T-Style body with Jazzmaster bridge and tailpiece question
Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2020 6:54 pm
Please bear with me, my posts tend to be long, I'll post a TL;DR in this first paragraph for those who wish to skip the lengthy read: If I have a steep break angle across a Jazzmaster style bridge and am using a vintage style Jazzmaster bridge, would the Mastery be a better option? Everything I have read screams that I should do this, but $175? I'd like at least one person to tell me this is my best shot at dealing with my issues. And let me say, the problems are not severe, just annoying, and only present when I get heavy on the rhythm.
Sounds amazing, by the way. I mean, I certainly expected it to sound good. I didn't put in low quality parts, but it sounds far better than I expected.
For those interested, review pics and read on!
I recently built a guitar body from a block of mesquite and used epoxy as a filler (many voids) as well as a a means to thicken the body, as I ended up planing the blanks down to less than 1.5 inches.
Before there is a discussion of "should mesquite be used?" or "is it a good tone wood?" etc..., let me say, this was an experiment, not something I was planning on producing for public consumption or as a means of anything other than learning. Also, probably not fair to do a "tone comparison"... the body is made of mesquite and epoxy, the neck is wenge, it has a P90 in the neck, a Jazzmaster bridge/tailpiece setup, 250k pots and a push/pull tone that switches the parallel wiring of the bridge/neck combo to series. Not sure what exactly I would compare it to
And I did learn: 1) mesquite is extremely hard wood, and sands beautifully; 2) mesquite is extremely heavy, the guitar comes in at just under 12 lbs total. I have decided that I will again make a mesquite guitar, but I will hollow out the areas that do not house electronics. Definitely a 1/4" top in mesquite, but he body: either mesquite or mahogany... not a decision I have to make right now, though.
Anyway, to my question. I made this one in the Telecaster style, but I am asking this here because there are so many offset experts here. My question is: due to how close the tailpiece is to the bridge (and this is a Jazzmaster tailpiece and Jazzmaster bridge), the steep break angle either causes the back side of a couple strings to hit the intonation screw heads, or if I adjust the angle of the bridge toward the tailpiece, some strings hit the tips of the intonation screws. Turning the bridge around with the screw heads on the pickup side of the house is even worse. I'm wondering if the Mastery Bridge is the right one to solve this problem. Doesn't it handle a steep break angle across the saddles better than the vintage JM style? And aren't the intonation screws offset from the strings?
I've read and reviewed the Mastery, and I guess I am just looking for validation, hopefully from someone who has solved a similar issue using it. Before it was an option, I thought it was a great idea, but now that I got the "okay"... I want to at least have someone besides me think this is a good idea. Unless there's a compelling reason not to, I'm likely to order the bridge before the end of the weekend. Thanks for any input you wish to offer.
Note: one of this pics shows a buzz stop... that was the first thing I removed due to the string angle issue.
These are the two I am using for my question:
These are the progress pics if anyone is/was interested:
Sounds amazing, by the way. I mean, I certainly expected it to sound good. I didn't put in low quality parts, but it sounds far better than I expected.
For those interested, review pics and read on!
I recently built a guitar body from a block of mesquite and used epoxy as a filler (many voids) as well as a a means to thicken the body, as I ended up planing the blanks down to less than 1.5 inches.
Before there is a discussion of "should mesquite be used?" or "is it a good tone wood?" etc..., let me say, this was an experiment, not something I was planning on producing for public consumption or as a means of anything other than learning. Also, probably not fair to do a "tone comparison"... the body is made of mesquite and epoxy, the neck is wenge, it has a P90 in the neck, a Jazzmaster bridge/tailpiece setup, 250k pots and a push/pull tone that switches the parallel wiring of the bridge/neck combo to series. Not sure what exactly I would compare it to
And I did learn: 1) mesquite is extremely hard wood, and sands beautifully; 2) mesquite is extremely heavy, the guitar comes in at just under 12 lbs total. I have decided that I will again make a mesquite guitar, but I will hollow out the areas that do not house electronics. Definitely a 1/4" top in mesquite, but he body: either mesquite or mahogany... not a decision I have to make right now, though.
Anyway, to my question. I made this one in the Telecaster style, but I am asking this here because there are so many offset experts here. My question is: due to how close the tailpiece is to the bridge (and this is a Jazzmaster tailpiece and Jazzmaster bridge), the steep break angle either causes the back side of a couple strings to hit the intonation screw heads, or if I adjust the angle of the bridge toward the tailpiece, some strings hit the tips of the intonation screws. Turning the bridge around with the screw heads on the pickup side of the house is even worse. I'm wondering if the Mastery Bridge is the right one to solve this problem. Doesn't it handle a steep break angle across the saddles better than the vintage JM style? And aren't the intonation screws offset from the strings?
I've read and reviewed the Mastery, and I guess I am just looking for validation, hopefully from someone who has solved a similar issue using it. Before it was an option, I thought it was a great idea, but now that I got the "okay"... I want to at least have someone besides me think this is a good idea. Unless there's a compelling reason not to, I'm likely to order the bridge before the end of the weekend. Thanks for any input you wish to offer.
Note: one of this pics shows a buzz stop... that was the first thing I removed due to the string angle issue.
These are the two I am using for my question:
These are the progress pics if anyone is/was interested: