Jazzmaster 60's Lacquer bridge replacement or saddle replacemnt
- JBHamby
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Jazzmaster 60's Lacquer bridge replacement or saddle replacemnt
Hey guys. First post and in need of help. So I ended up getting a surf green 60's Jazzmaster lacquer series in trade recently. I love the guitar and I love how it plays however I am having the standard issue of the strings popping out of place. I did some research and saw that several people recommended the Mustang bridge part #0035555000 as a direct replacement. I ended up ordering one of these and trying it out. I hated the way it made the guitar play. It raised the action of the a/d/g/b strings too much in comparison of the original stock jazzmaster bridge (which I loved the feel of). So now Im questioning what I should do, should I try a different bridge, should i replace the saddles and if so what should i try? It was almost like the 7.25 radius of the mustang bridge was to much for the radius of the neck which seemed weird since it should have been the same. Thanks for any help.
- jesterpunk68
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Re: Jazzmaster 60's Lacquer bridge replacement or saddle replacemnt
It depends how much you want to pay but the mastery bridge was made for the jazzmaster (Nels Cline's 59 Jazzmaster "Watt" specifically.
https://masterybridge.com/bridges/offset-bridge/
https://masterybridge.com/bridges/offset-bridge/
- timtam
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Re: Jazzmaster 60's Lacquer bridge replacement or saddle replacemnt
While the 0035555000 Mustang bridge does indeed have a 7.25" radius, as does the neck of your Classic 60s (presumably), your original classic-style bridge could have been adjusted to a flatter radius which you got used to .. and maybe then the 'real' 7.25" Mustang bridge felt odd ?
Did you play much with the overall height of the new bridge to see if you could reach a workable lower action you liked on the middle strings ?
If you really liked the classic style bridge but your only issue was strings popping out, you can try filing deeper slots. You can also file down some slots of your Mustang bridge, or file some saddle edge ridges off underneath.
If you are in the UK, a Staytrem would be an option. But you would have to decide on 7.25" or 9.5" radius.
There is a Mustang bridge with a flatter 9.5" radius, as used on the American Professional series ...
https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-am ... 709942000/
Fender has used the 0081239001 bridge on a few series, including the recent Player series JMs and jags.
https://reverb.com/item/752888-fender-i ... 0081239001
It has height-adjustable saddles and single, deeper slots than the classic bridge. A similar bridge can be bought very cheaply on ebay eg ...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Threaded-Saddl ... 2374505823
Incidentally, I've just noticed that the Classic 60s parts list has a curious listing for the original bridge. It's listed as part #7705076800 'MUSTANG BRIDGE W/THREADED SADDLES RELIC'.
https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Orig ... 0-2016.pdf
But all the online pics show a shiny new classic JM bridge on that guitar. The only other place that the 7705076800 bridge part number shows up is on the Classic 60s jaguar; but it appears to be a one-off for that series. So either that part number really means 'shiny classic JM bridge' (and we can't find that bridge anywhere else, so we can't look at it to check), or the parts list is wrong.
Did you play much with the overall height of the new bridge to see if you could reach a workable lower action you liked on the middle strings ?
If you really liked the classic style bridge but your only issue was strings popping out, you can try filing deeper slots. You can also file down some slots of your Mustang bridge, or file some saddle edge ridges off underneath.
If you are in the UK, a Staytrem would be an option. But you would have to decide on 7.25" or 9.5" radius.
There is a Mustang bridge with a flatter 9.5" radius, as used on the American Professional series ...
https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-am ... 709942000/
Fender has used the 0081239001 bridge on a few series, including the recent Player series JMs and jags.
https://reverb.com/item/752888-fender-i ... 0081239001
It has height-adjustable saddles and single, deeper slots than the classic bridge. A similar bridge can be bought very cheaply on ebay eg ...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Threaded-Saddl ... 2374505823
Incidentally, I've just noticed that the Classic 60s parts list has a curious listing for the original bridge. It's listed as part #7705076800 'MUSTANG BRIDGE W/THREADED SADDLES RELIC'.
https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Orig ... 0-2016.pdf
But all the online pics show a shiny new classic JM bridge on that guitar. The only other place that the 7705076800 bridge part number shows up is on the Classic 60s jaguar; but it appears to be a one-off for that series. So either that part number really means 'shiny classic JM bridge' (and we can't find that bridge anywhere else, so we can't look at it to check), or the parts list is wrong.
"I just knew I wanted to make a sound that was the complete opposite of a Les Paul, and that’s pretty much a Jaguar." Rowland S. Howard.
- Don B
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Re: Jazzmaster 60's Lacquer bridge replacement or saddle replacemnt
Is there a problem with the Mustang bridge with adjustable saddles? It would seem that it could be adjusted for any radius and would not bring the problems of the original Jaguar/jazzmaster bridge.
- Ceylon
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Re: Jazzmaster 60's Lacquer bridge replacement or saddle replacemnt
Nah, ultimately it's fine. I had one on a Squier Bass VI which was probably a cheaper version of the same style and even that worked fine. I like the fixed Mustang-style saddles better because I know I'll never have to bother with setting or re-setting the individual saddles, but I don't think the height adjustment really shifted at all for as long as I had the VI, and in either case you could fix the screws with superglue once you find the position that suits you. As for the string skipping, the VI is a bit of a special case given the steeper string angle and the bigger strings, but for what it's worth it felt pretty solid.
Science Friction burns my fingers
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Electricity still lingers