Official Luthiers Forum!

Just a note to let you all know that I had a wonderful visit over at Bob Colosi's place today. He is the guy that owns http://www.guitarsaddles.com/




He was gracious enough to show me around his collection of fossilized walrus, elephant ivory, bone, and what have you for saddles, nuts, and bridge pins. I will definitely be doing business with him in the near future. You wouldnt believe how pretty this stuff is!

We also discussed doing a group purchase for forum members. He is looking forward to seeing what we have offer and has also stated that he will pay us a visit on the forum. If you are interested in being part of a group purchase of some of his wares, please let me know. He is only about 45 minutes from me and I can easily pick it up.

He also said that he has special pricing available for luthiers. When you call or e-mail him, let him know that you are a luthier and you will be given some special unadvertised pricing.

Great fellow to know and I had the most enjoyable visit!

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Reguards,

Ken H

Ken....how do you find these people...first the german speaking dude that has figured out how to take notes out of chords and move em around....now this guy?....count me in....

I can tell by the smile on your face you are lovin it.

Hey don't forget about tomorrow....

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

I've purchased bone saddles from Bob and the quality was excellent, plus he is a stand up guy. The Martin saddle required hardly a touch on the sanding pad to fit. I'll be very tempted by this for some FWI.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

Bob and his saddles and nuts came up in a discussion about a year ago, but I just havent had the time to go visit him until now. I felt like I had known him all of my life as we have a lot in common besides our love for good music and guitars. I was blown away at the beauty of some of the stuff he has in stock. The picture was taken out in his garage where he keeps the belt sanders and grinders for making the custom reproductions for guitars world wide. I am looking forward to him coming over here to my shop for a visit soon also.

He is just one of those guys that you really want to have as a friend, not because of his business and what he supplies, but because he is just an outstanding person and so friendly. I wish I had gone over to meet him years ago.

I wont forget obout our meeting tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing your shop and seeing what you did with the top and rosette.

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Reguards,

Ken H

I have worked with Bob a couple times now and his product and prices are tremendous. He has become my primary source for nut/saddle/pin material.

Hi, I never got a chance to meet Bob Colosi but I heard about him a lot from my friends and colleagues, Some of them do visit his shop and they mentioned the place as mecca for guitar lovers, I had bone saddle installed from guitarsadddles.com on my Fender guitar and on my Martin guitar I use the services of https://macnichol.com/ they also very helpful and genuine guys.

So he has elephant ivory nuts and saddles? Where does he get them? Or he had it since the 1800s?

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Hi Tai,
In the U.S. interstate trade in elephant ivory is banned, as I understand it, but some states allow trade within their borders of existing stocks of elephant ivory. Other types of ivory are not as strictly regulated so Mammoth, fossil walrus, warthog, and hippo ivory may still be available for some interstate trade. If I needed ivory for nuts and saddles I would buy warthog ivory. Although the tusks are somewhat small and curvy you can get a couple of nuts or saddles out of the right piece and it is very hard, white, and takes a nice polish. Warthogs are hunted for food in their native habitat and a few can be found in south Texas (where they don't belong) and they are not endangered and have a high reproduction rate.
https://www.chron.com/sports/outdoors/a ... 671689.php

legal ivory source:
https://www.boonetrading.com/collections/raw-materials

So you know how pigs grow the big tusk after it gets older? Do people make nuts and saddles out of those?

If people can figure out how to grow meat in a lab why not grow ivory in a lab? All ecologists want to talk about is restricting trade in things from endangered animals but the fact is, the more you restrict something, the more people are going to want it. That's why elephants get killed for their tusk, because it's restricted so poachers make a lot of money selling it through the black market. It's the same reason why drugs are being traded even though they are illegal.

But a little off topic. I never seen elephant ivory outside of museums. I have no idea how it compares to cow bone, but for me cow bone is pretty good, and they are almost free and they're standard for most guitars. I don't know how elephant ivory compares and chances are, I will never see them outside of a museum in my lifetime.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Tai, notice that most of the dates of this thread are 2008. I don't think there was such a strong ban back then. I doubt if it is offered now.

Visiting the website there is still a listing for elephant ivory, but for "in state" (Georgia) sales only. Fossil Walrus is priced at $140-180 for a set of bridge pins, and I can't think that elephant ivory would be any cheaper.
From the standpoint of utility good bone is equal if not slightly better than many of the ivories (in my experience). But ivory polishes up better and looks a little nicer - it doesn't have the visible pores bone has.
Elephant ivory is a nice material, but is not worth killing an elephant over. Another point against E.I. is it can make the item hard to sell. What I've used for personal items are key tops from old pianos and the odd piece of salvage from broken articles made from elephant ivory. I did buy a couple of warthog tusks and resaw them, and I think it is a better quality for our purposes than E.I..If someone wanted to turn small items, like bridge pins then wild boar might be a good source of ivory.
But some years back I bought a short length of cracked up Mammoth tusk that has given me a life time supply of nuts and saddles, and although it is not as hard as bone it is hard enough, and has some interesting colors. And for some instruments I still use plastic.