Ive put these saddles on a MIM Strat and 2 PRS guitars All fit like a glove with the 2 - 1/16 spacing.
Graphtech is an amazing company that has put out 5 star products that look and feel as amazing as they sound..
Ratio tuners are 2nd to none.
I highly recommend all their products.!

I bought these saddles almost on a whim as I had been struggling with tuning stability and intonation, and I was looking for a fix. Not only were these super simple to swap out, but they actually seem to sit better on my guitar (and look better with my black pickguard). The fine tuning is no more arduous than any other saddles, but once I locked it in I noticed some differences right upfront - namely my sustain was much better. I'm tuning less and playing more so all in all I'm really happy with the switch. Well worth the $ and the hour or two resetting everything!

I was having trouble setting up my custom guitar from China. I knew I would need to replace some things to make it playable. So first I put in some Graph Tech locking tuners to replace the broke tuners from China. Next I replaced the the backward nut they put on the guitar things were starting to look up for my setup, but still having trouble. So after some research and help from Sweetwater I replaced the saddles with new string saver saddles by Graph Tech. And BOOM!!! EVERY THING FELL IN PLACE!!! I thought for a minute I must be reading something wrong! Even the tremolo was floating perfect without change. Needless to say I am one haply camper! Thanks to Sweetwater and graph Tech I am good to go.

smooth on the hand and no more breaking strings.

After installing these saddles and setting up my strat, I immediately noticed significantly increased sustain and clarity. The tone is brighter and after pairing these saddles with a Graph-Tech nut, I have a strat sound that I never knew I could possibly have. Since buying these I havecslso upgraded the saddles on my PRS with the same results. Im totally a fan of Graph-Tech!

These bridge saddle replacements work wonderfully on my mimstrat. They were easy to install and are a breeze to adjust. I would recommend this to any strat owner.

This was the final "piece" to my Squire Bullet Tele mod. Couldn't believe the difference these made to the sound and look of the guitar. Allowed me to set the action lower without fret buzz and with my Ratio locking tuners, hold tune perfectly.

This was the final "piece" to my Squire Bullet Tele mod. Couldn't believe the difference these made to the sound and look of the guitar. Allowed me to set the action lower without fret buzz and with my Ratio locking tuners, hold tune perfectly.

So comfortable to play, no more cutting my hand on my squier bullet mustang

I’ve got these on my 2002 Highway One with blocked tremelo and now with my New American Professional Strat with floating trem and they both sing and play and stay in tune. These saddles are amazing !

I don't know about the "help with string brake" as I tend to change strings often, but as far as "improving tone" I could tell a difference immediately. The tone smoothed out and lost the "metal ting" Of the original saddles. These, as a plus, are much more comfortable to rest the palm while playing and look great.

I don't break strings when I play but the stock saddles in my Squier Strat SE had little screws that would poke my hand when muting. These are nice and smooth so more having my hand poked while playing

Had major tuning issues, stock bent saddles was causing tuning issues .. after researching and having simular saddles like these on older american Strat and Tele , i decided to give these a try.. Contacted Aaron Hoff at Sweetwater.. suggested The Graph tech saddles.. Installed no problem at all set height and intonation... Back in Love with the Fender Deluxe Roadhouse.. Sounds great feels good ..stays in tune even with the use of the whammy bar... recommend these.. You'll be glad you did !! Thanks for the fast shipping.. Great Customer Service !!

I feel like I"m making this review a bit early as I"ve only installed these saddles a couple days ago, but even so they have proven to be an instant solution to my Strat troubles.

A year ago I bought a new American Professional Strat from Sweetwater, and it"s an amazing guitar, but over time I started having constant issues with tuning and intonation stability. In addition, in the 8-9 years I"ve been playing I"ve hardly ever broken strings, but this is my only guitar I"ve ever broken more than one string, and it"s my newest. I knew the problem had to be the saddles when my 2nd string saddle started clearly buzzing all the time too. Massive string bends or tremolo use was usually a no-go as I"d always lose tuning almost every time. I couldn"t even enjoy the guitar anymore without frustration.

