Martin, a frequent visitor of this page, contacted me with a simple and effective fix for moving bridge screw issues.
Exploring the Mastery Bridge
With the support of Deimel Guitarworks, Berlin, Germany* I finally got hold of a Mastery Bridge, which arrived by mail today.
Since the packaging was as interesting as it was surprising, I thought I might as well start a little documentation of my usage of the bridge and if there is a difference compared to the stock-bridge (well, not really stock, I added a mustang-saddle years ago on the low e-string) on my trusty and very well set up workhorse Jazzmaster.
Updates
Please be sure to read the updates below.
The Arrival
After opening the box and removing several layers of shredded paper, a not-so-tiny metallic cylinder surfaced, along with a piece of paper with installing instructions and a list of what to expect inside the tube:
- 1 Mastery Bridge
- 1 .050″ allen wrench (small)
- 1 5/64″ allen wrench (medium)
- 1 3/32″ allen wrench (large)
While I will never get used to the inch-based system of measurement, the small, medium, large I’ll understand, thank you very much :-)
Ok, let’s open the tube. More stuffy stuff – some brown, tobacco-like material and hidden somewhere inside a little cotton sack. On the sack there’s are a stamped Mastery-logo, a handwritten date and a two letter handwritten sign.
And finally, inside the sack: the holy grail of Jaguar/Jazzmaster-style bridges, or at least supposedly according to the hype around it. It is very well presented, I must admit. Oh, and the allen wrenches are there, as well. Good.
The bridge feels very solid, heavy, no-bullshit-like. The screws and springs and moving parts are very well fit and the finish looks also top-notch. It breathes craftsmanship. First impression: well done!
Can’t wait to put this thing on my trusted old Jazzmaster, which up to now is fitted with it’s original bridge, with a mustang saddle at the low-e-string position and had only minor rattling/moving issues in the last 15 years of playing.
Update 1 – March 9th 2012
The Assembly
Hi again and sorry for the delay, it has been some busy weeks since the first round here.
What has happened in between in regard to my Mastery Bridge Adventure?
Well, I’ve had several rehearsals with the bridge and a gig.
The bridge really added more sustain to my old Jazzmaster, an yes, it is recognizable even with the guitar played dry, not plugged in.
Due to the fixed string-spacing, the guitar “feels” a bit foreign to me (see update below*). I used to have a rather spread-out spacing with the original bridge, esp. the high-e-string was really near the fretboard’s edge, so that it was centered with the neck pickup’s polepiece.
Now the spacing is a tad bit narrower, and it took me a while to get used to that.
As you can tell from the pictures, there’s nothing wrong with the new spacing, in fact it may be closer to what it was meant to be in the first place, but it is different to “my” old spacing. Maybe due to the different distance to the treble-pole-piece, maybe due to the increased sustain, maybe due to the combination of both, the guitar sounds different, especially on the neck pick-up. It’s really subtle, but it has a different “voice”. Again, not bad or wrong, just slightly different to the way the strings did run on my bridge.
Update:
*) Let me get this straight: The spacing on the Mastery Bridge is not “thinner” or “wider” than the stock bridge’s spacing.
The strings are perfectly aligned with the polepieces of both pickups, a result of the thorough research and prototyping with lots of different original bridges.
The gooved barrels of the original bridge allow for a very individual, even “wrong”, spacing. In fact, if you have a certain combination of bridge- and saddle-height, chances are that you cannot have the “correct” string position on the original bridge, because the intonation-screw will contact with the string exactly in this position – causing buzz or making it unplayable in that position. That was the case with my setup. I had to set the hight e string very near to the fretboard’s edge and since I had installed a mustang saddle at the low e position, I had to position the rest of the strings evenly between these two positions, resulting in a spacing that was different to what may be expected as “normal” (and sitting slightly off-set to the pu’s polepieces).
/Update
The montage was really easy, the setup instructions are easy to follow and with a little bit of knowledge of the principles involved and the “feel” in the fingertips it’s easy to get the right setting (back) after swapping to the Mastery Bridge (*please see the update below, with the help of John W/Mastery Bridge I was able to get more out of the bridge. My first attempt, to recreate the settings and the position of my stock bridge, was not optimal).
