-= Bridge FAQ =-

For help with setups and other technical issues.
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stig
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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by stig » Tue Aug 27, 2013 12:13 pm

Hi, kids. So I got a surf green VM Jag for my birthday. Put a Genuine Fender Mustang bridge on it, and the rattle problem is pretty much solved (with the Teflon tape on the height screws, of course.)
It's also got a set of 11's on it now.
I still can't quite get the hang of the G string intonation though. I can have it sound fine, dead nuts at the 12, good on barre chords. But play an open D or A, and you can hear that bum A on the G string.
Suggestions?

Oh, and since "Useless Without Pics:"
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The Jag and the Mascis I got last year. Yes, I put on a new guard. I hated the anodized.
Image
My crappy music: www.soundcloud.com/aspirinhammer

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by hoddyman » Sat Sep 14, 2013 8:48 am

I don't know if this has been discussed here before, but there is an alternative to setting a Jaguar/Jazzmaster/Mustang-type rocking/tilting bridge upright. I've always found "upright" to be extremely problematic, since the pressure sometimes necessary to apply and turn the screwdriver while intonating the saddles of the bridge all too easily pushes the bridge out of it's "vertical" position, throwing everything previously intonated off, since it becomes difficult to return the bridge to whatever it's former "somewhere-in-between-the-edges-of-the-thimbles-more-or-less-vertical" position was. After being frustrated by never quite getting the intonation right because of this, I've taken to intonating my guitar with the bridge rocked all the way back, since this constitutes a "fixed" point from which the bridge can be intonated, and always returned to. To avoid rattle, I put a single layer of electrical tape on the back of the bridge posts at the point of contact with the thimbles.
I use my vibrato a lot, and I've found that there's virtually no problem with the pulled-back bridge only being able to rock forward, since it seems that a little "shimmer" vibrato isn't sufficient to move the bridge out of place, and most "extreme" use of the vibrato is in the "down" direction- the way I play, anyhow. If my bridge ever does get pushed forward out of place, which is rare, it's easy, even in mid-song, to push it back where it belongs. With a well-lubricated nut, I never have tuning problems.

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by joshuajet » Wed Sep 18, 2013 5:52 am

Forgive my ignorance, but is this the best place for a review?

I would like to detail my experience with the graphtech saddles :)
"Playing a Fender is an art itself. They're always going out of tune." -Ritchie Blackmore

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by andy_tchp » Thu Sep 19, 2013 1:16 am

joshuajet wrote:Forgive my ignorance, but is this the best place for a review?
Probably not, really.

There's a discussion about GraphTech saddles here: http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... 9&p=988033

Otherwise, you'd be better served by starting a brand new/fresh thread, rather than tacking onto the end of what is (supposed to be) a Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) posting.

Cheers! :)
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David McComb, 1987.

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by hoddyman » Thu Sep 19, 2013 3:21 pm

stig wrote:Hi, kids. So I got a surf green VM Jag for my birthday. Put a Genuine Fender Mustang bridge on it, and the rattle problem is pretty much solved (with the Teflon tape on the height screws, of course.)
It's also got a set of 11's on it now.
I still can't quite get the hang of the G string intonation though. I can have it sound fine, dead nuts at the 12, good on barre chords. But play an open D or A, and you can hear that bum A on the G string.
Suggestions?

Oh, and since "Useless Without Pics:"
Image

The Jag and the Mascis I got last year. Yes, I put on a new guard. I hated the anodized.
Image
wk
Maybe the problem is in having a nut with notches a little too high? That will sharpen the intonation when strings are pressed down, especially in lower positions on the neck.

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by tremoloworkout » Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:25 pm

Hey folks, thanks for this thread, even if it fills my mind with an overwhelming amount of options.
I just got a Squier VM Jazzmaster a week ago, and I'm totally not enjoying this stock bridge, like a lot of people. Everything else is lovely though. :-* :-*

This thread leaves me with two questions..
1. Will the blacktop Jazzmaster bridge posted a page ago work with the Squier VMJM with minor hassle?
2. Also, I've had my high E string break twice so far, both times it broke at the back hole on the trem plate. Looks more like it unwound or something than actually broke. I was using ernie ball strings with the ring on the end. Do any of you have any idea what is causing this?
BONUS QUESTION: Do Fender Bullet end strings work well with the way the Jazzmaster works? I really like how they play on my strat so I want to put some on.

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by hoddyman » Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:15 pm

tremoloworkout wrote:Hey folks, thanks for this thread, even if it fills my mind with an overwhelming amount of options.
I just got a Squier VM Jazzmaster a week ago, and I'm totally not enjoying this stock bridge, like a lot of people. Everything else is lovely though.

This thread leaves me with two questions..
1. Will the blacktop Jazzmaster bridge posted a page ago work with the Squier VMJM with minor hassle?
2. Also, I've had my high E string break twice so far, both times it broke at the back hole on the trem plate. Looks more like it unwound or something than actually broke. I was using ernie ball strings with the ring on the end. Do any of you have any idea what is causing this?
BONUS QUESTION: Do Fender Bullet end strings work well with the way the Jazzmaster works? I really like how they play on my strat so I want to put some on.

