Strat saddles with string grooves vs conventional flat topped saddles

jaymenon

What are the pros / cons of each...?

Seems to me that the saddle with a groove in it will not allow the string to move sideways during string bending, and so will stay in tune better...

Expert / first hand experience opinions please...?

[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/2L9kOjI.jpg)

[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/fo8Jjy4.jpg)

ICBM

The strings don’t move on the flat saddles anyway. There's enough downward force caused by the sharp break angle to lock them in place, even if they haven’t already created a slight groove from the pressure.

DLM

@ICBM In Wrong For Once Shocker!

This isn't the case. I had a cheap-but-decent Yamaha RGX series that drove me potty with the unwound strings sliding all over the saddles. I'm a big bender, and the strings would slip right up to the allen grub screws for the height adjustment and get stuck there, leaving the intonation out of whack when the bend was released. OK, so these weren't exactly top quality parts, but then neither are a lot of those used by the makers and modders here.

But at least the bent saddles on the RGX were made of better material than the moulded ones on the Pacifica 120S I replaced it with: the alloy used is so pathetically soft, the strings have eaten deep grooves into the saddles leaving me no choice but to replace them. 

Alvin

From my experience @ICBM is right as usual .  I have saddles with the grooves and plain saddles and it doesn't make any difference .  In fact i would say it could be an advantage if you have plain saddles as you then have a some adjustment to where you want the string to sit .   

  If you can move the string on the saddles then you must either have terminator hands or are tuning ridiculously low .

normula1

I've seen movement when the strings don't exit the baseplate in a straight line to the saddle. I know it's heresy but I much prefer saddles like the Gotoh S102 than the traditional type. If nothing else I prefer the feel on the edge of my hand.

DLM

@Alvin ; I don't think my paws are that strong, this was 9–42 in standard concert with the bridge blocked.

ICBM

I can only say that I’ve never had that happen, ever. And I’ve played a lot of Strats with a lot of string gauges. I always bend fairly hard because it’s one of the checks (for choking) you need to do in a set-up.

normula1

Backtracking a touch, I've not seen specific movement on an individual string bend, but definately a drift over time.