Mastery Bridge lolz

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Hurb
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Mastery Bridge lolz

Post by Hurb »

[youtube][/youtube]
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ekwatts
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Post by ekwatts »

Watching now.

Loving it.

I also have that exact set of files, but in red.
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Post by Hurb »

ekwatts wrote:Watching now.

Loving it.

I also have that exact set of files, but in red.
Cheers mate.

Amazon?
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Post by ekwatts »

Hurb wrote:
ekwatts wrote:Watching now.

Loving it.

I also have that exact set of files, but in red.
Cheers mate.

Amazon?
Yep.

aka the lazy cheapskates toolshop.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, though, as your video wonderfully demonstrates.
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Post by Hurb »

Indeed!

The video has been well received so far a lot less hate and hurt feels than I hoped.
Must try harder!
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Post by sunshiner »

With a drilling press, a bench vise, and a set of files I think it would be relatively easy to replicate the mastery saddles out of a couple of rectangular brass blanks
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Post by sunshiner »

A lot of elbow grease though. Too much even, now that I'm thinking about it. I doubt that I'd finish once I started making them. So not easy at all
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Doog
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Post by Doog »

Grand video, mate; I really enjoy people questioning received wisdom and DIY-ing stuff. This kind of sentiment still does my head in, though:
100% agree - Mastery is a total solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.
(To be fair, you're very "if it works for you, cool" in the video.)

We 100% see people buying Mastery bridges out of some weird "WELL, YOU GOTTA!", having been like, totally brainwashed by Big Gearpage, but to have such a binary view on anything is some Big Dumb Energy.

The OG system works well enough if you're happy to stay within the boundaries of the original use case; heavy strings, shimmed neck, a not-especially-low action. But what if those don't suit you? Just SUCK IT UP, SNOWFLAKE; NO OFFSET FOR YOU?

For me, this idea kinda smacks of the same vibes as wanky restaurants that don't provide seasoning or condiments because they demand you experience their food in the way it was intended, as if people ever experience anything in the same way.

If Mastery bridges cost £30, no-one would give a shit.
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Post by Bacchus »

Hurb wrote:Indeed!

The video has been well received so far a lot less hate and hurt feels than I hoped.
Must try harder!
That is disappointing. You pour all your bile, resentment and insecurities into trying to make other people feel worse, and they only respond with positivity and acceptance.

Sometimes I wonder if we're losing sight of what the internet is really for.
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Post by Bacchus »

I'm very tempted by the Mastery Tele bridge, even though it does even more fuck all than the offset one, simply for the reasons doog outlined.

Recent scares with nearly bankrupting myself with a new Tele means I'm going to do the sensible and responsible thing and dump money into making my Aerodyne as good as it possibly can be. Fancy pickups, possibly bullshit capacitors, the works.
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Post by ekwatts »

I think the attitude I most despise is the idea that paying large amounts of money for something means that it is good. Because of how blatantly obvious it should be that that's because you're afraid of looking critically at the thing you just spent lots of cash on because you might look like a dickhead.

That isn't every Mastery Bridge owner, obviously. But it definitely covers some of them.

There's a guy I used to work with who was rich. Well, his parents were rich. Almost any problem he ever had was solved by phoning somebody to come out and fix it for him. It's mindboggling to me that there are people out there who literally cannot comprehend the idea of putting up their own shelves or unblocking a toilet using a foam children's fancy dress sword. The end result is the same, of course; we both get our shelves or our toilets unblocked, and the money I didn't spend/he did spend isn't missed by either of us. But there's a fundamental difference between the two of us in terms of overall experience gained and our immediate internal response to an issue that I find fascinating. It makes me wonder if I'd be just like him if I was rich. Maybe? But I'm not. So I unblock my own toilet and don't buy Mastery bridges.

It's not that I agree with Hurb that the "problems" that the Mastery Bridge "fixes" don't exist. I think the whole design of the bridge/tailpiece interaction of the Jaguar and Jazzmaster hasn't aged well and I've never been a fan. But there's a weird incuriousness (it's a real word!), to me, involved with spending such an enormous amount of money on a "fix" when there are alternatives. The alternatives require more work, though. And some people simply aren't going to put it in. And so the Mastery bridge exists for those people.

And that's fine. It's basically a luxury item. And obviously the other side to this is that some people just like to pimp the fuck out of their guitars with pricey mods. It's a sweet piece of metal, after all, however unnecessary, but I imagine that fact isn't lost on those players.

All that said, what I do find funny is that there are various small offset guitar builders (Fano/Bilt I think?) who use the Mastery bridge as standard on their Jaguar/Jazzmaster customs, which is kind of bizarre to me since they could just use literally any other tunomatic style bridge and save $200+, surely...?
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Post by Doog »

ekwatts wrote:All that said, what I do find funny is that there are various small offset guitar builders (Fano/Bilt I think?) who use the Mastery bridge as standard on their Jaguar/Jazzmaster customs, which is kind of bizarre to me since they could just use literally any other tunomatic style bridge and save $200+, surely...?
Well, the received wisdom* is that tune-o-matics aren't too good with vibratos (although I've no experience beyond the shortlived B3 on my Silvertone)- I'd imagine it's as much the prestige factor as anything. No-one getting a Fano or Bilt is looking for a basic affordable workhorse, they're clearly just throwing money around at that point, so why not offer the diamond-encrusted grill as standard at that point?

* twice in one thread, kill me
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Post by NickD »

It works better off the shelf than the other options. Is it more expensive that it ought to be, maybe, but very low volume manufacturing generally is. Shitting on a product just because it is expensive is bullshit though, and smacks of reverse snobbery. And when you are talking about £100 for a bridge on a vintage instrument, it's hardly a lot compared to the value of the guitar.