Setting the intonation is not difficult, but it takes some patience and I think it’s ok to say that as a “best practice” one should start with the center-position strings of the two saddles – since the saddles each share three strings you’ll be in setup-hell if you start with one of the outer strings – it’s intonation will be affected by the position of the other two strings. If you start with the string in the middle position, chances are better, that this position will still be ok after setting the outer strings. You need to take care that the intonation screws have some tension or pressure on them. It’s easy to set them too loose, since the pressure of the strings will hold the saddle in place and there is a mini-distance in which the screw will not pull or push the saddle, but will slightly come loose – this will result in buzz. This is nothing special to the Mastery Bridge, the same happens with Tune-O-Matic style and the stock bridge.
The Handling, The Performance
I dind’t swap the strings to fresh ones, because I wanted to hear the difference to the stock bridge.
Well, as said before, the Mastery Bridge really adds sustain, and the treble strings sound “beefier”. That is to say, played unplugged. My old Jazzmaster is a very “loud” guitar, unplugged. Even so I can hear the difference.
So I was very keen to play it together with the band and amplified. It was a bit of a mixed situation; while the guitar sounded as if the volume was dialed up a bit, I had difficulties to adjust my fingers to the narrower spacing. My band-mates didn’t hear any difference, but they are used to me getting on and off excited about my sound (some nights the amp and guitar sound incredibly good, other nights, with the same setup kind of lame…) :-).
My overall impression after two band rehearsals – yes, the bridge alters the feel and sound of the guitar. I’m not sure, if the slightly more aggression is to my liking or not. Definetly takes some time to get used to it. But I had the same “mixed” feelings after the refret some years ago. It takes some mileage to get used to the new feel.
see update below
Then I swapped to new strings, the night before the concert. I revised the setup and the intonation, not much to change. I had a slight rattle somewhere that I couldn’t locate, but it was gone after some trem-usage. With brand new strings, the acoustic sound is very impressive. The strings sound very “even” (don’t know how to put it, but I sounds very ballanced, and it’s fun to play it unplugged).
Regarding the livegig: The bridge seems to hold the tuning better than the original one. Since I don’t use the the trem too hard, I really can’t say, but swapping to dropped-D and back and having stagelights warming up the setting was no big deal, tuning-wise.
Fast-forward to the day after the gig.
As you may can tell from the pictures, the bridge had one of the saddle-screws come loose, lowering the saddle in the middle, which led to a slightly detuned guitar in the middle of a song and something which I never encountered with the stock bridge.
I guess that’s the price for having brand new equipment, the threads on the screw and the saddle may be too smooth and will set in after a while of usage. A bit of loctite will work wonders, I guess. I must admit I didn’t expect this, but with the increased pressure and all the vibrations going on, it’s the way how physics work. Well, the stock-bridge never had issues with screws come loose, but it has some 30yrs to wear in and all that rust may have helped a bit in that regard.
Conclusion
Since the manufacturing of the bridge is really solid, and the audible sustain-gain is a winner, I will continue to use the bridge, but my stock bridge is still a close follower if I won’t get used to the narrower spacing, even if this seems to be the “correct” spacing.
Years of using the “wrong” spacing are taking their toll :)
I’m not sure if the benefits over the stock bridge are worth the price. (Mind you, I am not saying that the bridge is too expensive regarding the craftsmanship and quality of build). But to be honest, everytime I grab the guitar and play I’m amazed how it sounds. Maybe the price is worth it after all :).
Or, looking at it from another angle: For the price of a stompbox (how many you’ve been through in recent years trying to get more out of your sound?) you’ll get the mechanical means to really hear what your guitar is able to deliver – for good or for bad. In my case, if the screw hadn’t come loose, I would happily recomment the bridge like totally. The changes to the sound are subtle, but noteable. And the longer I play, the more I like it.
It’s a pity that you can’t “try before buy” to see/hear if the changes are worth the investment to you, sound-liking being such a personal thing.
(Update: They offer a 30day return policy: “We are so certain that you’ll be completely satisfied with the Mastery Bridge that we back it with a 30-day unconditional money back guarantee. Try it on your guitar for a month, and if for any reason you’re not completely satisfied, simply return it for a full refund. This guarantee does not cover products that have been altered by the consumer. Products must be returned in their original packaging.”)
