Tokai TEA-80S compensated saddle

[drewscott007]

Greetings forum members: I just purchased a used Tokai TEA-80S acoustic/electric guitar from online auction. The owner had dismounted the strings for storage and I noticed that the saddle is missing. Acoustic guitar saddles are no big mystery so I didnt think too much about it....I went on Youtube to see if I could find anyone with the same model so I could get a sense of how the guitar sounds. I didnt find the TEA-80S....only the TEA-80D. The difference is the S model is the shallow depth and the D is the Deeper depth....the thickness of the guitar. Again no issue the guitar 80D sounded great. But I noticed that the Saddle was of the compensated type and that basically means each string slot has been bent forward or backward to take up slack...while this may not be an issue I havent been able to find a saddle just like it.....all of the original Tokai TEA guitars have this precisely cut Saddle.....I have seen some online that have a few bends but not all 6 the way the TEA guitars have....I guess I'm curious if anyone here has had to replace the Original Equipment bridge on their Tokai TEA and if there is any difference....I tend to think if you get a guitar and the original equipment is superior to its competition then you stick with the original equipment if possible. The trouble is this guitar is now close to 50 years old and one of the distinctions it has 27 frets (VERY COOL)....for an acoustic guitar I have never seen that and is mainly why I wanted it.....likewise I am concerned that the compensated saddle should probably be the OEM bridge if available. Does anyone know where I can find the OEM bridge for this guitar? Please and Thank you.

 

[Sigmania]

When you say replace the bridge, do you mean saddle? I don't know why you would want to replace the bridge just to put a compensated saddle in there.

Here is the 1983 catalog from when these were introduced.

 

[Sigmania]

Another one here with a missing saddle.

1982 TEA-80S

 

[Sigmania]

Here is a 12 string that still has the compensated saddle.

TEA 12 String "Advent of 21st Century"

 

[Sigmania]

1985/86 catalog

 

[Sigmania]

1983

TEA 12 String "Advent of 21st Century"

 

[Sigmania]

TOKAI トーカイ エレアコ TEA-80D 尾崎 豊「中古」の落札価格｜トーカイ｜Yahoo!オークション(旧ヤフオク!) 落札相場- オークファン（aucfan.com）

 

[Sigmania]

1983

Tokai TEA-60D トーカイ エレアコ カッタウェイ... - Yahoo!オークション

 

[drewscott007]

When you say replace the bridge, do you mean saddle? I don't know why you would want to replace the bridge just to put a compensated saddle in there.

Here is the 1983 catalog from when these were introduced.

View attachment 42917

 

[drewscott007]

Yes it is the saddle and thank you for posting....it looks like others also posted some close up photos...I was able to source a fully compensated saddle. I learned in the process that the reason they use a compensated saddle is due to the amount of upper frets....apparently if you have a regular acoustic guitar that has roughly 15 useable frets or so.....its not an issue....use any saddle you wish. But once you begin to extend the amount of frets into the realm of 26 or 27 the compensated saddle improves the playability by correctly setting each strings intonation.