Official Luthiers Forum!

A friend of mine has an old Yairi Alvarez. It's a pretty nice guitar. I think he played it once about 10 - 15 years ago, but he certainly hasn't changed the strings in this millennium. :-) Anyway, he asked me to clean it up for him. There's nothing wrong with the guitar and the action is excellent so I've simply cleaned a little crud off the fingerboard and put a shine to the frets.

The only weird thing is that the saddle is a light brown color. At first I thought it was wood, but upon closer inspection it appears to be bone that has yellowed where it has been exposed to air--as though by cigarette smoke or something. My buddy is not a smoker, so I have no idea what's going on there.

I've tried cleaning the saddle by gently rubbing it with a damp cloth, used a little soapy water, and even some steel wool. It's a tad lighter, but not much. I'd like to just make him a new saddle, but the guitar has built-in electronics and the current saddle is attached to a pickup. I've never worked with one of these before. My question is, how would one go about cleaning or replacing something like this? (See pic below.) Is the saddle glued to the pickup? I can't really tell what's going on and would hate to mess it up. Maybe I should just leave well enough alone?

Thanks,
George :-)

You can probably get a saddle like that from LR Baggs, but really, people pay extra for 'antique' nuts and saddles. I don't see that as a problem.

If the saddle is physically ok(not soft, chipping, too low, etc.) and the electronics work, I'd leave it. It's a non-issue, IMHO. A lot of people pay good money to have saddles or nuts installed made from unbleached or fossilized bone, which is also a creamy/tan color. Replacing it just because it is discolored to me seems like a lot of work and money to replace the saddle/pickup, for minimal gain. MHO. If a customer brought me that guitar, that's what I'd tell him.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Cool. I'll just leave it alone. I've seen a few worn and yellowed vintage saddles... and now mocha. You learn something new every day.

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George :-)