Jaguar/Jazzmaster ATOM bridge defect.

[Jimir]

Hi guys
A number of months ago I bought my first offset, a Vintera Modified Jazzmaster. In a previous post I mentioned the problems I encountered with the Adjustomatic bridge on this guitar as in loose saddles and a rattling circlip. This problem was encountered on the initial Jazzmaster bought, a replacement bridge sent by Fender and then the new guitar that replaced the original Jazzmaster (Mastery Bridge was eventually fitted.)

Recently I had the opportunity to buy a secondhand Classic Player Special Jaguar in virtually mint condition for a very good price. When I viewed the guitar I noticed that it had the exact same ATOM bridge as originally fitted to Jazzmaster so I was careful to check that it didn’t have the same problems. It didn’t appear to however the saddles had never been adjusted for intonation and where in a straight line near the front of the bridge.

When I got the chance to set the guitar up and properly adjust the intonation I was very careful and made sure the string on the saddle was loose and away from the saddle when I adjusted it however as soon as the saddle on the B was moved backwards guess what, the exact same problem appeared as in loose saddle and rattling circlip. (I inserted a small piece of foam on either side of the saddle screw to stop the clip rattling and will probably fit another Mastery in the near future.)

This makes a total of four identical ATOM bridges where this defect has appeared. It’s caused by a thin, weak poorly manufactured circlip and on each occasion the problem has occurred on the B or G string saddle.

If you are thinking of buying any Fender offset with the ATOM bridge check the bridge thoroughly,
after four bridges I think I can confidently say that this is a manufacturing defect.
(The part code on the bottom of the bridge was the same on all four bridges.)

[timtam]

The CP jag and Vintera 60s modified JM do indeed appear to have the same AOM bridge. They have different Fender part numbers (0076230049 , 007623000) but Riley says those two numbers are the same part (Korean part number LPB-002 underneath) ..
https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-cl ... 076230049/

A drop of blue Loctite on the circlip might be the best fix.

[gbart14]

Hello, all. New to the forum, thanks for the ad. I see this is an older thread. I have a Meteora with the same bridge problem. Very annoying. The problem is that the retaining clip does not take up all the slack in the screw. Therefore, the screw can move fore and aft after intonation. I really needs a Gibson like retainer wire. The gap is about .020 +/- so for a quick fix, I took a .017 guitar string and cut it to length and then wound it around the end of the screw behind the adjuster head and then on to the next one. Not elegant but it works.

[NICQ]

There are lots of TOM replacement bridges with metric posts - from Gotoh, Schaller, Gibson etc

I had a TOM on my Thurston Moore Signature JM and it rattled all since day after I bought the guitar (new).. mind you that was a 1600eur guitar. Messed around with it a bit but then bought a cheap used Epiphone bridge used and had no problems with that ever since..

[adamrobertt]

I don't get the use of a TOM style bridge on a Jazzmaster at all. Probably the worst bridge choice for these guitars in general IMO

[Larry Mal]

I don't get the use of a TOM style bridge on a Jazzmaster at all. Probably the worst bridge choice for these guitars in general IMO

It's the worst choice on any guitar, the TOM bridge is not a good design. Literally every actual Fender design is far superior and it's not an accident either because Leo Fender was deliberately designing bridges to be better than the older Tuna-Matics were.

When a Tune-O-Matic is made decently it can be a usable bridge and all you have to deal with are the inherent deficiencies of its design, but what Fender puts on these guitars is just garbage and for a while there they weren't even made to the same radius as the necks are on certain models. Every time I see a TOM bridge on a Fender I realize that Fender is a bloated and out of touch company that really doesn't care all that greatly about their products and is running on fumes as far as design. Not only haven't they had a good new idea in decades but they are cycling through the bad ideas of the past just to save some money and don't really care about any of it.

I know I say this with some frequency on this site, but there are always new members here who might think that because Gibson and Fender use TOM bridges that they must be OK. But they aren't, Gibson and Fender only use them because Asian factories are set up to puke out very bad TOM bridges very cheaply and that's all that counts to these companies.

If I saw a TOM bridge on a Fender guitar I would never buy that guitar.