Bridge repacement for CP jazzmaster

[Bruce48]

I've been a member of this forum fot a while now-sort of lurking on the perimeter. The posts have been very helpful and this is certainly the forum for jazzmasters. I have a 2014 Classic Player Jazzmaster; I would appreciate your input re. a drop-in bridge with adjustable height individual saddles (where can I purchase one?). I DO NOt want to remove the thimbles and drill etc.. I've worked the rattles out of the original TOM bridge, but it is just not good enough for setting string height - on this guitar.
My second issue is an old one: I'm using 9-46s and my neck relief is at .015 " to .017". The truss rod nut was last turned clockwise and I had to use a lot of tension to get to this relief. Any more clockwise turning will probably result in breakage to the truss rod. I can 't understand why so much tension was required to reach this point. I would like to set the relief to .010" but I'm hesitant to try for obvious reasons. Could someone give me some advice on this reief issue and the bridge swap? Thanks for any helpful input.

[Danley]

I’ll let someone else chime in on the bridge, since I’m not familiar with any drop-ins like that; have you tried shimming the neck to get the action you want, or is it really a string to string issue? That said- I totally get wanting individual saddle action screws.

For the truss rod, you could try removing the nut and adding washers/spacers behind it, to increase the amount the rod is able to reduce the relief. That solution somewhat depends on whether the nut would then stick too far into the neck cavity: but I believe it’s also possible to make or buy a shortened nut.

[timtam]

Your CP AOM bridge should be the 0076230000 ..
http://wscmusic.com/itemView.php?query= ... =3839&lv=1
It has posts that are M8 at the bottom and M6 on top. Measure yours to verify that is what you have.

EDIT: removed wrong gotoh saddle height-adjustable bridge

There is some experience here with the gotoh 510bn with height-adjustable saddles, which has ABR-style smaller posts.

http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... =6&t=52887
It probably would not sit straight on top of the existing CP AOM posts, as the gotoh's holes are spec-ed at 4.5mm, not 6mm.
https://www.realparts.com.au/bridges-ta ... hrome.html
But the bridge holes could possibly be enlarged in a metal shop.
Or conversion posts to go from M8 to ~4mm would probably work. Again, no guarantees. Note that bridge height would then be set by thumb wheels.
https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.co ... ne-nickel/

Truss rods are 'righty (CW) tighty, lefty (CCW) loosy'. So one loosens CCW to increase relief in a flatter neck, ie allow the string force to add relief. And tightens CW to reduce relief if there is too much. So did you start with too much relief, and tightened the rod to reduce it ?

[Bruce48]

No , I started with too much relief; i removed the neck three times , always turning the truss rod nut clockwise. I probably turned the nut one complete turn (total) and I noticed increasing resistance. I checked the relief then and found it to be at ,020. So I played the jazzmaster for the last few months that way...never being satisfied with string height. So, after playing my 62' Strat reissue the other day , I realized that .020 was truly unacceptable ( my Strat is set up at .010 ). The difference in playability was profound. So I pulled off the neck and turned the nut a 1/2 turn...that only got me to .015. Reset the bridge to eliminate some fret-out higher than the 12th fret, but the action is still too high. When I sight the neck, I can see a slight bow. Should I shimm the nut with washers or keep turning it without washers? This guitar probably sat idle with a bowed neck for 5 years before I purchased it. So maybe the neck is extra stiff i.e. resistant to change?

[Bruce48]

Regarding the Gotoh bridge that you referred to, I have the proper machinery and drill bits to enlarge the Gotoh post holes from 4.5mm to 6mm. It is cettainly worth a try. Thank you for the information re that bridge. Do you know who sells it, Stew Mac.?

[timtam]

Regarding the Gotoh bridge that you referred to, I have the proper machinery and drill bits to enlarge the Gotoh post holes from 4.5mm to 6mm. It is cettainly worth a try. Thank you for the information re that bridge. Do you know who sells it, Stew Mac.?

Allparts and ebay is where I have mostly seen the gotoh 510bn. It's not on the gotoh website AFAIK.

Let us know how you go with it. There is certainly interest in a TOM/AOM that allows the radius mismatch to be addressed.

You're not that far off ideal relief. Fender spec for a 9.5 radius neck is 0.010-inch (0.25mm). The washer method assumes that the nut has already reached the end of the threaded section of the truss rod. The washer inserted between nut and rod pushes the nut out a tad, giving the nut back a little more thread to work on. To add the washer to the CP's heel adjust rod, you take the nut out and insert the washer like this ....
https://www.talkbass.com/attachments/re ... pg.2063142
Fender sells washers. I haven't used these, so I'm just assumig they will work for all Fender truss rods (heel adjust, headstock adjust etc).
https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-fl ... 022335049/
5.2mm/0.204″ ID , 9.3mm0.367 ” OD , 0.8mm/0.032″ thick.

That may get you closer to the action you want. A bridge with adjustable saddles should give you the ability to get the action on the outer strings down lower than you can with the current too-flat AOM bridge (filing the string grooves a tad lower on those saddles would be another option).

[Bruce48]

Thank you for all of your helpful input. TheAllparts bridge ( Gotoh 510bn ) is back ordered and the the $45 Ebay bridge comes in gold only. So I'll be waiting to hear from Alparts when more bridges arrive. I've decided to take my CP jazz. to a local luthier - who has been setting up guitars for a very long time ; I think that the truss rod problem is above my pay grade.
Thanks again for your time and input to my guitar problems.

[andy_tchp]

^ Have them cut the bridge saddle slots to the correct depth/radius while it's there, should take all of around 5 minutes.