I think the bridge has many advantages like the increased sustain, the tuning-stability, the feel while palm-muting, the not-slipping strings, and some disadvantages (or better: compromises) like the fixed spacing and the not-so-easy intonation setup with 3 strings over one saddle, but to me the sonic improvements win.
I mostly play in standard tuning, with an occasional dropped d. I think if intonation required that the a or the b string needed to be placed ‘out of line’ with the neighbouring strings, this would not be possible. I don’t know if there are alternate tunings or string combinations out there where this would be the case. On the other hand, Sonic Youth are using these bridges, and they use alternate tunings galore. Maybe they don’t care about 100% intonation, maybe it’s not a problem. If you are using alternate tunings and a Mastery, please comment below about your experiences.
Update 2 – March 9th, 2012
The Support
One thing I did not mention before; the guys at Mastery Bridge are incredibly helpful. If you have some issues, they’ll respond with a thorough reply and assistance. This is a small business and they take it personal. Woody (the man behind the bridge, so to say) took his time to respond to the “issues” mentioned above, offering some tips and suggestions how to further improve my experience with the bridge. On thing he recommends: Unlike with the stock bridge, the Mastery Bridge should be set up with the base as close to the body as possible, and getting the height for the action with the saddle-height adjustments. I’ll try this and will update this text accordingly.
Update 3 – March 11th, 2012
The Refinement
As said before, the support of John “Woody” Woodland is amazing. Looking at the pictures I made and seeing how I set the bridge, he suggested that I lower the base as far as possible and then get the action needed by raising the saddles. This added even more sustain, just like he predicted. We discussed my setting a bit further and it seems that my Jazzmaster has an issue with the nut – to get the right intonation with the low e and a strings I had to put the saddle all the way back – this is not the regular position and I think it may be a result of me having the original bridge pushed all the way back towards the trem and maybe that was the postion when the nut was reworked after the refretting. If you have a look at the Mastery Page, you’ll see that most of the bridges there are set lower than mine and the saddles have room for forward/backward adjustment.
I have not taken off the neck yet, maybe there’s still a little shim or some paint/wood chip left that is causing an angle, so that’s why my bridge is set a bit higher than normally needed.
Regarding the “compromises” mentioned above: these are little compared to the improvements the bridge will offer. Purists may be put off because the bridge cover will not fit and I think a Jaguar with the mute-device in place may be a bit problematic (anyone tried this? please comment below).
Regarding playability and sound the bridge is definitly an improvment to all the solutions I came across so far (Mustang saddles, taped bridge stems, adding a shim, Tune-O-Matic bridge, buzzstop device).
Update May, 14th: The long run
The bridge is now on my Jazzmaster for about three months, and I’m sure it will stay there.
After the over-critical phase right after installing the bridge and the very sceptical “does it sound different, is it different, what does it do to my guitar…” inspection detailed above I have to admit that there’s no looking back.
I really dig the improvements, and the small issues I had initially were caused by a combination of individual quirks of my guitar, and an attempt to re-create the settings of my original bridge (and thus not getting the best out of the MB bridge).
–
*) Disclaimer: I paid for the bridge and this documentation/review is not biased by any offerings by the manufacturer or the distributor. The only “deal” that’s going on is between me and Frank Deimel – he sold me the bridge at prime cost plus VAT and shipping, and in return I link back to his website.
I am an instrument maker.
I have a life times experience in electric guitar adjustment.
The Mastery bridge seems to be precisely made with durability and elegance.
The design asthetic is a different era than the guitar it is made for.
The bridge that I fitted for a customer did not have the rocking feature of the original bridge. This ablity for the bridge to move with the strings under tremelo usage is crucial to these tremelo systems staying in tune.
The Mastery relies on the strings slipping over the bridge saddles which of course they will not do, reliably.
It would be easy to modify the Mastery bridge to incorporate the rock by replacing the two threaded shafts that fit in the body cups with smaller diameter ones.
If you are a player who uses wound third (G) strings you won’t get the intonation correct because of the two tilted saddle design of the Mastery.
I do wonder whether the poor reputation that the original bridges have is not down to inacurate set-up and the lack of familiarity on the players part with setting the rocking bridge in the center of its range of travel.
Hi Peter, thanks for the comment.
I think it is important to educate more players about the physics involved and the possible tradeoffs of any of the designs.