If I was spending £2k plus on a Bilt or similar I would expect it to have the best quality bridge available for that price.

Re. tunomatics, as Andy said, not great with a trem. Staytrem bridges are great, but not as adjustable as the mastery. When I had the original, Staytrem and Mastery all available, the Mastery is the one I chose to keep on my guitar. Could I have got a file our and fucked around with my vintage bridge? Probably, but why not keep the value by not using that bridge and solve the problems with a bridge that works straight away. I can always sell it and get my money back if I get rid of the guitar.
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Post by benecol »

I can't believe you're accusing Eric of inverse snobbery. Especially on a board where every piece of kit we own is downright spartan, and essential for our livelihoods.

FWIW, I got the Mastery as part of a trade. But if I had bought it, I'd still have spent more on pedals. And not pedals that are switched on all the time so I'm constantly feeling the benefit.

It's OK to have nice things, horsehair.org.
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Post by sunshiner »

Nice well made and heavy duty things should exist for sure. To me tune-o-matic looks like ass on most guitars which are not a clone of a Les Paul, SG, ES, etc., though Jags and Jazzmasters look great with them. I'm not a tremolo user so a 6-saddle hardtail bridge to me is a pinnacle of comfort and design from the engineering point of view. I can go for other bridges purely based on how they look, knowing well all of them are worse than a simple hardtail bridge and some are way way worse
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Post by ekwatts »

It is! That was kind of my point. It's a very nice thing to have. It isn't necessary, though, whether you believe there are "problems" with Jags/Jazzies that need "fixing" or otherwise, but if you have the cash (or the opportunity) then go for it.

I was basically acknowledging that playing guitar is kind of an extravagant hobby in and of itself anyway.

I am a massive inverse snob, I don't think I've ever denied that. I have multiple expensive hobbies that I am constantly attempting to save money on. The idea of spending Electro Harmonix POG money on a bridge instead of an Electro Harmonix POG (or a Mooer organ machine and a bunch more pedals...) is crazy to me, and it always will be. It doesn't mean the product isn't good. It's obviously a very nice thingâ„¢. By that same token, it makes it enormous fun to rag on things like Mastery bridges because there's a subset of guitarists who genuinely do push the idea that money and quality are so tied to each other that the Mastery bridge absolutely does become necessary and Behringer pedals couldn't possibly be good.

None of us on shortscale fall into that category, and they seem to be few and far between on Offset. TDPRI...? Well, I don't post there. There's a reason for that. Bearing in mind that even though I've always been obsessed by the technical aspects of guitar playing, amps and effects, I have almost always hated other guitarists for being predominantly conservative-minded individuals that get butthurt over incredibly inconsequential things.

I will rip the shit out of anyone for buying a Green Day signature guitar or bass and yet I have only been a single opportunity away from buying a Tony Iommi signature guitar myself. THE DUALITY OF MAN, EH?
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Post by plopswagon »

I only play the diddy bo (with a mastery bridge).
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ekwatts wrote: Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:53 pm The word "moisty" has made me irrationally angry.
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Post by Hurb »

That's better! :lol:

I will always stick up for the underdog. In my eyes the original bridge is the misunderstood underdog. Real talk, I couldn't give a shit what people do to their guitars and the mastery staytrem etc are options that should exist. I don't personally need them and maintain they fall in line with the corksniffer additions . The marketing early on was genius, giving them away to big offset players like Sonic Youth and Nels Cline, meant the money could role right in as it were. What I do hate now is the magic that surrounds the bridge. Like Eric says ''its expensive it must be good or make me sound better'' I PERSONALY fall into this trap all the time with pedals etc. But it just really bugs me with the bridge.
I have spent time offering help to folks over the years on how to setup their offset, then someone comes along and says buy this WOW. I think its a shame we are now at a place where new offsets are so affordable and yet people instantly make people feel bad unless they throw money at it TO FIX A DESIGN that literally works. I've made it work really super well and I am literally an idiot.

I resent the low action comment my action is low as fuck! :lol:

The Mastery is expensive. If they make 5 a week in their garage I suppose its that boooteek price point. But they are not, they are literally selling thousands of them. They must be...they are everywhere.
The video was a tongue in cheek exploration of the bold claims that the bridge sounds better, has better sustain etc. I modified a cheap as fuck bridge with cheapo components and the comments are full of people saying it sounds better than the mastery. Fucked if I agree with that, they all basically sound the same to me and my dead ears. What I will say, is while the mastery offers the user a drop in bridge that will refuse to let your strings pop out without a shim(but dear god check out how much behind the bridge string noise you get! yuck) I couldn't get it to intonate properly with my current D standard tuning. Fuck that!
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Post by NickD »

Hurb wrote: I have spent time offering help to folks over the years on how to setup their offset, then someone comes along and says buy this WOW. I think its a shame we are now at a place where new offsets are so affordable and yet people instantly make people feel bad unless they throw money at it TO FIX A DESIGN that literally works.
Putting a £100+ bridge on a £300 Squier is pretty daft
Hurb wrote:The Mastery is expensive. If they make 5 a week in their garage I suppose its that boooteek price point. But they are not, they are literally selling thousands of them. They must be...they are everywhere.
It's a niche product in an already niche market, it's still pretty low volume - low enough that the economies of scale you get from mass production. Although I doubt that justifies all of the price.

Hurb wrote:but dear god check out how much behind the bridge string noise you get! yuck)
I might be an idiot but I like the behind the string noise, it's part of the Jazzmaster sound for me
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Post by Doog »

What about the Mastery design makes the behind-the-bridge noise different?

Face it- we all have our biases and justifications for them, and they're rarely consistent. It's all part of the stupid, mush-brained, human experience, innit?
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