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Frisell on the Mastery Bridge


GuitarSlim101

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imbuedblue wrote:

 

 

Thanks for that. Bill's playing is always beautiful. And it's nice to see him playing a Jaguar again. I didn't like the Mastery Bridge on my Jaguar, but if I ever get a Telecaster, I'll definitely try one on it.

 

What did you dislike about it on the Jag?

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That was weird. I guess it was a Zen thing though. I felt like I was playing a different guitar throughout the year I had a Mastery.

 

I always thought the stock bridge worked fine with heavy flatwounds, but quickly changed it for a Mustang when I switched to rounds. My only complaint with the Mustang bridge was that it would fall over time due to all of the vibrations inherent in the Jaguar's design. The Mastery didn't fix that issue, IME.

 

The Mastery did, however, change the feel of the guitar, and consequently my relationship with it. It increased the string tension, which tightened up the feel and gave the guitar more sustain. The shape of the saddles allowed for wider string bends, where both the stock and Mustang bridges choked out. The fixed bridge aspect changed the feel of the vibrato arm. And, the guitar lost its somewhat spongy attack, which I liked for certain things. Basically, it took away a lot of the limitations that I really counted on stylistically. And it did this without fixing the problem of having to readjust the bridge height every month or so.

 

FWIW, I've been playing a Johnny Marr Jaguar for a year now and have not had to make a single adjustment.

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The main functional difference between the Mastery and the stock or mustang bridges is that it doesn't rock to and fro with the movement of the strings when using the vibrato.  It's fixed in place, whereas the other bridges have poles smaller than the holes they sit in so they actually move with the strings rather than having them slide across the saddles.  This means that the Mastery gives the vibrato action a much stiffer feel.

If you're one of those heretics who hardly uses the JM/Jag vibrato mechanism then the Mastery is a great idea.  More sustain, less string slippage.  If you want to keep the nice, spongey vibrato action then these guys make a mustang style bridge with a fixed radius (no height adjustment screws to come loose) and have plastic bushings around the main height adjustment screws to stop them from coming loose.

http://staytrem.com/ (Their website is down at the moment.  Should be back soon.)

 

Staytrem bridge

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  • 2 months later...

percyexpat wrote:

The main functional difference between the Mastery and the stock or mustang bridges is that it doesn't rock to and fro with the movement of the strings when using the vibrato.  It's fixed in place, whereas the other bridges have poles smaller than the holes they sit in so they actually move with the strings rather than having them slide across the saddles.  This means that the Mastery gives the vibrato action a much stiffer feel.

If you're one of those heretics who hardly uses the JM/Jag vibrato mechanism then the Mastery is a great idea.  More sustain, less string slippage.  If you want to keep the nice, spongey vibrato action then these guys make a mustang style bridge with a fixed radius (no height adjustment screws to come loose) and have plastic bushings around the main height adjustment screws to stop them from coming loose.

(Their website is down at the moment.  Should be back soon.)

 

Staytrem bridge


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That looks like a well thought out Mustang style bridge. It's cool that it's available for both 9.5" and 7.25" radius.

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percyexpat wrote:

Staytrem bridge

 

Those bushings on the intonation screws are absent from the bridge of my Johnny Marr Jaguar. Is that something they came up with recently? The intonation screw on my high E string vibrated loose shortly after I got the guitar a year ago, but hasn't been a problem since.

I did notice that the Staytrem tremolo collet is a slightly different design than came with the Johnny Marr Jaguar. It's the same concept but the execution is different.

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