New FerraGlides

[guitarguy3]

OK as a moderate hack, I break some strings. I tried string saver saddles on my strat and have YET to break a string on that puppy. Now my 2 andersons with the factory saddles we pretty good on string breakage, but still severed many an e to d string.I was pretty happy when graphtech introduced the new color ferraglides to match the hardware color on the guitar. I ordered them up and stuck them on my HTC and my DT Andys. I am happy to report that the tone is a marvelous as ever. The strings (?)
themselves seem relieved and I for one enjoyed an full night gig with rapt abandon with no incidents. The string ramp is a little different than the old ones but I would consider this a worthwhile addition to any guitar. I use 10-46 generally. Just my 2 cents
Thanks

[tom]

which ones did you get? on theoreticals alone the older style( the one we are using)looks better to me as the string does not touch the metal part of the slot. we have tried the newer style where the string does touch the metal, and while the string ramp does not "look" as cool, they seemed to work nicely. i'd love to hear a report after you've had these for a few weeks or months. at least finally we have a good sounding alternative.

[John Price]

Hey Tom! I have a ferraglide equipped TAG and I've been gigging for the last 5-6 weeks with them and have to say so far not 1 string breakage incident! usually I would break the D string after a week with the older saddles and the ocasional high E! (Keep you posted) I would also change the strings weekly before gigs but I've been a little lazy over the last few weeks so that has been a plus in the results! As far as the tone I'm getting use to them! not quite sure if it's just the combination of the woods on this new guitar or the saddles themselves! What I'm hearing is very different but pleasing. The high E & B sound a little brighter and glassier than any other Anderson guitar I've previously owned but that's not saying it's a bad thing! So far I'm really digging the ferraglide saddles!

[guitarguy3]

So, I put the new gold Ferraglides on my 2 Andys. I put a set of the orignal brushed chrome style on my other guitar, the one with that guys 3 initials on it. It has a trem and locking tuners, so I wanted to see how, or if, it improved the trem tuning. Strings feel slightly silkier with the ferraglides. A 10 to 46 feels like a 9.5 set(maybe 9.75?). No strings have broken yet. I detect a bit of natural compression with both types of saddles, as if you can lay into the string a little harder and the saddle adds a bit of natural compression. Tone wise, the guitar with the initials sounds better with the new saddles, especially acoustically. On the Andys the new type of string ramp has other effects. On both the DT and my HTC the strings lays against the metal as they come up out the string block. There might be some transfer directly metal to metal as the string curves around the new syle before it rests on the graphtech insert. However it occurs the glassy top end on both guitars is nicely intact. There maybe some who notice a more dramatic difference, however for me the fundamental sound (including the enhanced Anderson bandwidth, as Roy would say) of both guitars is intact with the added benifit of slight compression and the ability to forget about string breakage and enjoy the ride. For me the addition has taken guitars I love and made the experience just that much better. I got the Buzz tuning pretty close using the Korg tuner, but will fine tune it every time I put some new strings on for the next several months.
Cheers