Mastery bridge swap on MIM Classic Player Jazzmaster Special

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caldera
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Mastery bridge swap on MIM Classic Player Jazzmaster Special

Post by caldera » Tue May 03, 2016 5:25 am

Well, my CP JM is finally complete! I wanted to document a few things, for anyone who might come after. I know searching this forum helped me when I first was entering the JM world.

I purchased a MIM Classic Player Jazzmaster Special, which has the special "hot Jazzmaster" pickups and an AOM (TOM) bridge. I swapped the MIM tremolo for an Pure Vintage (American Vintage) tremolo. The Pure Vintage unit is significantly heavier and seems like a much higher quality part. In addition to that, the tremolo action itself is much more fluid and it returns to pitch a lot better. It also uses a pop-in arm (sold seperately) which stays where you put it, rather than the screw in/floppy one. I also swapped the pickups for the Pure Vintage '65 Jazzmaster pickups, swapped the tuners with some Pure Vintage tuners. I was getting a good deal more 60 cycle hum than I was used to with my strat, so I shielded all the body cavities and the whole back of the pickguard with copper foil shielding tape, and the hum while not totally gone is greatly reduced. I'm very pleased with how these mods worked out.

As far as swapping the bridge with a Mastery Bridge, the CP JM came with the TOM bridge which means of course that it had the threaded bushings. I bought the kit from Mastery which included the bridge itself plus a new set of thimbles. I tried the recommended tricks to remove the existing bushings, such as heating them, dropping a screw in and attempting to unscrew them... nothing worked. They were in there tighter than you would believe. I ended up taking them to LGS and they were able to remove them and set the new ones in for me with no finish damage at all, for just an hour of labor. Not a bad trade.

The Mastery bridge fits very precisely into the thimbles they sell. After installing the Mastery, I have noticed an increase in sustain. I haven't had enough time to judge whether the string breakage issue I was having with the TOM was cured. Tone seems to have modestly improved, sustain moderately improved. Very satisfied, overall.

The tech said he normally recommended using 10s on a Jazzmaster even with the Mastery bridge. Mine is set up with 9s, and I do not hear any buzzing behind the bridge. Perhaps this is because the CP has the trem moved closer to the bridge than the vintage JMs. YMMV

Just wanted to add my thoughts. Good luck with all your mods!

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El Pelo
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Re: Mastery bridge swap on MIM Classic Player Jazzmaster Spe

Post by El Pelo » Wed May 04, 2016 12:55 pm

Thanks for sharing. I would prob get a mastery for my MIM jazzmaster but I like drop in replacements. It's kinda frustrating mastery hasn't developed something to drop in...makes me wonder how potential customers they lose.

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caldera
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Re: Mastery bridge swap on MIM Classic Player Jazzmaster Spe

Post by caldera » Wed May 04, 2016 6:18 pm

El Pelo wrote:Thanks for sharing. I would prob get a mastery for my MIM jazzmaster but I like drop in replacements. It's kinda frustrating mastery hasn't developed something to drop in...makes me wonder how potential customers they lose.
I understand that feeling, but really, most people probably consider the TOM a fine upgrade and don't feel the need for anything better. I just like tinkering and doing little projects on my guitars, even if some parts are done by a tech! And the installation didn't cost much anyway, so I figured it was worthwhile.

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caldera
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Re: Mastery bridge swap on MIM Classic Player Jazzmaster Spe

Post by caldera » Wed May 04, 2016 6:26 pm

Here are some pics of the final state:

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El Pelo
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Re: Mastery bridge swap on MIM Classic Player Jazzmaster Spe

Post by El Pelo » Thu May 05, 2016 5:56 am

Wow that's a beauty! I love it :-*

I'm with you. I like tinkering and changing little things here and there. Not sure if you changed it but the AVRI trem is a nice upgrade to the CP jazzmaster. Has a totally different feel. That was the first thing I changed on mine.

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caldera
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Re: Mastery bridge swap on MIM Classic Player Jazzmaster Spe

Post by caldera » Thu May 05, 2016 6:14 am

El Pelo wrote:Wow that's a beauty! I love it

I'm with you. I like tinkering and changing little things here and there. Not sure if you changed it but the AVRI trem is a nice upgrade to the CP jazzmaster. Has a totally different feel. That was the first thing I changed on mine.
Yes, I did get an AVRI trem. I agree, it's much better.

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NewKId
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Re: Mastery bridge swap on MIM Classic Player Jazzmaster Special

Post by NewKId » Fri Feb 15, 2019 4:16 pm

Do you still have this guitar? How has it performed over he last few years?
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blackgold
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Re: Mastery bridge swap on MIM Classic Player Jazzmaster Special

Post by blackgold » Thu Feb 28, 2019 1:27 pm

NewKId wrote:
Fri Feb 15, 2019 4:16 pm
Do you still have this guitar? How has it performed over he last few years?
@caldera x2

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noctisariel
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Re: Mastery bridge swap on MIM Classic Player Jazzmaster Special

Post by noctisariel » Fri Jan 03, 2020 9:40 am

Curious, as I'm trying to get a Mastery installed on my MIM JM as well - did the shop have to dowel the guitar body after removing the threaded thimbles to install the mastery thimbles? I was under the impression that was the only way to make up for the difference in size between the two thimbles. Thanks, and beautiful guitar!

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andy_tchp
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Re: Mastery bridge swap on MIM Classic Player Jazzmaster Special

Post by andy_tchp » Fri Jan 03, 2020 4:40 pm

noctisariel wrote:
Fri Jan 03, 2020 9:40 am
Curious, as I'm trying to get a Mastery installed on my MIM JM as well - did the shop have to dowel the guitar body after removing the threaded thimbles to install the mastery thimbles? I was under the impression that was the only way to make up for the difference in size between the two thimbles. Thanks, and beautiful guitar!
Yes that's correct - dowel, redrill and press in the replacement thimbles on these models.
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David McComb, 1987.

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