Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

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fisonic
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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by fisonic » Sun May 27, 2018 11:49 pm

IMHO the mastery works better with mastery thimbles than stock Fender ones(AVRI).

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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by Tidepoolbay » Wed May 30, 2018 11:51 am

Nice Work!

I have only used Mastery bridges. I am very happy with them, but Staytrem looks good as well. I have used Staytrem bars and Mastery bars and am happy with both.

Thank you!
Woof!

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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by armyofbees » Wed Jun 27, 2018 12:13 pm

great comparison! I have a staytrem on my jazzmaster and I absolutely love it. I've heard nothing but good things about the mastery as well, but I preferred the classic look of the staytrem.

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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by B » Thu Jun 28, 2018 10:28 pm

I have owned several of each on many of my Offsets, used both quite extensively, and much prefer the Staytrem. The look, feel and particularly the sound of the Staytrem was just better. (Though IMO a stock American made bridge still sounds the best to me, all of their shortcomings aside.)

Plus $180 for a bridge with buzzes and rattles I have to find and cure, which EVERY Mastery I have ever owned has done, is somewhat unacceptable to me. Every benefit the Mastery provides can be achieved with the Staytrem at half the price... And look and sound better to boot. Add the fact that you can't use a wound 4th string on a Mastery and I just can't justify purchasing them any more.
Last edited by B on Thu Jun 28, 2018 10:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by B » Thu Jun 28, 2018 10:35 pm

fisonic wrote:
Sun May 27, 2018 11:49 pm
IMHO the mastery works better with mastery thimbles than stock Fender ones(AVRI).
Though I much prefer the Staytrem, I 105% agree with this. Don't buy a bridge that expensive and then cheap out and use your stock thimbles. There is absolutely a difference you can hear and feel. The EXTREMELY precise tolerance between those two parts (the Mastery posts and the Mastery thimbles) is quite impressive.

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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by RYAN1987M » Sat Jan 26, 2019 7:05 am

Sorry to bump this old thread, but...

Can anyone confirm if the Staytrem bridge would be a drop-in replacement for an American Professional Jaguar?

I'm especially unclear on whether or not new thimbles would be required or if the stock Am Pro ones are fine.

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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by Fuzzbuzz » Sat Jan 26, 2019 7:07 am

RYAN1987M wrote:
Sat Jan 26, 2019 7:05 am
Sorry to bump this old thread, but...

Can anyone confirm if the Staytrem bridge would be a drop-in replacement for an American Professional Jaguar?

I'm especially unclear on whether or not new thimbles would be required or if the stock Am Pro ones are fine.
It is a drop in replacement. I regret spending the money on a replacement however as the original bridge worked pretty much the same. That is I regretted buying a Staytrem until I was able to sell it for a little more than what I paid for it.

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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by RYAN1987M » Sat Jan 26, 2019 11:04 am

Fuzzbuzz wrote:
Sat Jan 26, 2019 7:07 am
RYAN1987M wrote:
Sat Jan 26, 2019 7:05 am
Sorry to bump this old thread, but...

Can anyone confirm if the Staytrem bridge would be a drop-in replacement for an American Professional Jaguar?

I'm especially unclear on whether or not new thimbles would be required or if the stock Am Pro ones are fine.
It is a drop in replacement. I regret spending the money on a replacement however as the original bridge worked pretty much the same. That is I regretted buying a Staytrem until I was able to sell it for a little more than what I paid for it.
I really appreciate that feedback too. Awesome to know that a Staytrem is an easy option if I feel the need to go that direction...but even more awesome to hear that you're really satisfied with the stock bridge!

I've just gotten myself paranoid about issues with string spacing and the E-strings falling off the fretboard. I haven't even decided to buy the guitar yet - but I wanted to know, before I do, if I'd have an easy option if I love everything other than the stock bridge.

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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by Embenny » Mon Jan 28, 2019 6:45 am

Well, the Staytrem is only an "easy" solution if you're in the UK these days. Otherwise you're begging for scraps and overpaying on eBay.

I own 3 Mastery bridges and 4 Staytrems. 2 of my 3 Mastery bridges have repeatedly caused weird buzzes. In one of them it's because it isn't sitting perfectly tight in its (vintage) thimble - it slowly works loose and buzzes, but if you apply pressure directly downward on it it re-seats and temporarily stop. Incredibly, incredibly annoying. That was my second Mastery and was going to be my last until I "inherited" one on a guitar I traded for. In contrast, none of my Staytrems have ever buzzed in any way.

If I could still buy Staytrems easily, none of my guitars would have anything else. I even picked up a used AV65 because it had a Staytrem and I figured I could keep the bridge and flip the guitar for what I paid...but I "unfortunately" fell in love with the guitar, so I ended up with one more Staytrem but one more guitar that needed it.
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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by Jaga » Wed Mar 20, 2019 8:18 am

Hello everyone!