As soon as I decided I"d had enough I installed these based on the good reviews, and have to admit that there was a night-and-day difference as soon as I had the setup complete and started playing. You definitely have to break them in at first, but even when I was doing that, I was already able to do massive 2-2.5 step bends without even losing the tuning, and with brand new strings, whereas the old saddles had a 90% chance of losing the tuning even on well broken-in strings. They"re also sturdy and don"t slide from side to side on big bends and destroy the intonation you worked ever so hard for. Intonation is also a breeze to set up with these saddles and for the first time I was able to get it truly perfect without the low E being way off like before.

These saddles have made me able to fully enjoy my Strat to a new level in a very short amount of time! I don"t really notice a huge difference with the tone either. If anything I"d say they kinda compress the high end a bit and bring out the mid range, and in a good way! I don"t foresee me ever having a problem with them in the future, and definitely recommend them to anyone with a Fender Strat!

The original saddles finally wore out after years of abuse. They had grooves in them and they were deep and causing the guitar to go out of tune. So I did some digging and noticed Kenny Wayne Shepherd has these on all his guitars. I got these and installed them and re set up my guitar with these new saddles. I tuned up and hit one chord and the guitar had more sustain and clarity than the original saddles. Also when using the tremolo they strings stayed in the original spots and the guitar came back in tune. I love my Floyd roses on my Jackson guitars! But this was a blessing to finally be able to use the tremolo like Leo intended it. The sustain and note clarity when plugged it is where you really notice it. I was blown away! Love graphtech! Check out their Nuts too I have one on my PRS Standard 24 and my Les Paul Junior! Worth the money!

I"ve been looking for saddles and bridge plate to replace my American Standard but they"re tough to find that actually fit. So I opted for GraphTech saddles since I own several Ratios of high quality. From what I read in user responses the expectation was more from these saddles such as a broader spectrum of response in my guitar sound. Didn"t happen and in fact I felt the frequencies were more squashed at both ends like a compressor. Also the 6th string intonation was difficult to match. I thought the distance would be pretty much the same as the original vintage style saddles on it. All the other strings seemed to match up nicely. So I"m not sure what the deal is but in any case I replaced the GraphTech"s with the original Fender saddles after two days, one day to settle and then played 5 services at our church the next day. So I"m chalking this as "experience" and will leave my Tele as is. No worries here I just expected a bit more from these saddles. I believe GraphTech is a great company but this just didn"t work for me.

Big improvement over stock saddles and as always painless procurement from Sweetwater.

I wanted more of the American Standard look and feel for my Player Series bridge. Perfect fit on my floating Strat bridge. May not get a boost in sustain or tone, but they look good and have no sharp edges for my hand to rub on. Thanks to Adam Chesi for his thoughtful follow-ups (I also bought my Strat from Sweetwater)! Did not alter my guitar's tone in any negative way and seems to stay in tune a little better.

I love Graph Tech bridge saddles. They sound great and no more broken strings. I have them on all my Fenders. It's the first thing I add when I am setting up my guitars.

These little saddles are worth their weight in gold. Nice and slippery, easily installed and solid as a rock. They improved the break angle on the strings for my Fender American Standard Telecaster and solved the tuning/buzzing issues I had with the standard bent steel saddles that originally came with the guitar. I'd recommend this product to anyone who has a Fender guitar. I'd buy these again in a heartbeat.

One note: I received a set of saddles and installed them on the guitar, but one of the saddles had a frozen height adjustment screw. Looks like there was a burr on the top of the screw and it was stuck. I notified Customer service immediately and they sent out another set of saddles and an RMA sticker. I used what I needed, packed up the bad saddle and sent the package back. Customer service was excellent and I'm highly satisfied with Sweetwater. I'll be using them again soon.

Tremendous improvement over the stock metal shoes.

