Can you get a D1A built with a bone nut and saddle? Can you hear the difference? Do you recommend it?

I may well be wrong, but I thought they came with a bone nut and saddle ?

quote:

Originally posted by Van Zant:
Can you get a D1A built with a bone nut and saddle? Can you hear the difference? Do you recommend it?

Rick,
The salesman said it was a composite. Since I'm going to order one I didn't look that closely, but I'll check it out. Thanks.

Call or e mail Alex at Collings. He'll tell you for sure, but I have never heard of a Collings with a composite nut or saddle. The replacement blanks I have bought from them were bone. That I know for fact.

Collings guitars definetly come with Bone nut and saddle.

Thanks everyone.

Huh. I thought the nut was Corian. Can't find mention on their Web site...

Corian?
That would be the M** company

Bone. Corian is for counter tops and plastic guitars. bone.

Collings saddles – are bone. Ivory may be a bit smoother(?) Fossilized ivory of some kind may be a bit different but they all change with time and usage. It's another endless topic of who-hears-what. Saddle material can influence the overall sound a little but it will not turn a bad guitar into a good one. Or vice versa...

The saddle is possibly the biggest difference maker along the tone path. Next would be the nut and then the bridge pins.
If you switched all three at the same time to say, fossil Ivory, You would definetly hear the difference, and if i'm not wrong, the sound would be crystal like.

Just to throw in my .02, yes Collings come with bone nut/saddle.

And, I will say that some years back before I found Collings guitars, I owned a number of Martin guitars. Even their high-end stuff at that time came with Corian nut and saddle material. Terrible! I used to have to pay a luthier to replace with bone, which made a HUGE difference in tone, sustain, and even volume.

It appears that Martin now uses bone on many of its higher end models and synthetic material for others - which is still better than lousy plastic.