Saddle Color

[deepermagic]

Hi all. This might just be a dumb question, and really it's more for my curiosity than anything, but I was wondering if there is any reason why some Taylor saddles (tusq, not bone) are white and some are a yellowish brown, like an aged parchment.

I only noticed this after my cousin purchased his Taylor. His saddle (314) is white and mine (316) is closer to the aged parchment color.

Now that I've noticed it, I appreciate the aesthetic quality that it brings to my guitar. But it did cause me to wonder what the rhyme or reason one guitar gets white and the other a darker shade of white (or aged parchment as i've been calling it)? I know that there are different materials for saddles, but this was the same series. And my internet searches haven't really turned up anything. Any thoughts?

[ntotoro]

Only thing I can think is that tusq is essentially just a really hard plastic and all plastics will get a "patina" over time.

Nick

[DennisG]

Some of the things that can affect saddle color are air quality, exposure to sun, presence of animals, dirt, and cigarette smoke.  Or the saddle just might decide on its own to change colors.  They get bored easily.

[espgnlo]

Actually Magic the nut on my DN3 got the same way with the same darker color. I asked a Taylor rep at a Road Show about it. He said it was no big deal and that some just turn that color. My DN3 is a 2007 and I haven't noticed any change in sound quality...except the guitar sounds better every year. Enjoy that darker color...I do!

[deepermagic]

a "patina" over time.

Some of the things that can affect saddle color are air quality, exposure to sun, presence of animals, dirt, and cigarette smoke.  Or the saddle just might decide on its own to change colors.  They get bored easily.

I did some looking around and I don't think I'm buying the color change line of thought. On this guitar parts resource website they have a bunch of saddles for sale and they have pictures of exactly what I'm talking about.
Both of these are Tusq saddles. The descriptions (unfortunately) indicate nothing about the color, but here they are:

White Saddle


"Parchment" Saddle (this is basically the color of my saddle. mine is slightly lighter)


It appears you can purchase the saddle in either color straight up?

Perhaps the tusq saddle/nut turns color over time before they are installed on the guitars. If that is the case, I wonder what goes into the building process at Taylor when it comes to installing. Surely it makes (however minor) a visual impact and is considered (again, however minor) right? I guess I'm just curious about how/why they make those decisions.

[deepermagic]

I just remembered I had this picture for comparison! The quality of the picture isn't the greatest but you can really see the contrast between the colors of the saddle

The white saddle on my Epiphone EJ-160 John Lennon "signature" compared to the parchment saddle on my Taylor

[john ramey]

 well you can soak yu pins & saddle in tea for a few hours or up. they turn a wonderful brownish shade. almost looks like fossilized walrus. you know....like my sister

[tb]

Walrus or Eggman choose your color!

[michaelw]

as far as i know, Tusq is available in ivory white, black &
XL (aged), but i don't see any XL acoustic saddles listed
http://www.graphtech.com/products/brands

the website that has the darker color saddle
http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/saddles_acoustic.htm

shows the same part #, with no coloration options
http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/images/large/PQ-9280-C0.jpg

as the part # on graphtech's site (PQ-9280-C0)
http://www.graphtech.com/products/brands/tusq/product-detail/pq-9280-c0-tusq-acoustic-saddle-compensated?id=8430fb4a-c971-432d-b894-d81ae3eca131

porous material, such as bone, can be dyed with tea or coffee, but
with a synthetic material, some kind of stain might be necessary -
the darkened Tusq pieces i've seen were usually on guitars that had seen a
good amount of playing out(side) & had some age on them (10 to 15 years)

perhaps, just exposing a new saddle to UV light might do the trick
http://www.tmart.com/21-LED-UV-Ultraviolet-Flashlight-Lamp-Torch--3-AAA-_p124067.html?fixed_price=us_us&utm_source=base&utm_medium=organic&utm_term=T00449&utm_campaign=product&gclid=CNHwl8GLqr8CFTJo7AodHCwAPg

[deepermagic]

Now that I've learned probably way more information than I'll ever need to know about saddle color...

It would still be interesting to pick the brain of the folks who put the guitar together. Having no information to go on except for my imagination, I would think there must be a box of tusq saddles ready for assembly at Taylor and I assume the colors are separated. I just wonder what makes the luthier say 'yes' to the parchment colored saddle. But that said, it could just be that someone just grabbed one out of my imagined box on the line without a second thought...