Mastery Issues

For help with setups and other technical issues.
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jmoss5347
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Mastery Issues

Post by jmoss5347 » Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:22 am

So I have had the mastery bridge on my AVRI Jazzmaster for a couple months now and I love it to death.. when its setup properly.

For some reason the intonation and the action keeps getting messed up after playing it for a little while. Its gotten to the point where I have to adjust something on the bridge at least once a week. I know its being setup right initially, I even brought it to a tech to make sure that it was setup correctly. So is this normal? How can I go about avoiding the constant bridge tweaking?

Thanks,

Jake

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PJazzmaster
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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by PJazzmaster » Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:51 am

I always had problems with my Mastery even if I fixed it with nailpolish or whatever. Especially after playing a lot or - even worse - during gigs . Ok, hard stuff like superglue does help but I saw ruined adjustment screws (on one Mastery which I bought 2nd hand) - because of glue - they were simply not adjustable anymore and I had to replace them.

I don't get the point that you need to fix a 170 dollar bridge with glue or nailpolish ??? I don't worry too much about intonation ....but the action can be a real PITA.

Some people may have better suggestions but I'd recommend getting a Staytrem bridge :ph34r:

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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by nacho_grande » Thu Jul 04, 2013 10:17 am

Excuse my lack of knowledge. Is it possible to use Schaller Roller Bridge on a Jag or JM?
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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by Puisheen » Thu Jul 04, 2013 10:30 am

jmoss5347 wrote:So I have had the mastery bridge on my AVRI Jazzmaster for a couple months now and I love it to death.. when its setup properly.

For some reason the intonation and the action keeps getting messed up after playing it for a little while. Its gotten to the point where I have to adjust something on the bridge at least once a week. I know its being setup right initially, I even brought it to a tech to make sure that it was setup correctly. So is this normal? How can I go about avoiding the constant bridge tweaking?

Thanks,

Jake
Hey, Jake!

Screws will rattle loose with play, which is totally normal for most anything that goes on a guitar. I've had that problem on some Mastery Bridges (I install about 3 per week at my shop) and I've even had that same problem on some Gibsons I own with TOM bridges. The solution? Just grab yourself a bottle of Loc-Tite blue. ONLY BLUE! Red is permanent.

Loc-Tite is like glue for metal, but the cool thing about the blue variety is that the seal it makes is breakable, so it isn't permanent. It essentially just gunks up the screws like 40 years of sweat might do, and helps the screws stay in place.

On Mastery Bridges, apply a little bit of that stuff to all of the saddle height adjustment screws, the post height adjustment screws, and even the intonation screws as I've had a few of those work loose recently. While it's still wet, adjust your height and intonation to taste, and let it dry. And don't worry about the blue color – it dries clear.

I use that stuff on EVERY guitar bridge I have, even Telecasters with newer brass saddles, and my settings don't change unless I want them to.

And just because a bridge costs $170 doesn't mean it's never going to work loose. I mean, many of us have spent $1700 on guitars that needed setups, adjustments of some kind...

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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by Guitarmunk » Thu Jul 04, 2013 10:54 am

Maybe this info is useful ?
It may hold the screws where they belong :
http://www.webrocker.de/jaguar/cms/2012 ... /#more-518
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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by parry » Thu Jul 04, 2013 10:59 am

Sorry, but yeah...


THIS.
PJazzmaster wrote:I always had problems with my Mastery even if I fixed it with nailpolish or whatever. Especially after playing a lot or - even worse - during gigs . Ok, hard stuff like superglue does help but I saw ruined adjustment screws (on one Mastery which I bought 2nd hand) - because of glue - they were simply not adjustable anymore and I had to replace them.

I don't get the point that you need to fix a 170 dollar bridge with glue or nailpolish I don't worry too much about intonation ....but the action can be a real PITA.

Some people may have better suggestions but I'd recommend getting a Staytrem bridge
I've been playing the ever-loving piss out of my Staytrem(s - on both guitars) and it hasn't come loose, and it doesn't rattle.

