Mastery bridge-- worth it?

[JeremyTheJollyJew]

I'm modding a Squier VM Jazzmaster right now and everyone keeps telling me I should put a
Mastery bridge on it. I have a Fender American Vintage Jazzmaster as well which I outfitted with mustang saddles and a buzzstop, which work just fine. I was going to do the same to the Squier, unless there is a solid argument in favor of dropping $250 on a Mastery bridge. What will this bridge do that the new saddles and buzzstop won't, and is it really worth the hefty price tag?

[terminalvertigo]

I currently have 5 mastery bridges, and I haven't ever regretted putting one on a guitar.

it has improved every guitar i have them on..

[JeremyTheJollyJew]

How does it change how the guitar plays?

[jacobyjd]

How does it change how the guitar plays?

There are pages and pages of info on this. However, in my experience, the bridge tends to brighten up the sound a bit, gives better sustain (while retaining the sympathetic resonance behind the bridge), stabilizes the tuning under heavy trem abuse, and keeps strings from jumping out of the saddle groove (a chronic problem for those of us that are heavy-handed with a pick).

[OV7]

Mine cost $173. Brand new, straight from Mastery. It is the single biggest improvement you can make, in my opinion.

[mywhitenoise]

They don't cost $250, though I do think it's a bit ridiculous to have such an expensive upgrade on a cheap guitar.

[saxjag]

The Search function here at OSG is your friend. Trust me on this -- a general question such as yours has been asked & answered many, many times. You will find much first-hand information if you take the trouble to look.

[veryredtomatoes]

The Search function here at OSG is your friend. Trust me on this -- a general question such as yours has been asked & answered many, many times. You will find much first-hand information if you take the trouble to look.

Yep! Search is great.

So are simple answers.

Here's one: In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with the stock bridge. If you are having trouble with string jump, file grooves deeper into the saddles. If you are having slippage problems with the fasteners, apply locktite. And that's that. The stock bridge is as good as anything else out there.

Or perhaps you like to mod things just to mod them. I am like this. And in my opinion, the Mastery is a beautiful bridge that you may like too. As a drop in replacement for the stock bridge, the Mastery is hard to beat.

Best of luck, and congrats/enjoy your guitar!

[Ursa Minor]

Nope.

Not for me. Changes the character of my JM too. Nice piece of kit and very well machined, however. Mastery craftsmanship and innovation is top notch!

I guess a few people here like them.

[andy_tchp]

Nope.

Not for me. Changes the character of my JM too. Nice piece of kit and very well machined, however. Mastery craftsmanship and innovation is top notch!

Agreed on all counts, particularly about changing the character - I used Mastery bridges for close to five years, but prefer the sound of the stock bridge.

[mang1974]

I can only speak from experience of having a Mastery Bridge, but never having had a stock bridge since I pieced together my JM. I've never had any issues with strings jumping out of slots, even with heavy/hard trem use. Also, it's a nice looking piece of steel if you're into that.

[impmann]

Thing to bear in mind - yes you are fitting it to a cheap guitar, but it will improve it (IMHO). And if/when you upgrade the guitar, you can always take it off and return it to stock (you don't need to even change the strings to change it out), then you can pop it onto the 'better' guitar to improve that.

[V_____]

All of my offsets with tremolo (and one that has no tremolo) use a mastery bridge. I tried other options which worked fine but I like the combination of features on the mastery. For example:

Fender Bridge:
String to String Height Adjustment: Y
Doesn't Rattle: N, but this can be fixed
Smooth Saddle Texture: N
Deep Enough String Grooves: N
Doesn't Rock in Thimbles: N

Staytrem Bridge:
String to String Height Adjustment: N
Doesn't Rattle: Y
Smooth Saddle Texture: Y
Deep Enough Grooves: Y
Doesn't Rock in Thimbles: N

Mastery Bridge:
String to String Height Adjustment: Y
Doesn't Rattle: Y
Smooth Saddle Texture: Y
Deep Enough String Grooves: Y
Doesn't Rock in Thimbles: Y

Ah there we go. I did like the staytrem (I think it's actually the least prone to buzzing out of them all) but I have found that the rocking thing doesn't really improve tuning stability enough to make up for the kind of iffy prospect of intonation not getting bumped out of whack/string changes being kind of a PITA with intonation.
Mainly, though, I wanted the string to string height adjustment.

[slavemaster]

Worth it - yes. (and it is not $250 but cca $170)
Absolutely necessary - No. The OEM bridge works just fine with some care.
Design - at first it will look strange on the guitar, in particular if you are used to seeing the original bridge there. After a while you will not notice it.

The best thing is - if it turns out you do not like it for whatever reason, you can resell it with zero loss in no time.

That's all. As somebody mentioned, a quick search would give you pages after pages of info on the mastery (both pros and cons, as perceived by members here) if you need more information.

[PJazzmaster]

and you can also consider a staytrem bridge (for about half the price of a Mastery).