Great product really brings your guitar to life and as always awesome service

I was looking to get a better growl out of my Telecaster and wow did! I replaced the stamped steel saddles with the Graph Tech string saver originals and it really made a difference. Easy to install and set up, well worth the investment.

I find this product to be so good that ever using the original saddles on any strat to be embarrassing. Do yo ever wonder what it would be like if your saddles didnt flop all over the place or action stayed were you want it or you just felt that the saddles were kinda cheaply manufactured ( fender they are ALL OF THEM ) then you just have to use these. There solid sound great work and absolutely raise the quality of every strat iv put these on. If you play a fender you just Have to buy these. Player for 27 years and I wish I used this pruct way soon. Graphtech user for 10 years and ill put them on every Fender product ill ever own

Nice saddles, on par with the stainless blocks I normally use. Quite frankly, I can't tell the difference in sound, but then isn't that the point?

Under the heading of teaching an "old dog - new tricks"... Bought a new American Std Strat from my long time Sweetwater Sales Rep, Chris McCown. He suggested some locking tuners and Graph Tech Saddles as an upgrade.

To be honest I was a little skeptical... Locking tuners was an easy sale, but I NEVER ever really thought about my saddles? Played several gigs before I wrote this review. In short - these saddles are an amazing upgrade! How something so simple could make such a tonal difference is beyond me...

My thoughts; these give a little more mid range - in a good way, and much better sustain. But here is the best part; I beat the heck out of this new guitar - actually trying to break a string on the last two gigs - nope, guitar stayed in tune, pulled strings all over the fret board, very little slippage; and no broken strings! Impressive!

Best testimonial I can give; I am now placing these saddles in ALL of my upper end stage guitars for live performing.

Thanks Chris / Sweetwater - keep the gear recommendations coming!

- Guy

I play a highway one tele American, with a modded bridge to accommodate a bareknuckle humbucker. Bought the bridge on eBay. And after a year of playing the rust was getting bad and I was breaking strings almost every practice. Now with the graphite saddles.... Sustain increased, strings felt slinkier, bending is effortless. And didn't notice a loss in tone at all. It really turns any guitar into a professional level and allows strings to resonate to its full potential.

Bought these to replace my stripped out saddles on my Ibanez RG. I was looking just repair 2 saddles never had in mind that these would take my low end RG to another level. Sustain and intonation as well as action all took a leap forward for $39 bucks. The guitar plays and sounds totally different in a great way. Graphite saddles are wonderful I highly recommend them. Hard tail RG guitars 2 1/16 worked perfect.

Often overlooked item but critical for guitar feel and tone. Theses saddles are great. No more broken strings!!!

These install very easily, you just have make sure you get you string height and intonation SE right.
I've only had them on about 5 weeks or so but my telecaster select seems to stay in tune longer and I have had no string breakage yet (a problem I was having with stock bridge saddles) so, so far so good.
Oh, I think they sound great too!

Replaced the stock saddles on an Ibanez RG321 hard tail and am extremely happy with how it turned out. guitar's tone is improved, and saddles were very easy to install. would definitely consider these in the future on other guitars.

If you dislike saddles with the little screws that slip sideways like me, these are your solution. The thicker mass where the screw goes through keeps the screw straight. Quality upgrade.

Not into the traditional fender saddles that came with my recently purchased american standard tele. Strings can move around within the saddles after hard chord strumming. Strings also wear notches into the saddles over time.

String Saver saddles eliminates these issues and greatly reduce breakage-I rarely break a string. I hit the strings hard too (when a tune calls for it) and keep a set on for a month or so. I've had String Saver saddles on my workhorse strat for fifteen years-they're still like new and perform beautifully.

Super easy to install. What a great upgrade to my guitar. Less string breakage, super fat tone.

These are wonderful, but they need stronger springs. I had a Fender Mexican Strat that wouldn't stay in tune so I replace the String Saddles and the Nut with both graphtech products and I no longer have a problem. Excellent product! Change the springs to a little heavier and it will work like charm.