If you don't mind tinkering with your Mastery every few days, loc-tite will work to stop it from self-adjusting - but it won't stop the rattle.
If you want to stop the rattle, you could always shrink-wrap the springs... but holy hell. Really? :fp:
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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by empyrean » Thu Jul 04, 2013 11:59 am

parry wrote:
If you don't mind tinkering with your Mastery every few days, loc-tite will work to stop it from self-adjusting - but it won't stop the rattle.
If you want to stop the rattle, you could always shrink-wrap the springs... but holy hell. Really?
Are you trying to tell me you'd rather spend $100 on a bridge that works perfectly, vs a $200 bridge that you need to shrink-wrap and loctite?

:wtf:

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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by nacho_grande » Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:39 pm

Staytrem website seems shut down:
Due to unforseen cicumstances we are unable to process any orders at the moment.
Thank you for your patience, any questions please email john@staytrem.com.
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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by parry » Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:43 pm

In a perfect world, there would be a Staytrem v.2.0 that was a fixed bridge.
That was the ONE thing I liked about my Mastery, was that I didn't have to tape the bridge posts to lock it in to position.
Which reminds me... I was going to look in to getting some sort of shims made for that... hmmmmmmmmmm... :shifty:



From what I gather, John is a one-man operation. He makes (or has made) the bridges and sells them. Once the bridges are sold, he shuts down the orders until the new bridges are in.
He does the same with his eBay acct.
It'll be back up in a week or so. That said, I bet he's going to be pretty darn swamped with orders for 1" Bass VI bridges in the near future :w00t:
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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by starmaster » Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:45 pm

This was a pretty giant problem for me. I was touring and my main guitar has a mastery on it. After about 15-20 minutes things would start to slip. It was the bridge on a Bilt Zaftig.

Not knowing much about Mastery I reached out to the Bilt guys to see if anyone had that issue, and he told me it was kind of hit or miss, but the reasoning was that the screws were the only parts that were outsourced, and that led to inconsistencies... this was about 2 months ago.

I was told they were aware of the issue, and because of that were going to start machining their own screws.

Luckily I sweat an unreasonable amount, and after a few weeks everything started to... hold a little better.

I do think they are amazing bridges, but I can agree with the sentiment that a specialized, and fairly simple, piece of hardware shouldn't fail at its fundamental function. The feel, intonation, etc... all change on a dime when the screws that hold things in place give up - and I actually kept the hex key on my amp so I could make quick adjustments in the middle of the set.

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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by jacobyjd » Thu Jul 04, 2013 6:06 pm

Blue Loctite did it for me. I think it would be a good move for them to apply it before shipping new bridges. It would be a cheap improvement that would make a lot of customers happy.

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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by percnon » Thu Jul 04, 2013 11:39 pm

Loctite on the screws, vaseline in the thimbles to stop the posts rattling against them. After that it's all good.

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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by Guitarmunk » Fri Jul 05, 2013 1:11 am

I have Straytrem, I think it's the best solution.
No screws are moving and i'm playing on my Jazzmaster every day.
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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by Jaguar018 » Fri Jul 05, 2013 4:41 am

jacobyjd wrote:I think it would be a good move for them to apply it before shipping new bridges. It would be a cheap improvement that would make a lot of customers happy.
:unsure: How could one set up their Mastery to the desired heights if they came pre-glued?

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Re: Mastery Issues

Post by andy_tchp » Fri Jul 05, 2013 5:13 am

Jaguar018 wrote:
jacobyjd wrote:I think it would be a good move for them to apply it before shipping new bridges. It would be a cheap improvement that would make a lot of customers happy.
:unsure: How could one set up their Mastery to the desired heights if they came pre-glued?
The blue stuff is only medium strength, and still allows for adjustment of the fasteners even after it has cured.


EDIT: Interesting to read above that they'll be machining their own fasteners to get around this issue(!) Gotta say I love their approach to maintaining (or improving) standards/quality of their products.
Last edited by andy_tchp on Fri Jul 05, 2013 5:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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