Newbie with a Musicmaster Bridge Question

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Mon Dec 19, 2011 7:59 pm

Hello everyone,

I'm a newbie from Puerto Rico, with a musicmaster question. 2 days ago I bought a 77-78 Musicmaster at a local pawnshop. It's well used, but for the price I couldn't pass it up ($130).

It's had a few parts replaced with... less than optimal replacements. I've been able to source adequate parts, but the biggest annoyance is a a single saddle height adjustment screw replaced with a short wood screw of the same width. Since the Musicmaster (and ime, the 3 saddle vintage Tele bridge) has inherent intonation issues, I'm deciding what to do, so I've come to you in search of advice.

Either A- replace all 3 saddles with wilkinson compensated tele saddles. or B- replace the bridge entirely with a GFS topmount hardtail bridge.

Does anyone here have experience with either of these options?

Thanks

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:13 pm

Personally i'd replace the saddles with compensated ones. Easiest option.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Tue Dec 20, 2011 3:47 am

$130. What an incredible score. Good Job. I love my 1978 Musicmaster to death.

Johnny Noir · Post by **Johnny Noir** » Tue Dec 20, 2011 8:07 am

i've had a 78 musicmaster.
one solution, not perfect but it intonates correctly, is:
- put down the saddles on the extremities, under the two E strings
- use a bigger G string

some people put a special gauge strings but i don't remember the 6 sizes.

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 4:55 pm

stewart wrote:Personally i'd replace the saddles with compensated ones. Easiest option.

It appears that I'll be going with this option. Are the saddles a direct replacement? Thanks again.

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 5:02 pm

Saddles rarely have a problem fitting on a bridge.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:04 pm

honeyiscool wrote:Saddles rarely have a problem fitting on a bridge.

actually tele saddles do sometimes have an issue fitting on this bridge. I know because I've had problems with it before. I think there are a couple different size adjustment screws that have been used with teles depending on the era. stewart found a set of compensated saddles that fit on this bridge though.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:17 pm

actually, hurb fitted those before i bought it from him. there used to be a guy on ebay who sold them specifically for MMs and duos, but not sure if his listings still crop up.

they look similar to these:

rather than these:

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 9:04 pm

Mages wrote:actually tele saddles do sometimes have an issue fitting on this bridge. I know because I've had problems with it before. I think there are a couple different size adjustment screws that have been used with teles depending on the era. stewart found a set of compensated saddles that fit on this bridge though.

I suppose. If you're willing to drill, though, hehe.

p.s. I like the tilted looking saddles more than the smooth ones. Looks more legit.

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:40 pm

I don't have any intonation issues on any of mine. You tried all the adjustments? Post pics! What color?

Johnny Noir · Post by **Johnny Noir** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 8:48 am

musicmaster saddles are larger than tele. If you put tele saddles, you need to add small things between; if not they gonna move.

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 4:04 pm

Johnny Noir wrote:musicmaster saddles are larger than tele. If you put tele saddles, you need to add small things between; if not they gonna move.

Maybe I could solder a very small piece of metal to the ends of the saddles to keep them from moving. I'll figure it out once they've arrived and I can measure them correctly.. Hopefully in early January, once the christmas present rush is done holding up the post office.

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 4:13 pm

DGNR8 wrote:You tried all the adjustments?

Not yet, the guy I take my guitars to is finishing up a guitar I bought in November (silver Squier Super Sonic, which the previous owner modded to hell and back... poorly, and I'm trying to restore it to playability). I've messed a bit with it, but the problem with the previous owner and the wood screw means I can't adjust one of the saddles for height at all. The limit of what I've done to it since buying it is trying to remove the smell of smoke and marijuana from it (I don't care if a person smokes or not, I just can't stand the smell of it on my instruments) and clean it up.

I'm also waiting on a few parts from GFS and ebay to arrive (saddles, string trees, new pots/knobs, new pickup to better suit my style, and a treble bleed), so I can drop them all off in one trip.

DGNR8 wrote:Post pics! What color?

Here you go. Sorry about the quality, they're cellphone shots. Once I get home, perhaps I'll pull out the good camera and give it a 'before' photoshoot.

The first 3 were immediately after I bought it... I swung by the bar to share it with a few friends and get a beer. The last one is of it at my house.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:34 pm

d'you have any closer up pics of the saddles that are on it? just curious, they've obviously been replaced at some point already.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 5:50 pm

dayumn, looks like the PATMASTER only with less MOJO on the body

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 10:48 pm

stewart wrote:d'you have any closer up pics of the saddles that are on it? just curious, they've obviously been replaced at some point already.

Here you go

Johnny Noir · Post by **Johnny Noir** » Fri Dec 23, 2011 9:04 am

it's not compensated saddles. your intonate issues won't be solve.
and you see the 2 saddles (right and left) are not straight you need to paste something between.

but it looks pretty.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Fri Dec 23, 2011 4:44 pm

Shit that's pretty. Nice score.

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Fri Dec 23, 2011 4:59 pm

Pens wrote:Shit that's pretty. Nice score.

Thanks! Puerto Rico has a pretty schizophrenic used guitar market, and if you know how to work it, you can get some amazing deals (and if you don't, you'll get completely ripped off). I know of a few guys who make decent money buying used instruments locally at good prices and flipping them on ebay.

This is an example of one of those potentially amazing deals

http://www.clasificadosonline.com/UDMis ... er=4186908 Coronado Bass for a grand... or best offer. If I had some money, I'd call, find out the year, check out the condition, and make an offer. I could probably get it for $800, and flip it for twice that on ebay.

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:20 pm

An update... right now I'm on vacation sans instrument, but when I return, I'm going to place a drop of solder at the ends of the saddles to try and straighten them out, and install new saddle height adjustment screws to replace the ones it has. I still have the compensated saddles on the way, and I'll try out both options.

The other parts that are being replaced are the string trees, which are mismatched, and the pickup height screws which are also mismatched.

Onto other modifications... the volume pot is a bit scratchy, and as pretty as this guitar sounds, I'd like a different sound out of it, so I'm going to replace the pickup with a GFS lil killer, and the volume pot with a 500k push-pull pot, and split the lil killer.

However, I'm gonna keep the original pickup, as well as a new 250k pot in case I ever want to return it to its original sound.