Not happy with my Mastery >:-(

[Bogo]

I've had my Mastery bridge for about three years now, and it has never been 100%. When I first got it, the intonation was too much for me so I had the guys at my local guitar shop set it up and everything seemed good. Then the thimbles started to let the bridge drop and I couldn't figure out why my action was sinking at first; I thought, "the Mastery is invincible, must be a problem with my neck!" Well, after constantly raising the bridge myself and screwing with the intonation slightly each time, I had had it and decided that I should just take it to the best guy in town. He does acoustic and electric setup and is a certified Martin tech here. He did a great job and told me that he wasn't a believer in the bridge because of other issues he's seen, but I figured I'd be ok. He loaded the thimbles with lock-tight and told me I shouldn't have the bridge issue anymore. Well, it's true that I don't have that one, I now have a new one. There is a RATTLE!!! I thought this thing was going to stop all those classic problems with the stock bridge?? I'm not attempting to put down the product they make, but I am definitely at the end of my rope and frustrated that I spent so much on something that is not delivering. Does anyone have suggestions for what I can do besides replace this thing with something else? Thanks in advance.

[Stereordinary]

Well I've never really been of the opinion that the Loctite trick was any good. I've always used Teflon tape when I need screw threads to hold better. There may be other setup issues at play here, but at least if you're looking for something to relieve rattle and keep things solid, I'd say clean the whole bridge piece by piece really good to get all Loctite and oils off of it, then wrap all the set screws with the Teflon tape before you put them back in.

[apreswho]

All good advice from Paul!


The mastery rattle I had was due to the two saddles bumping together. Wedge a folded piece of tape, softer part of Velcro, felt, etc between the saddles and see if that alleviates your problem!

[andy_tchp]

It's probably the springs covering the intonation screws that are causing the rattle. I ended up covering them with clear heat-shrink tubing to alleviate this.

Both of mine also had Loc-tite blue applied to the threads of every fastener to prevent them moving (I hope this 'best tech in town' didn't really just dump Loc-tite into the thimbles indiscriminately, but nothing would surprise me given some of the stories that have been posted here) - I've never encountered Loc-tite not working to keep fasteners in place, personally.

[veryredtomatoes]

Take a break. Play another guitar for a while. Come back and figure out how to set up the Mastery for yourself. The directions are available here and at Mastery. You'll have no problem if you take a focussed concerted attack on this issue.

Ta-da.

[furtherpale]

is it possible it's the trem?

[DaveC]

Just to play devils advocate here, is there a particular reason you want to keep the mastery? Why not flip it and buy something else?

[soggy mittens]

can you take two photos? one from the front and one from the side (almost level with the body looking down).

[Gav Haus]

Take photos, and email Woody directly. He'll tell you how to sort it out.

[Scantino]

What guitar is it on? If its MIJ / CP / VM it could be the string spacing on the tremolo? Maybe?

[fisonic]

Did you install mastery thimbles as well? Sometimes the bridge posts aren't tight enough & rattle against the inner walls of the stock fender ones. Easy way to check is to push down on the trem arm & see if there is any movement in the bridge. If so, wedge some wood splinters/match/toothpicks etc between the posts & the thimbles. Better still, install mastery thimbles, as they have a tightly matched tolerance.

[Funny Vibe]

I had all kinds of problems with my mastery. The sadels was moving way to much when i used the whammy bar and they dropped so fast i had to raise them almost every day.

Bought this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Import-M ... 4868698584" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Solved everything! Really prefer the tone of this one too.

[MuscleDad420]

Mastery is the Klon of the offset crowd.

[adamrobertt]

I was really happy with my Mastery when I first bought it because of the obvious increase in resonance and sustain... but after a few months of using it I realized that it has just as many problems as the original bridge, they just manifest themselves differently.

I had problems with rattling of the adjustment screws, the saddle screws would fall periodically, and most annoying of all, the saddles would vibrate together creating a very annoying rattle/vibration at the bridge. I even had problems with the strings jumping out of their saddles! That only happened once or twice though.

I eventually sold the guitar that had the Mastery on it and sorta didn't look back. Now I have a Jazzmaster with a Mustang bridge on it and a shimmed neck and it's perfect. Strings don't jump, sounds great, etc. I had to dab a little Loctite on the height adjustment screws but it's been pretty maintenance free since then. I may pop a Staytrem bridge on there eventually but I think the Mustang style bridge is the way to go.

[hoddyman]

I've found that in addition to Locktite in the height-adjustment screws (I suppose nylon tape is good, too), that the use of some "Fun Tac" sticky putty (also sold as "kneaded eraser", in art supply stores, and used as an adhesive for Barcus-Barry transducer pickups) in small amounts between saddles, and maybe inside the thimbles, too, will dampen any rattle. I used to use "Duco Cement", a rather brittle general-purpose glue, and that worked too.