Putting a finish on alder bodies

Danchi

Aloha folks.

I'm hoping for some advice from a knowledgeable crowd such as this one!

First, i'm not a purist! I mainly tune my guitars to all kinds of crazy. Never use loads of distortion as i want the notes to be heard, the bad ones and the good ones :-). Defo in the Sonic Youth camp as far as this concerned.

I already have a Fano JM6 with P90s (swamp ask body and maple neck) and a K-Line SB (alder body and maple/rosewood neck) with mini humbuckers. Both sound really nice. The Fano is big and juicy and the K-Line has this great percussive style attack, especially in the middle position. Both are hard tail.

I've got in mind 2 options.

1) Alder body with a P90 in the bridge and a mini humbucker in the neck. I know nothing about shims , etc but it seems to me that the Mastery bridge is will spoken of. I'd like a JM style vibrato unit and the Staytrem gets a lot of mentions.

For the neck i'd like a solid rosewood (had a PRS with one, didn't gel with the guitar so much but the neck was gorgeous) 44mm width at the nut (fatish fingers) and a more traditional fretboard radius as i don't really do solos. So, either 7.5" or 9.5". Frets, i'd go for wide and flat. Have an old ASAT with these and i like it. When i had it set up the guy said they were very similar to old LP fret types. Was thinking of schaller locking tuners as i thought the less winds the better. Nut type yet to be decided.

2) Alder body with a vintage humbucker in the bridge and a humbucker sized gold foil in the neck (have a a Harmony H14 with gold foils - awesome sounding guitar!!). I'd go for the humbucker rout in the neck just to give me options. Same Mastery bridge and Staytrem options as option 1).

Same neck profile, frets, tuners, etc. Was thinking of a maple neck with a rosewood board though.

I wonder if any of you could cast an eye over that and offer any advice? 

I've been told for instance that the Staytrem only works with certain fretboard radiuses (what's up with their website btw..?)

Others have said the Staytrem is no better than a well set up fender JM bridge.

p.s. i will also say that i plan on implementing different wiring that would give me dual volumes, Leo's PTB (passive treble and bass pots), and series/parallel switching as explained here: https://reverb.com/uk/news/upgrading-jazzmaster-electronics-part-II-wiring-mods

Cheers!

thermionic

Danchi said:

 

I've been told for instance that the Staytrem only works with certain fretboard radiuses (what's up with their website btw..?)

Others have said the Staytrem is no better than a well set up fender JM bridge.

 

Staytrem bridges come in two fixed radii (i.e. the saddles aren't individually height adjustable) for 7.25" and (I think) 9.5". AFAIK, Mustang bridges only come in 7.25" which is not ideal for 9.5" radius boards like the Squiers and Classic Players, although many people use them with no problems. The Staytrem also has marginally tighter string spacing which helps the E strings getting too close to the edge of the fretboard.

Personally, I found the Staytrem to be a massive improvement over a stock Jaguar bridge. I can see what Leo was trying to do with it, but the whole assembly has too many adjusting screws resulting in play and things rattling loose.

Danchi

^ Thanks for that, i appreciate it. Especially the bit about the Mustang bridge ideally being for 7.25" radius.

stickyfiddle

I have a Staytrem bridge on my newly complete MJT Jazzmaster and to be honest it's the weakest thing on the build. It doesn't adjust itself through vibration while playing like the stock ones do, but that comes of the price of very little adjustment, and i've got an issue with the high E saddle moving laterally that I could fix on a JM bridge by raising the saddle height and dropping the baseplate. Combined with the strings fouling on the adjustment screws if you set the break angle where I'd normally have it on an offset and it's all just a little less than perfect. 

Not major issues, and it's otherwise a really good sounding and well made bridge, but it's certainly making me consider a Mastery.

Danchi

stickyfiddle said:

I have a Staytrem bridge on my newly complete MJT Jazzmaster and to be honest it's the weakest thing on the build. It doesn't adjust itself through vibration while playing like the stock ones do, but that comes of the price of very little adjustment, and i've got an issue with the high E saddle moving laterally that I could fix on a JM bridge by raising the saddle height and dropping the baseplate. Combined with the strings fouling on the adjustment screws if you set the break angle where I'd normally have it on an offset and it's all just a little less than perfect. Not major issues, and it's otherwise a really good sounding and well made bridge, but it's certainly making me consider a Mastery.

Ah! I see. I thought Mastery just did the bridge, not the trem unit. So, i can get both from them. That's cool.

Did you have to shim the neck at all on your MJT build or did they make the parts so that it wasn't needed?

stickyfiddle

Danchi said:

stickyfiddle said:

I have a Staytrem bridge on my newly complete MJT Jazzmaster and to be honest it's the weakest thing on the build. It doesn't adjust itself through vibration while playing like the stock ones do, but that comes of the price of very little adjustment, and i've got an issue with the high E saddle moving laterally that I could fix on a JM bridge by raising the saddle height and dropping the baseplate. Combined with the strings fouling on the adjustment screws if you set the break angle where I'd normally have it on an offset and it's all just a little less than perfect. Not major issues, and it's otherwise a really good sounding and well made bridge, but it's certainly making me consider a Mastery.

Ah! I see. I thought Mastery just did the bridge, not the trem unit. So, i can get both from them. That's cool.

Did you have to shim the neck at all on your MJT build or did they make the parts so that it wasn't needed?

They did the parts just as Fender would, so it still needs shimming. It's no hassle though - just a couple of bits of cereal-packet cardboard at the bridge-end of the neck pocket before you bolt it together.

My trem is the AVRI Fender one, as I like the trem lock that the Mastery doesn't have. I'm sure the Mastery trem is a fantastic bit of kit though.

olafgarten

stickyfiddle said:

Danchi said:

stickyfiddle said:

I have a Staytrem bridge on my newly complete MJT Jazzmaster and to be honest it's the weakest thing on the build. It doesn't adjust itself through vibration while playing like the stock ones do, but that comes of the price of very little adjustment, and i've got an issue with the high E saddle moving laterally that I could fix on a JM bridge by raising the saddle height and dropping the baseplate. Combined with the strings fouling on the adjustment screws if you set the break angle where I'd normally have it on an offset and it's all just a little less than perfect. Not major issues, and it's otherwise a really good sounding and well made bridge, but it's certainly making me consider a Mastery.

Ah! I see. I thought Mastery just did the bridge, not the trem unit. So, i can get both from them. That's cool.

Did you have to shim the neck at all on your MJT build or did they make the parts so that it wasn't needed?

They did the parts just as Fender would, so it still needs shimming. It's no hassle though - just a couple of bits of cereal-packet cardboard at the bridge-end of the neck pocket before you bolt it together.

My trem is the AVRI Fender one, as I like the trem lock that the Mastery doesn't have. I'm sure the Mastery trem is a fantastic bit of kit though.

The Trem Lock is great especially if you change tuning.

Danchi

Yeah, the Trem Lock does sound like it would be handy when i'm changing tuning! Thanks for the tip!

So, regards to the shims. If you have a Mastery bridge fitted, do you still need them?

Danchi

Graham from FB has made me a couple of necks and bodies and i received them on Monday!



The bodies are both alder. I'm thinking of finishing them myself. 

What i would like to do is put an image of one of them. Probably a simple stencil design and then put a see through finish on the bodies. If i could tint it i'd be even happier!

Is tru-oil the thing to go for? I would really appreciate any advice on this :-)