I'm curious, who knows the answer, will Staytrem rocking bridge fit Mastery thimbles?
Check out my videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/alexeyjaga

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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by Jaga » Wed Mar 20, 2019 8:32 am

I believe that it should since Mastery thimbles have .310″ inside diameter.
Check out my videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/alexeyjaga

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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by andy_tchp » Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:03 pm

Yes, drop in fit.
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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by minimumnishe » Thu Mar 21, 2019 8:51 pm

I figured I might as well chime in here since I've owned about 5 different offset bridges over the last few years:

Staytrem: Originally bought a 9.5 for my first squire jazzy, huge improvement over the stock squier bridge and a cheap import I bought from amazon. Didn't spend a lot of time with that guitar though.
When I bought my AV65 the first thing I did was order a 7.25 and sell the squier, keeping the other staytrem.

Immediately, I noticed that the staytrem sounded thumpier and far less sustaining than the stock bridge, and I lost out on a lot of those jangly overtones.

The rattle-free system did its job, although I did end up with the high e saddle on the 7.25 bridge come loose from the tensioning disc. I went back to stock after a couple of months and sold both staytrems. (I was planning on keeping the 9.5 for a future squier, but changed my mind)


Mastery: I had ordered a OMV kit with bridge and vibrato and didn't like them at all.

The mastery still wanted to rock back and forth in the fender bridge thimbles, so I replaced them with the mastery ones to no improvement.

Many sets of strings would not intonate comfortably with the A string, including Tenorios, rotos, dr hi beams, you name it. Only D'addario regular 10-46 Xls worked comfortably, and at the time then 10s were an experiment since I had used 11's on the guitar since I got it. Another kick in the teeth with the mastery is the lack of even an option for using a wound g string, which is something I throw on when Im playing jazz shows.

I had horrible tuning stability when using the mastery, including with the stock vibrato and the mastery one.

Eventually sold both mastery parts and went back to stock again.


Now for the kicker: The MarrGuar bridge.

About a month ago a thread popped up saying that Darren Riley's shop had some in stock for a reasonable price, and this was just after I had done some researching on how to get one. I threw in an order and immediately fell in love with it.

The anti-sink bushings are great and work just as well as the ones on the staytrem.

The 52mm spacing on the new model is perfect for the polepiece spacing and playability.

The saddles are brass(?) and give a nice jangly jazzmaster tone that I adore from the stock bridge.

And best of all: I have it set to float and tuning stability couldn't be any better.

I officially crown the MarrGuar bridge as the best replacement offset bridge! 8)

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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by armchair_spaceman » Sat Mar 30, 2019 4:19 pm

Mastery or Staytrem for an American Professional JM?

I bought an AmPro JM a couple of monthe ago. There’s a lot to like about the guitar but I’m used to 52mm at the bridge (I have a Staytrem on my CIJ Jaguar) and just couldn’t adapt to the wider spacing on the Ampro. So what to do about that?

Just to see how it would fit, I swapped in the Staytrem off my Jag. It dropped straight into the nylon grommets in the JM. Ok the action was a bit off due to wrong radius but string spacing was right in the happy place. I could source another staytrem out of the UK with a little bit of hassle but being impatient went out yesterday and bought a Mastery M1 locally.

Early impressions:

Fit - Mastery website says their thimbles are required. The M1 dropped straight into the stock thimbles for a snug fit. Nice to not have to buy thimbles on top of the (scandalous in Australia) price of the bridge;

Setup - some adjustment required for bridge height and action but this was pretty easy really. Easier than a Strat IMO. I was able to set a nicer action (for me this means lower) than with the stock bridge.

Intonation - tuned up to pitch and intonation was spot on straight out of the box. Maybe I got lucky(?). The guitar is currently strung with Thomastik flatwounds (10-44) and no issues, even on the wound G.

Stability - I don’t go silly with the trem but no issues there. I did drop a little nut sauce on the contact points but I’d do that anyway.

Sound - this is where it gets interesting. The tone seems a bit ‘fatter’ to my ears with the new bridge, which I think I like. It was a bit ‘zingy’ with the stock bridge. Notes seem more clearly articulated. Sustain has definitely changed up quite an bit, which I also like.

Appearance and comfort - TBH I don’t care, it’s not a ‘vintage’ instrument anyway. I wondered if it would be comfortable to rest my hand on but it’s fine, no issues there.


YMMV but I’m happy with the Mastery bridge - fits well, setup was pretty easy and I like what it’s done for action and tone. Overall two thumbs up from me.

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Re: Mastery v Staytrem Bridge Comparison

Post by timtam » Sat Mar 30, 2019 5:07 pm

armchair_spaceman wrote:
Sat Mar 30, 2019 4:19 pm
I bought an AmPro JM a couple of monthe ago. There’s a lot to like about the guitar but I’m used to 52mm at the bridge (I have a Staytrem on my CIJ Jaguar) and just couldn’t adapt to the wider spacing on the Ampro. So what to do about that?
The current suspicion is that Fender may have changed the E-E string spacing on that Mustang-style 9.5" bridge recently. We have some reports of the aftermarket Am Pro bridge (7709942000) being close to 52mm, as quoted at that spacing by Riley ...
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=111601

They changed the spacing on the Marr 7.25" bridge similarly, but it was clearer that they had done so because they changed the part number. The Am Pro bridge has not changed part number AFAIK. So best to check on the E-E spacing with any supplier who does not quote it explicitly.
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