Jazzmaster Bridge Issue - Fact or Fiction?

Keyzer

Apologies if this has been asked in the past...

I'm in the market for a Fender Jazzmaster but I'm reluctant to fork out the cash for a guitar with such a notoriously bad bridge setup.

My nephew has a jaguar and the bridge is a disaster on that.

Anyone got a Jazzmaster recently who can tell me if the bridge on the jazzmaster is as bad as the jaguar?

If so, what did you do to resolve the issue?

What about one of these - http://www.masterybridge.com/artists.html ??

rcaz

With a good setup, and in desperate cases, a bit of Loctite, there isn't an issue. The Jazzmaster, and then later Jaguar, were designed when 11s were the lightest strings around. If you put 11s or 12s on it, and set it up nicely, the strings won't jump out of their grooves. If it rattles too much, you could put some Loctite on the action screws, and if you really need it, you should shim the neck and raise the bridge up. The problems all come from the shallow break angle over the bridge. Higher action will help with it.

I'm guessing if you're looking for a Jazzmaster, you don't want to play shred solos on 9s or 8s with super-low action, so I think you'll be fine.

The Mastery bridge is excellent, but expensive. If I had the money, I'd definitely think about getting one, but there are ways to make the stock bridge work fine too, which I did.

You said "notoriously bad bridge setup - that's all it is. If you play one in a shop, it'll have 9s or 10s on it and be set up like a strat or tele. Don't judge these amazing guitars on that

Keyzer

I think I'll get a mastery bridge - our old friend Nels Cline has them on his

The 62 reissue in Olympic White is amazing...

I assume you have a jazzmaster, is it a US or JAP version?
Do you know if there is a massive difference to justify the extra €1000 for the reissue?

ball ox

The 62 reissue in Olympic White is amazing...

I have one of these and it pisses all over the rest of my guitars. I don't know what it is about it but it just feels amazing to play and you can get a whole range of tones from it. The neck, although slightly shorter than most, feels beautiful.

I don't know if I'd bother with a mastery bridge, it's a bit costly after forking out that much for a guitar. I just stuck in a mustang bridge and wrapped the pole pieces with masking tape so that it wont rock. Stays in tune rock solid and it's been like that for the past year.
I use 11's on it and would not recommend anything lighter. they feel more like 10's because of the short scale neck.

rcaz

Keyzer wrote: »

I think I'll get a mastery bridge - our old friend Nels Cline has them on his

The 62 reissue in Olympic White is amazing...

I assume you have a jazzmaster, is it a US or JAP version?
Do you know if there is a massive difference to justify the extra €1000 for the reissue?

Yeah, sorry, I forgot to mention. I've got a CIJ Jazzmaster. From what I've heard, the build quality is just as good, but the vibrato unit and pickups are where they skimp. CIJ JM pickups are just strat pickups in big empty boxes, and the springs in the vibrato are really weak. I think if you get a CIJ JM, and get an AVRI vibrato and Seymour Duncan Antiquity or Curtis Novak pickups, you'll have just as good a guitar, if not better, than the AVRI one.

rcaz

All you need to know about the Jazzmaster bridge. If you want to learn more about offsets, specifically the Fender offsets, there isn't a bigger wealth of offset knowledge on the internet than offsetguitars.com