Descendant vs. Mastery Vibrato

[hotsawce]

Curious if anyone has used both and which they prefer?

I was told the Descendant can't pitch upward like the Mastery, but Swope informed me you can adjust the spring tension screw to get a half step of up pull if desired (or tighten it so it will operate only downward.)

The mastery does look a bit "heftier."

[noisepunk]

i want to know why neither of them think the trem lock was important enough to include–that's one of my favorite parts of the overall JM/jag design and i can't imagine spending that much money on an "upgrade" unit that doesn't have one.

clearly the financial voting power of others outweighs my opinion though.

[Larry Mal]

I've used both and so far prefer the Mastery.

That being said, I'm so new to the Descendant that I didn't actually know until I read what you wrote that it can pitch upwards. I haven't figured out how to do that yet.

The Mastery certainly is of heavier construction all around, which isn't necessarily a positive.

Overall, if I was buying another unit, it would be a Mastery, although I'm in no sense displeased with the Descendant, and am so new to it that my opinions might change.

[mekhem]

I have a mastery installed and I do really like the trem action - very smooth but I do miss the trem lock feature.

I also got a decendent but it is not installed. I purchased it for the increased break angle.

Both are well made.

So i suspect that the real point of interest is: DO you want to manage break angle via neck shim/bridge height setup only or do you want to manage via a trem with a degree or two of break anglee