Jazzmaster/Jaguar Bridge Replacement - any tips?

bairdy97

I'm the owner of a Fender Japan Jazzmaster and it's my pride and joy, however the original bridge was shockingly bad - I know it's a problem on those guitars but the buzz and general playing interferance was worse than I ever imagined. I found a cheap replacement bridge on Amazon that had a single, deeper slot on each saddle which is slightly better, but I'm looking for a better solution.

On both bridges strings have a habit of slipping off the saddles - is this more a setup/action issue than a bridge issue?

Would rather not fork out for a mastery bridge though I know they're fantastic, have heard good things about staytrem too - any advice would be appreciated.

I always like the ability to adjust individual saddle height as well so a mustang bridge probably isn't the way forward, but if anyone's had massive love with one of those as a replacement I might give it a shot.

Fanks in advance

punchesjudy

Honestly if you can live without individual saddle height adjustment then a Staytrem is the best bridge you could buy. 

Paul_C

You could file some deeper slots if the strings are jumping out.

Shimming the neck so the bridge/saddles sit a little higher will increase the break angle over the saddles and add a little more downward pressure.

Buy a Buzz Stop (which does more of what the above solution does, but costs money).

Fit heavier strings.

gringopig

.

Gassage

10 pages, 2 bannings, @digitalscream resigns.

stickyfiddle

Short answer: Buy a Staytrem and stop worrying about it.

Long answer... 

The stock bridge can be made to work via a combination of deepening the slots, shimming the neck, applying loctite or nail varnish and just a little voodoo. But it's finicky and annoying and will make you swear a fair chunk in getting it sorted. 

There are a range of mods you can do instead:

- Shimming the neck pocket. You should do this regardless of what bridge solution you go for, as it improves the geometry of the whole system and helps the guitar sound better with any bridge. Just a 1/2" bit of business card type cardboard at the bridge end of the neck pocket might be enough. 2 or 3 pieces thick if you want a bit more downward force on the bridge. 

- Mustang bridge or just mustang saddles. Potentially cheaper than a Staytrem for close to the same thing, but the nylon (iirc) inserts that stop the bridge height posts slipping are worth the extra cash.

- Graphtech saddles. These are at the cheap end and also allow height adjustment for each saddle individually. But they also make it look slightly wrong. Nevertheless, probably the best option if you want a cheap-ish fix and to retain the individual saddle adjustment. I had them on a couple of Jags and a JM before the Staytrem was invented and was very happy. 

- Buzzstop. Often done by those who don't really "get" JMs. Makes it feel more like a Gibson. Introduces extra friction points, which hurts tuning stability, and encourages the strings to foul on the back of the bridge assembly. Also removes the gorgeous overtones from the bits of string behind the bridge that are such a big part of the JM sound. Also ugly.

- Mastery is lovely. But it's hella expensive, looks like bike parts and intonation is a compromise, whatever they say in the marketing. It also stops the bridge pivoting, which defeats the point of the JM trem.

- Staytrem is the perfect mid-point of everything. Similar to Callaham Strat hardware, it's just a really well engineered version of the original intention of the design.

builttospill

Had a Staytrem on my Johnny Marr Jag massive difference, like a Callaham on a strat it's the best upgrade you can do 

Johnnyseven

I had good results with Graphtech TUSQ saddles back when I owned 2 CIJ Jazzmasters.

jellybelly

Another vote for just dropping a Staytrem bridge in - both my Jaguar and Jazzmaster have one, and I even preferred it to the Mastery in direct comparison. They come with nylon sleeves to centre the bridge - I leave them on even though I use the tremolos of both guitars and the whole system works brilliantly without any tuning issues whatsoever. 

£65 well spent!

JD50

I have been playing Jags, Jazzmaster, Mustangs for 20 plus years.

Of all the options the Staytrem is the best for me, just drop it in and forget about any issues you may have had and just enjoy playing the guitar.

bairdy97

pretty resounding then, will be getting a staytrem asap, plus spending some quality time setting the thing up properly.

Thanks all 

Funkfingers

bairdy97 said:

I found a cheap replacement bridge on Amazon that had a single, deeper slot on each saddle which is slightly better, but I'm looking for a better solution. On both bridges strings have a habit of slipping off the saddles

If the strings escape from the guide grooves in both saddle types, you need to do something about the break angle between the bridge and the tailpiece. 

I installed the Staytrem bridge and collet set on my Fender AVRI '62 Jaguar. I'm not sure that I would want to chuck that much money at an MIJ/CIJ. 

stickyfiddle said:

Mustang bridge or just Mustang saddles.

This is what I did to my CIJ Jaguar. The saddles were still on the guitar when I traded it to HarrySeven.

stickyfiddle said:
Shimming the neck pocket. You should do this regardless of what bridge solution you go for, as it improves the geometry of the whole system and helps the guitar sound better with any bridge.

This ... and big strings. Minimum 11-48.

stickyfiddle

On a Jag, heavy strings help. I have 9s on my JM and they’re fine. Fight me!