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I was having a search on the forum to see if there was any info on using wood nuts and saddles on a dreadnought.
I found a bit on nuts which suggest they were used on some Martin models and should work ok.
viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=18236&hilit=wooden+saddle

..but I couldn't find anything on saddles.
I made one of each today out of some wood we can get in Australia called "Cooktown Ironwood" - I also use this for my fingerboard and bridge. I fitted the new nut/saddle and I don't think it has lost anything, but without being able to compare bone vs wood side by side, I find it a bit hard to tell.

Any other experience out there??
Frank

If wood made good nuts and saddles , you would see them on more guitars. They don't help and often make the guitars sound less than it is capable of. I have seen Ebony used as a nut and saddle ,Hornbeam was another . Both were removed for bone. They wood doesn't transmit energy well so you can expect a deaden sound.
john hall

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I have an old Gibson J-50 with a wood saddle that sounds great.

any idea what type of wood was used Mark? thanks jody

I made an ebony saddle for my OM as an experiment. It worked well enough I thought until I made a bone saddle and swapped it for the ebony one. I prefer the bond saddle a lot.

Pretty sure it is BRW.

I have lost confidence in the wood saddle. I have an under saddle pickup in it, but I only tried it through my amp last night for the first time. After sounding full and even under bone, it sounded awful under wood. Very uneven - 6th string much louder than the other five, and it had lost both volume and bottom end.

The wood saddle was a good snug fit, and flat, so I don't think those things can account for what was lost.

Frank

I think the problem with a wooden saddle is the fact that wood does not transfer energy as efficiently as other materials. This becomes particularly important when you're dealing with under saddle pickups that require not only good energy transmission, but also consistent energy transmission across the strings.

I agree that wood gives a more mellow tone than some of the harder materials.And no two pieces of wood are the same consistency.I have used brass before and liked it where a pick-up was involved.I'm going to try jade next as it is a durable gemstone and i am a lapidaryist so it will be easy to make saddles out of gemstone material.I have also thought of using petrified wood as it is very hard.