Johnny Marr bridge on a Vintera JM?
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peterherman
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Johnny Marr bridge on a Vintera JM?
I'm not in love with the full vintage style saddle situation on the Vintera 60s (not the modified). Will a Marr bridge drop right in on these? They seem like 1.) they're a Fender-made Staytrem and 2.) they're actually available outside of the UK for less than a billion spacebucks.
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adamrobertt
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Re: Johnny Marr bridge on a Vintera JM?
Yes. They are fixed at 7.25'' radius, but I'm pretty sure that's the radius of your fretboard. You should double check though.peterherman wrote: ↑Fri Jul 17, 2020 7:01 amI'm not in love with the full vintage style saddle situation on the Vintera 60s (not the modified). Will a Marr bridge drop right in on these? They seem like 1.) they're a Fender-made Staytrem and 2.) they're actually available outside of the UK for less than a billion spacebucks.
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peterherman
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Re: Johnny Marr bridge on a Vintera JM?
Yep, 7.25 confirmed. Thanks!adamrobertt wrote: ↑Sat Jul 18, 2020 5:05 pmYes. They are fixed at 7.25'' radius, but I'm pretty sure that's the radius of your fretboard. You should double check though.peterherman wrote: ↑Fri Jul 17, 2020 7:01 amI'm not in love with the full vintage style saddle situation on the Vintera 60s (not the modified). Will a Marr bridge drop right in on these? They seem like 1.) they're a Fender-made Staytrem and 2.) they're actually available outside of the UK for less than a billion spacebucks.
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low_fidelity2100
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Re: Johnny Marr bridge on a Vintera JM?
Can't say about the marr bridge for sure fitting on the vintera. (Though specs seem to line up so I would assume it'll work)
But if you're looking for cheap alternative Mustang style bridges (which the staytrem is basically a slightly improved Mustang bridge that just costs way too much). There's a ton of cheap Mustang bridges available. Way cheaper than the marr bridge, or staytrem.
The warmth modified bridge is surprisingly really good, as is the Allparts mustang bridge. The bridges used on the older blacktop JM are also good and cheap. Though they're all not built to quite as tight a tolerance as staytrem (but definitely good enough).
Another, even cheaper option is simply modifying your current bridge. Using telecaster saddles. (I like uncompensated brass...but compensated saddles of any material will get the same results). I've been doing it since I got my first JM in the 90's (sadly no longer have), and continue doing still
To illustrate
Really easy to do. And only costs whatever the tele saddles cost. The saddles but right up against eachother, and saddle material choice can make a difference in tone. And having more travel in the saddle height makes it much easier to get your action wherever you want without worrying about the strings hitting the back edge of the bridge (and causing issues when using the trem). Its my preferred bridge on a JM, over everything else.
That said, it is a bit weird having the low e saddle coming out the opposite side from the rest. But it works out better that way, and allows more room for height adjustment (with all saddles on the same side, the e/a saddle ends up to close to the back edge when intonated, and severely limits the heights it can be set at)
Another weird benefit of doing this is....if you for whatever reason want to have the trem only affect certain strings (like a B bender for example), you can simply string some through the holes left over from the JM saddles and have those effectively be hard tailed. (You'll need to stabilize the bridge so it can't rock at all if you wanna do this though).
But if you're looking for cheap alternative Mustang style bridges (which the staytrem is basically a slightly improved Mustang bridge that just costs way too much). There's a ton of cheap Mustang bridges available. Way cheaper than the marr bridge, or staytrem.
The warmth modified bridge is surprisingly really good, as is the Allparts mustang bridge. The bridges used on the older blacktop JM are also good and cheap. Though they're all not built to quite as tight a tolerance as staytrem (but definitely good enough).
Another, even cheaper option is simply modifying your current bridge. Using telecaster saddles. (I like uncompensated brass...but compensated saddles of any material will get the same results). I've been doing it since I got my first JM in the 90's (sadly no longer have), and continue doing still
To illustrate
Really easy to do. And only costs whatever the tele saddles cost. The saddles but right up against eachother, and saddle material choice can make a difference in tone. And having more travel in the saddle height makes it much easier to get your action wherever you want without worrying about the strings hitting the back edge of the bridge (and causing issues when using the trem). Its my preferred bridge on a JM, over everything else.
That said, it is a bit weird having the low e saddle coming out the opposite side from the rest. But it works out better that way, and allows more room for height adjustment (with all saddles on the same side, the e/a saddle ends up to close to the back edge when intonated, and severely limits the heights it can be set at)
Another weird benefit of doing this is....if you for whatever reason want to have the trem only affect certain strings (like a B bender for example), you can simply string some through the holes left over from the JM saddles and have those effectively be hard tailed. (You'll need to stabilize the bridge so it can't rock at all if you wanna do this though).