Is the Mustang bridge design wrong?

[Pacafeliz]

On all my Mustangs (vintage) i have to shove a shim sorta piece of "lift" under both E saddles, otherwise the strings bend out too easily.

Am I the only one in doing so? Or is the original bridge/saddle design fucked?

[GilmourD]

On all my Mustangs (vintage) i have to shove a shim sorta piece of "lift" under both E saddles, otherwise the strings bend out too easily.

Am I the only one in doing so? Or is the original bridge/saddle design fucked?

Isn't that why the Staytrem bridge was revised with the E saddle screws going all the way through?

[andy_tchp]

What does 'strings bend out' mean?

[GilmourD]

What does 'strings bend out' mean?

I think he means that the saddles shift side to side.

[andy_tchp]

Shouldn't happen on a Vintage (or proper Fender reissue) bridge as there are no gaps between the saddles.

40+ years of them being the 'best' bridge replacement option for offsets says the original design isn't 'fucked'.

[B.T.]

What does 'strings bend out' mean?

I think he means that the saddles shift side to side.

My guess would be they mean when they bend a string say on the high E it chokes out aka it dies and doesn't ring out. So by lifting them higher they don't have to bring the entire bridge up and the strings don't choke out on bends.

The problem is multifaceted because if you raise just the low and high E strings your strings won't be at the same radius as the fretboard. So the consistent playability across the board action will be off. If you raise the bridge your height action will be too high.

Probably what's really going on here if everything else is setup correctly would be the relief or possibly fretboard is suspect. We'd need more info but if the relief is set correctly, Bridge height, and the radius is correct, the frets probably need a leveling and crowning.

[Mondaysoutar]

What does 'strings bend out' mean?

I think he means that the saddles shift side to side.

My guess would be they mean when they bend a string say on the high E it chokes out aka it dies and doesn't ring out. So by lifting them higher they don't have to bring the entire bridge up and the strings don't choke out on bends.

The problem is multifaceted because if you raise just the low and high E strings your strings won't be at the same radius as the fretboard. So the consistent playability across the board action will be off. If you raise the bridge your height action will be too high.

Probably what's really going on here if everything else is setup correctly would be the relief or possibly fretboard is suspect. We'd need more info but if the relief is set correctly, Bridge height, and the radius is correct, the frets probably need a leveling and crowning.

Aye this is pretty much what I was thinking too actually, either the bridge radius isn’t quite matching the fretboard which would mean most likely high/uneven frets. Maybe checking neck alignment if the E’s are perhaps too close to the fretboard edges also? But if it’s happening across multiple vintage Mustangs, I’d think you maybe like a low action and the frets need some attention man. I’m the farthest hing from an expert right enough, so I’m sure someone else’ll clear it up definitively. As the boy Andy said, the mustang bridge is pretty good generally speaking. Hope you sort it chief.