I've had the string-break problem with my high E string using my vibrato, also. I think that the flexing of the string-end against the edge of it's hole in the plate while using the vibrato causes this. One solution would be to make sure the ball-end of your string is "horizontal" (with the "loop", as you call it, facing straight up-and-down to the guitar's body) so that niether of the two wires of the wire loop that goes around the brass "ball end" of the string touch the upper edge of the hole in the plate, when it moves. Fender bullet strings were supposedly designed to deal with this sort of problem, too, so they should work fine. Another remedy is to take a small length of insulation off a small electrical wire scrap, thread your string through it, and put it over the twist at the ball-end for a cushion.

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by stig » Tue Sep 24, 2013 8:57 am

hoddyman wrote: Maybe the problem is in having a nut with notches a little too high? That will sharpen the intonation when strings are pressed down, especially in lower positions on the neck.

The nut seems ok, but thanks for the suggestion. I'll look more closely at that.
My crappy music: www.soundcloud.com/aspirinhammer

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by tubeswell » Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:14 pm

tremoloworkout wrote:... I've had my high E string break twice so far, both times it broke at the back hole on the trem plate. Looks more like it unwound or something than actually broke. I was using ernie ball strings with the ring on the end. Do any of you have any idea what is causing this?
The high E string bobbin can unwind on the trem-plate screwhead when you use the whammy.

There are a couple of work-arounds.

1) buy strings with really long bobbin-windings (string marketed for JM or Jaguar are like this); or

2) the best solution by far (which will solve multiple problems all at once) is to shim the neck angle with a sufficiently big enough shim, which will allow you to raise the bridge height, which will increase the string break angle (improving sustain and decreasing saddle looseness) and most importantly in this case, ensure that there is sufficient clearance between the 1st string bobbin winding and the nearby trem plate screw-head, so that you can stick whatever type of strings you want on there and never have to worry about the bobbin unwinding ever again.

I did this with my AVRI '62 JM. What's more, I made a wooden angle shim out of hardwood that was about 2.5mm thick at one end (going down to nothing at the other end), that fits perfectly and snuggly in the neck pocket, ensuring good contact between the neck and the bridge. I cut the shim very carefully and slowly with a hand-held coping saw. It takes a bit of practice to cut a perfect shim like this, but it is do-able. Finish it off with 80-120grit sandpaper.

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by stevics » Mon Sep 30, 2013 2:23 pm

Best way I found for setting the bridge on my CIJ Jazzmaster.

Swapped out saddles for the Mustang type but use a Jazzmaster saddle on just the top e string.
This gives me just the adjustment I need.

Works fine for me. I'll post a picture soon.

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by LHR » Mon Sep 30, 2013 7:54 pm

richey88 wrote:So......I flipped my VMJM bridge around so the screws are facing the pickup and it intonated MUCH better than the other way....I felt like I needed to chop the saddle springs. Am I nuts? Is it better bass-ackwards? anyone else do this?
Yes. Sort of. I did the exact same thing with the Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster bridge that I retrofit for the Squier (I cut the bottoms of the height adjustments screws, for one thing to prevent sharp edges.) It is essentially the same design, though, as the Squier bridge at least in terms of the problem of the intonation screws impinging upon the strings. After a bit of tweaking, I dare say that it is set up as well as any I have ever used for an offset. The strings do not touch the bridge anywhere except the saddle grooves and misses the other parts by the thickness of a business card everywhere else.

So this may also answer the question of how well the Blacktop bridge works. Well, I really like it now. But I modified it. If I had not, then the screws would have stuck out too far to comfortably palm mute.

Also, I should point out that I shimmed the neck of the Squier with a small piece of cardboard, since all these things are related. How much? Hrm.. Well, thicker than the cardstcock of a business card, I guess. Perhaps the thickness of a (USA) cereal box lid. In fact, I used the flap from a box of crackers. So, that much. ;-)

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by stevics » Tue Oct 01, 2013 11:12 am

5 Mustang, 1 Jazzmaster Saddles

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by LHR » Tue Oct 01, 2013 3:17 pm

Nice...

Image

Image

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by tubeswell » Tue Oct 01, 2013 9:43 pm

LHR wrote:
richey88 wrote:So......I flipped my VMJM bridge around so the screws are facing the pickup and it intonated MUCH better than the other way....I felt like I needed to chop the saddle springs. Am I nuts? Is it better bass-ackwards? anyone else do this?
Yes. Sort of. I did the exact same thing with the Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster bridge that I retrofit for the Squier (I cut the bottoms of the height adjustments screws, for one thing to prevent sharp edges.)
Interestingly my 62 AVRI JM arrived new out of the box this way.

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Re: -= Bridge FAQ =-

Post by LHR » Tue Oct 01, 2013 10:59 pm

tubeswell wrote:
LHR wrote:
richey88 wrote:So......I flipped my VMJM bridge around so the screws are facing the pickup and it intonated MUCH better than the other way....I felt like I needed to chop the saddle springs. Am I nuts? Is it better bass-ackwards? anyone else do this?
Yes. Sort of. I did the exact same thing with the Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster bridge that I retrofit for the Squier (I cut the bottoms of the height adjustments screws, for one thing to prevent sharp edges.)
Interestingly my 62 AVRI JM arrived new out of the box this way.
Well, looking at the pictures, it is obvious that my E and A strings could not be intonated with the bridge the other way around. It would be way, way too tight against the springs.

Now, if I was to put on another type of string, who knows? I doubt I will stop using my favorite DR Pure Blues 12s any time soon, but I get variation whenever I change sets using this same type. It would not surprise me if I needed to flip the bridge if I put on a set of TI flats, for instance. I'll let you know if that happens. ;)

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