How to Find Guitar Saddles via Yamaha's Parts Site
Yamaha’s musical instrument parts site provides a good deal of information for factory saddles, including part number, material, and dimensions. This can be particularly useful when trying to determine the original factory saddle for vintage instruments.
However, this information must be taken with a grain of salt because oftentimes the saddle listed for your guitar may be the available replacement part that Yamaha would currently advise for your model, rather than the exact size or material your specific guitar came from the factory with. You may need a saddle with different dimensions.
Additionally, every guitar is slightly different and factory technicians adjust saddle size, particularly thickness and bass to treble height difference. Although the factory might set the twelfth fret action at a specified height, this can be achieved through a combination of adjusting the neck relief, nut slot height, or saddle height, resulting in different saddle sizes for different guitars, even from the factory.
As such, while Yamaha’s parts site is helpful, ultimately you will need to remove your current saddle and do a number of measurements. Nevertheless, let’s review what information can be found via the parts site.
First, visit this link: Yamaha’s parts page.
You will see options for searching for parts. We advise that you put your guitar model into the Model Name section, then click on the red Search button, as in the below screenshot.
This will bring up any models with that search, along with production years, as in the below screenshot.
Click on your model and year. You will then see an image along with a number of parts. Scroll through to find the saddle information, which often includes, part number, material, and dimensions.
However, you may find multiple saddle listings. For example, with the above FG340 search, two saddles are listed.
Let’s review what this information means.
The first column on the left contains the corresponding number on the diagram showing what the part is.
The second column lists the part number. Underneath you will see a number with the following characters: 年発売. These characters identify the year part was first released. So, in the above example, the two different parts were first released in 1972 and 1999, respectively.
The third column lists the part name, material, color, specs, and other information. Let’s review what the first example above tells us.
BRIDGE SADDLE IVORY 84X3X10 ==>U9337910
‘BRIDGE SADDLE’ obviously refers to the part name. It’s not definte whether ‘IVORY’ refers to material or color, but in this particular instance, apparently refers to material. The ‘84X3X10’ refers to length, thickness, maximum height in millimeters. The ==>U9337910 directs the reader to a different part number since the part number is no longer available. Part U9337910 provides the below information:
BRIDGE SADDLE (COW-BONE) 84X3X10
And so this would be an alternative part in cow bone with the same dimensions.
The fourth column provides the number of pieces included, in this case, one saddle.
The fifth column, titled ‘Accept order or not,’ lets us know whether or not that part number can be ordered from Yamaha or not. If ‘Order Stop’ is listed, as with the above example, then the part number is not available. You might also see ‘Order,’ which means one can order the part number, although you must be a Yamaha dealer to order via this site. You might also see ‘Detail’ in this column, which will bring up more information on the part number.
Now that you have the part number needed, you can try to locate one. The first place to start is the yamaha24x7.com site, where you can click on the US Consumers tab, then create an account. You can then search for the part number, but note that on this site, Yamaha will only show that part if it’s currently available to order. Information on discontinued or unavailable parts doesnot appear in the yamaha24x7.com site. If this site does not list your part for purchase from Yamaha, try searching on ebay.com or reverb.com.
Still wondering what saddle size your Yamaha needs? Please see our article on How to Find the Right Saddle for Your Yamaha Guitar, or contact us with the below details.
• Guitar Year, Model, Saddle Radius
• Current Saddle Length, Height, Thickness, Bass to Treble Edge Height Difference – Must be measured with a caliper
• Guitar Saddle Slot Length, Thickness (if different from saddle specs) – Must be measured with a caliper
• Current Saddle Compensation Pattern (please send a picture if you are not sure what type you have)
• String Spacing at the Bridge
We reply to all messages within 48 hours