Official Luthiers Forum!

perhaps someone can stear me in the right direction.I am seeking some bone saddle material in the .200 thickness range unbleached would be o.k. but then I would need a set including the nut blank .I guess I am interested in several sets to dilute the shipping costs. thanks jody

Jody: Not sure if you are saying you want bleached and that unbleached is OK?? LMI has lots of nut and saddle stock over .200 in bleached material. Nut stock over.200 in unbleached material and saddle stock over.156 in unbleached material.
Tom

_________________
A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Go out in the backyard and steal one from the dog.
One thats been layin' in the sun and gettin dried out and bleached for about 6 months. Same stuff.......
Cuts easy, polishes beautifully
Mikey

_________________
The Biggest Little City, Nevada
www.hammondguitars.com
I love building guitars!

Todd at Allied has extra wide saddle stock (.250) for considerably less than LMI. I just picked up a dozen of them last week. Very nice material.

_________________
michael propsom
www.propsomguitars.com

hey michael, do you really cut your own out of dog bones?
i've saved about 5 bones, and was going to try making those saddles and nuts and inlays out of them.

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I'm interested in how this works out for you. I contacted 'Christy' about buying some bone in quantity (50-100pcs) and the price quoted was not far from Allied's single-piece price. When I asked about a better price and/or smaller quantities, I didn't get a follow-up/reply at all.

I've bought bone from an 'offshore' ebay seller and the material quality was OK, but the pieces weren't straight, so the dimensions ended up smaller by the time I'd flattened out the pieces.

For me, working with bone brings back bad memories of the dentist's office- hate the smell! So I'm not planning on sawing my own if I can avoid it...

Cheers
John

I bought a bunch of buffalo bone nut and saddle blanks from Antoniotsai on ebay a few years ago. With shipping it worked out to less than a dollar per blank. I can't tell the difference between it and bovine bone. Similar experience to John in that the blanks are rough cut, but the ones I ordered were quite a bit larger than the dimensions I require, so are easy to sand down on my belt sander or cut on my bandsaw.

Darrel was that black buffalo bone or horn you bought from antonio? horn is not bone and it is a tad softer, i bought some saddle blanks and they were way to small to use . jody

I have used this ebay seller for nuts and saddles http://stores.ebay.com/The-Luthier-Store and they are as advertised and reasonable prices

Fred

_________________
Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I've been buying from her for years now. I have found her to be a reliable source of quality nuts and saddles. I've used odd sizes for wide saddles where I needed extra space for compensation and she always seems to have what I need. I use a 1/8" router bit to achieve my normal saddle slot and the dimensions she provides are metric so I always have to sand to fit. I really haven't bought from anyone else but may look around now that others have listed alternate sources.

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I have some as well. Minimum .25 wide, .4 high and 3.375 long but needs to be 'flattened'. $3.00 and $2.70 for 10 or more.

Shane

_________________
Canada

shane would that be bleached or unbleached? thanks Jody

I bought some materials from Antonio Tsai guy on ebay, the quality is pretty good, can't really tell the difference between it and real cow bones. The blanks are sometimes in a very rough condition but I buy oversized pieces so that I can cut it down if necessary. Just don't buy exact sizes as you can't enlarge a piece but you can always make them smaller. I bought some 1/4" blanks that are only 2" long. It should still provide enough for most guitars but I can't really think of any guitar out there with a nut width over 2", unless you're making a guitar for Goliath.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Bone, not horn Jody, although he certainly sells plently of horn for other purposes.

Hi Jody, it's bleached. and of course I have the "standard" size nut and saddle blanks as well.

Thanks

Shane

_________________
Canada

that was my weekend job!

I have bought some saddles and nuts from a luthier supplier on ebay, too, and what I got looked really good, but when I started cutting and shaping I found out it had been severely damaged by bleaching, most likely with chlorine bleach, which will turn bone chalky and soft. Most of what I bought is trash. I have been buying unbleached from LMII and bleaching it myself to the level I like with Hydrogen Peroxide, which will not do nearly as much damage as chlorine bleach.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I don't know who you got it from, but the ones I got from Antonio Tsai has none of the problem you described. It smells, cuts, and feels like bone. I doubt it was bleached with Chlorine bleach because it would have smelled like it.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

http://www.luthierssupplies.co.uk/

David Dyke in the UK has bone saddles, maybe worth a call

John