The Mastery is all about getting the most resonance into the body – they even offer minimal-tolerance thimbles to get the bridge posts as snug as possible. of course this means no more rocking bridge. I had no tuning or wear issues, but i’m not the heaviest trem-user. but have a look at some wilco videos and what nels cline does with his jazzmaster, if the bridge works for this, I think it will work for most ‘normal’ players, too,even if it differs from the original design.
The staytrem bridge, as offered on the Johnny-Marr Jaguar, has also minimized the rocking movement in favor for a better sustain. plus, they altered the trem-arm collet, and if you try to set the vibrato system for trem-loc usage, it will sit too low, with only a tad bit downward movement possible. most players use the spring tension to adjust the feel and the height of the trem, so appearently the staytrem designers decided to ignore the exotic tremloc use case.
what i’m trying to say is, if the design features of the original bridge (rocking, tremloc) are important for your playing(style), then by all means stay with the original. if, on the other hand, the trade-offs of the original design — string slippage, no clear reference point for intonation, re-setting of the centered rocking position due to string friction, self-lowering height adjustment screws — are bothering you, first try to get a decent setup ( i agree that most ‘issues’ of the original design are because players are not setting the thing as it would have been set in the area the design originated from (string gauge, action)), and if it still bothers, then have a look at the alternatives, which each will bring their own tradeoffs, but maybe the improvements will outweight them. but this is personal, i don’t think there’s a general answer.
people need to learn about the physics and consequences of changes to the design, for better or worse.
best,
tom
I have a ’60 jazzmaster and a 2006 Bass Six….I would love to try the Mastery Bridge on both guitars…the Bass Six being the worst “offender” bridge-wise…I am a little worried when you talk about string width, though..with the Bass Six, I would rather not deal with that issue at all…since these basses-guitars already have an issue with string spacing…Anyone have a Mastery Bridge on their Fender Bass Six? P.S.- Love the sight …Thanks, Stan.
Hi Stan, as I said in the article, I had the spacing on my original bridge unusually close to the fretboard’s edge. All I was trying to say; since the saddles on the MB have one slot only, not several, you’ll lose the ability to adjust the string spacing to your liking, not that the string spacing on the MB is too narrow or too wide. As you can see in the pictures the MB will guide the strings perfectly over both pickups’ polepieces.
I installed the Mastery Bridge on my 1962 Reissue Jazzmaster about a year ago. I immediately heard and felt the difference this bridge makes for the Jazzmaster. Like you and the others, the sustain and volume has increased and playability is much better. I was able to bring the intonation into specs with no problem. I even went through a complete re-setup of the whole guitar including neck shimming and nut trimming. This Jazzmaster is now so incredible that it’s hard for me to put it back in the case. I get positive comments from people in the audience just about every gig. Thanks Woody….you made my day.
i like this bridge, however i’m not able to use flatwound strings because i can’t properly intone them with this system. i’ve not heard this mentioned by anyone else as an issue–maybe there’s something i’m missing.
j.s.
I just picked up a Fender Jazzmaster J Mascis and love this guitar. I came across your site looking the Jazzmaster info. thanks for the info. I think I’ll get a Mastery Bridge.
Thanks,
Richard
Good review.
I bought a MASTERY in 2008.
When i first placed it in the Jazzmaster (AVRI 06 Lollar PUP) the first thing i noticed was that when i strummed the guitar there was much more sustain. It sounded and felt good to me. i could feel the body vibrating in my hands.
The tremolo is smoother with the Mastery.
The tone of the guitar stayed the same, however, i think it may have been louder or the added sustain gave the impression that it was louder.
The screws to adjust the height of the bridge do seem to adjust over a period of time and my bridge drops in height.
To remedy this i removed one of the shims from the neck pocket (AVRIs always seem to have 2 or 3 cardboard shims to place downward pressure on the bridge).
Now the bridge could be lowered and the screws do not self-adjust as much as they did before. (it doesn’t bother me too much, sometimes i like a high action other times i like a medium action, so it gets changed from time to time)
I’ve tried the original bridge, the original bridge with graph tech saddles, a mustang bridge and the Mastery.
The Mastery has remained on the guitar. If it was stolen (yep take the bridge and leave the guitar) i would buy another.
I like it, IMHO it’s a good piece of kit.
P.S. love the website, keep it up.
Jules