Oahu squareneck tone question

[Scott Wagner]

I recently bought a beat up old Oahu squareneck to play when I don't want to plug in. The guy I bought it from had a luthier install a tall nut and fix some cracks, so it's structurally okay. The original bridge was replaced (a long time ago, it looks like) with a wood bridge with a very thin brass saddle slotted into it. The tone of the guitar sounds kind of harsh and jangly - could this be partly a result of the brass saddle, or is that just the way these guitars sound? I could replace the brass with bone but would have to make a new slot in the bridge, and I'm reluctant to take that step if there is no likelihood of improvement. Any of you Oahu owners care to comment? I would greatly appreciate your input. Thank you!

[D Schubert]

I've had two -- old student model guitar, metal bridge, Grover extension nut over ebonized wood, mended cracks -- and that's a pretty good description of how they sound. Okay for practice, not a great "jam session" sound. I kept one, sounds a lot better with Fishman Rare Earth Humbucker pickup & plugged in.

[Stanislav Paskalev]

You can try jamming in a piece of wood (e.g. a cylindrical dowel or even a bamboo chopstick) between the bronze saddle and the strings as a test before making a permanent replacement.

[Andy Volk]

I've heard high-end Oahu "teacher" models that both look very good and sound fine acoustically. I bought a 30s Oahu student model this Summer with an integrated plastic, bolt-on bridge. Its acoustic sound is surprisingly loud, with a 10-12 second sustain. The "naked" tone is a tad harsh with a strong fundamental and not a lot of harmonics. I've had an LR Bags M-1 PU for years and always worried about damage taking it in and out of my high-end Weissenborns so I had it permanently installed in the Oahu and now, through my Fender Super champ, it sounds great with addition of a bit of reverb, vibrato, etc.

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[D Schubert]

Andy, my Oahu guitar looks a lot like yours (including the cracks) but I'm pretty sure that my pyramid bridge is metal. Some of the black finish is scraped away and that's what's underneath. A magnet won't stick to it, so I'm assuming it's a cast aluminum. Different year of manufacture? Other?

[Glenn Wilde]

Most of the student Oahus I've had had the aluminum one piece bridge, and had that quiet compressed sound, they made much better electrics. Oahu sourced those from a few different builders, Harmony, Regal, Kay and Oscar Schmidt are the usual suspects, the one I have now is a Regal most likely and has a traditional wood, pin bridge, it's the best sounding one I've had.
The better made mahogany models are worlds apart though, they are professional instruments.

[Scott Wagner]

Thanks so much for your replies. I love this forum - I am amazed at the level of experience and the sharing spirit that manifest here. Such a wonderful resource and tribe of steelers, a real boost to my learning journey. Thanks to all of you!
I decided to go ahead and replace the brass "saddle" (more like fret wire) since it created a concave in the string level. I made a new slot in the wood bridge and inserted a downsized bone saddle. I think it does tame some of the harshness and add body to the sound (unless I am just wanting it to be so, since I made the effort.) It's not a huge difference, but I'm glad I did it.