classic player tune-o-matic on new MIM JM

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ol_lukey
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classic player tune-o-matic on new MIM JM

Post by ol_lukey » Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:59 pm

A while back I bought 2 jazzmasters, a new player series JM and a J Mascis Squier. I really prefer the tune-o-matic on the Squier so I wanted to switch my player series to a tune-o-matic as well. I ordered this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Fender ... 3766!US!-1

I'm comfortable tearing a guitar down so I did that and removed the "thimbles" (i think that's what they're called) from the body. They're the ones with no threads inside so kind of apain to remove but I got them. The thought then dawned on me that maybe the actual spacing for the bridge posts may be different.. is that the case? I don't mind making the holes a little bigger if I need to do that but I definitely don't want to plug and redrill. Bridge will be here next week sometime. Anyone know for sure what I'll need to do to get the bridge installed? Thanks for any help.

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timtam
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Re: classic player tune-o-matic on new MIM JM

Post by timtam » Sun Jan 19, 2020 4:21 pm

That's the Korean-made CP bridge, also on the latest Vintera 60s mod JM/jag and several others (0076230049 , 007623000) ...
https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-cl ... 076230049/

IIRC it's not quite the same as the JMJM's AOM but it's close.
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... m#p1590538
There have been reports that the circlips can sometimes rattle (fix with blue loctite). eg
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... 6&t=114715

Post spacing is reportedly 73.3mm ..
http://wscmusic.com/itemView.php?query= ... =3839&lv=1

Bushing OD 10.7mm
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... c#p1587748

BTW original thimbles are usually easily removed with a 6mm expansion bolt.
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... n#p1594865
"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.

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ol_lukey
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Re: classic player tune-o-matic on new MIM JM

Post by ol_lukey » Sun Jan 19, 2020 5:26 pm

thanks a lot that's a big help.

Just measured everything and looks the post spacing is the same so that's cool. I'll just need to redrill but I think I can manage that. I measured my current thimbles at just over 9mm. Yeah I counted on using loctite.. I have it all over both my current JM bridges. I couldn't believe the rattle on the player series when I got it home and played it..

wish I would have know about that expansion bolt trick lol.. I used a butter knife and a heat gun.

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ChrisDesign
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Re: classic player tune-o-matic on new MIM JM

Post by ChrisDesign » Tue Jan 28, 2020 8:31 pm

Just wait until it arrives. 1mm can be the difference between perfect tone and a guitar with missing strings that won’t intone.

Measure twice, cut once.

My MIM Standard bridge was unplayable. The saddles were either too high and the strings buzzed on the saddle screw’s ends, or too low and the strings buzzed on the saddle tray edge. Playability was a fine line between the two, making setting the radius hard. If I ever got the bridge setup right, there saddles would drop while playing.

I bought a Staytrem, dropped it in, and have been utterly happy ever since. Well, I did need to shim my neck because the G string kept buzzing on the saddle. I often wonder if the old saddle could somehow work now there is a shim, but I can’t imagine how. I can’t imagine how fender would ship such a cruddy bridge when design issues are so easily solved (shorter screws, lower tray front).
"I own a '66 Jaguar. That's the guitar I polish, and baby - I refuse to let anyone touch it when I jump into the crowd." - Kurt Cobain

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Danley
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Re: classic player tune-o-matic on new MIM JM

Post by Danley » Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:23 pm

ChrisDesign wrote:
Tue Jan 28, 2020 8:31 pm
I can’t imagine how fender would ship such a cruddy bridge when design issues are so easily solved (shorter screws, lower tray front).
The AVRI bridge has shorter screws - Not that them making the AVRI bridge answers the question why they still ship any with the longer screws (though I never had an issue with having to set the saddle so high the screw interfered - nor needed to set so low the bridge plate interfered - or ever experienced saddles lowering spontaneously.) So I may be an odd case, but while I understand *how* a bridge can be set up to be a rattle-trap - and could set one up to be one if I wanted - it seems like something a good setup would fix 99% of the time.

That said, maybe two newer MIJ bridges I've run across do have tolerance issues with bridgeplate holes allowing too much lateral movement of saddles, and/or grub screws in the post that lower spontaneously. I don't think the supplier is any different than Squier/Mexican Fender. For what it's worth the Mascis Jazzmaster has identical spaced bridge posts to a stock Jazzmaster bridge - which I know because I went the other way, and converted it to a standard Jazzmaster bridge.

...Ok, enough snark from me. If you don't want to set up your Jazzmaster bridge, or use a Staytrem, and insist on the Tune-O-Matic: I'd be tempted to experiment with using wooden plugs and ABR posts and not the metal threaded-bushing Nashville. Using the ABR, needing to aim for a single spacing would hardly matter within the realm of reason, and you could buy whatever TOM you wanted and drill for the posts into the spacers, without being married to one that fits in the giant metal bushings. Someone does make metal bushings to adapt an ABR post TOM, that swivel so you can get in-theory perfect spacing whatever the width.
King Buzzo: I love when people come up to me and say “Your guitar sound was better on Stoner Witch, when you used a Les Paul. “...I used a Fender Mustang reissue on that, dumbass!

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Re: classic player tune-o-matic on new MIM JM

Post by timtam » Tue Jan 28, 2020 10:08 pm

Vintage / AVRI intonation screws are imperial #4-40, 5/8" (15.9mm). All the metric bridges I've seen are M3 and longer, at 18mm. Longer screws are one of the obvious ways to pick a metric bridge on sight. Someone probably thought that the extra few mm would give additional intonation range, but they more commonly foul the strings. The first thing I do on a metric bridge is switch them to 16mm. With shorter intonation screws you can raise the saddles a tad higher so the strings don't risk fouling the edges of the bridge plate. But I usually also swap the 8/10mm saddle height screws to 6/8mm, to stop the stock 10mm ones digging into my hand. Vintage saddle height screws are typically 5/16" (7.9mm) and 1/4" (6.4mm).
"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.

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Re: classic player tune-o-matic on new MIM JM

Post by ChrisDesign » Tue Jan 28, 2020 10:56 pm

it seems like something a good setup would fix 99% of the time.
The difference between too high and too low was something ridiculous, like 1/4 a hex key turn. The rattle was also not the bridge rattling but the string having insufficient break angle: hence the shim.
"I own a '66 Jaguar. That's the guitar I polish, and baby - I refuse to let anyone touch it when I jump into the crowd." - Kurt Cobain

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