Bendmaster Dlx saddles

Hi all,

Yep another new member, another trem question.

Bought just over a year ago a Concord bass to mess about on, and been impressed so when a Spectrum 6 string came upon eBay I succumbed. Took the risk on a bit of a battered guitar, but is actually in better nick than I feared.

Anyway, the question is are the saddles supposed to spin? Not vital either way as a bit of oil will do the job. There's a lot if gunk I've cleared away but can't tell if I need to keep going or not.

Can anyone help?

Cheers,

Dan

Hi there, Dan - welcome to the wholly infuriating world of the Bendmaster Deluxe! I asked the same question many years ago on another forum and was told that they should but having taken quite a few saddles to bits now, I'm not convinced; I think having a nice round saddle for the string to wobble over is enough - having it rotate would perhaps be overkill. The fit of said saddles in the housing is extremely tight and on one set that I pulled to bits, I polished the saddles and the inside of the housing and they were still much too tight to rotate so I actually very lightly ground the saddles - with cutting compound, not a grinder!! - and still no turning so I'll assume that they aren't actually designed to rotate but I could be wrong!

They aren't all that hard to get to bits if you wanna try it; the saddle is held in by a very small rollpin which you need to drift out. I designed and built a wee jig which held the housing solidly and allowed the pin to move out and drop. You also need to buy or make a very thin needle punch to drift it!!

Be aware, too, that all of the saddles are at differing heights to allow for the fretboard radius; mark 'em as you take them off!!

http://forum.westoneguitars.net/technical-f3/bendmaster-deluxe-t553.htm#4461

Now, what sort of Spectrum and Concord, do you have and are you gonna share pix with us in here?!

Totally agree with John. Every Bendmaster I had to bits for routine maintenance (not often I hasten to add) had fixed rollers. Works for me !

Steve

That's fantastic - cheers for the replies. I'll not scrub any more with my wire wool if that is how it is meant to be. And ta for the link - I'd picked up that tip from the forum and marked each with a marker pen, which was a bit of golden advice.

You want to see them? I'll get some pics and post later once I've restrung the Spectrum.


Cheers again!


Dan

danh wrote:You want to see them?

well, yeah!!! That's what we live for here!!

OK, here's what we're on about...



...I found that to drive the tiny wee pins out, I needed to make a custom-fitted saddle shaped jig to support it as you flail away with a hammer. I made mine from a bit of scrap hardwood I had lying about by placing the saddle on the wood, drawing around it and then judicious use of a drill and a Stanley knife was able to make something that wasn't terrifically pretty but worked! You have to remember to drill a deeper hole where the pin is going to drive out...

easy peasy..

Think I've decided to let them stay as they are!

Seems to work ok as is.

Will have to get some pics up of my two. Won't have time for a week or so unfortunately. Bear with me...