fender jag / mustang saddles q --<
 

hey. i should be getting my new guitar this week, a fender jaguar. i'll save you the full story, but i've wanted this guitar for 4 years and finally... finally.... got the money together...

anyways - i've read there is a must do mod for the guitar: changing the bridge/saddles to those of the mustang. can anyone point me to a site where i could order these? i've checked out warmoth, and i'll go with them if there's no other option - they seem pricey, and they only ship the entire bridge, not the saddles alone.

and yeh i'm asking this here because from what i remember, there were a few jag/jazz players on the board (aside from messrs ranaldo and moore!). any comments on setting up the guitar, experiences or anything would be most welcome, i cant wait to get my hands on it.

cheers :)

Okay, I own a Fender Jazzmaster and have never had a problem with the bridge at all. And believe me, I use and abuse it. If you're that bothered about strings slipping out of their saddles, tape them there with some black electrical tape. It's cheaper and easier, haha.

But thats just me.

Are you getting a CIJ(MIJ), MIA, or vintage?

cheers for the quick reply. i'm gonna hold off until i have it my hands and start doing some practise sessions with it to see how it holds up.

it's interesting to hear you get on fine with the bridge, all i've read is people complaining about playing it hard results in messed up strings - although granted people probably wont be able to notice that through the noise

cij/mij - i honestly couldnt justify spending the money on an mia or vintage... it'll probably see some rough treatment

I actually think some of my saddles have deepened since I got it, and I also bought it used from a guy who'd had it for years. So maybe it's newer jazzmasters and jags that cause problems because of shallow saddles. Hm.

Awsome. I have a CIJ jag as well. I also dont have problems w/ the saddles. I would not change them unless you really feel a need. They really are not as bad as people say they are. You only might have a problem is you finger pick w/ alot of depth.

I pretty quickly swapped my Mustang bridge to my Jazzmaster after getting it, and haven't regretted it ever. I've only had one setup on it in the 4+ years I've had it. Solid as a rock.

I have a Mij Jag and the bridge would always be moving around, screws slipping etc. and a couple got lost. It's quite annoying. Perhaps when the bridges age a bit those issues decrease?

Hmmm interesting. I guess I'll see how I get on after the first few weeks of playing. Any other advice on strings etc? I've already bought a set of 11's. (ok I bought them over a month ago in anticipation of getting the guitar, sad huh!) It's gonna be like learning to play again, been playing light strings for the last few years.


Thanks for all the responses, love this board you're all cool.

Well it came yesterday, saved €300 by buying it from musicstore.com. I'd been playing a godin for the last few years, and the difference is incredible.... the jaguar almost plays itself, it's such a gorgeous guitar.

The infamous saddle problem was there as soon as i took it out of the box, but it's not a big issue for me. Just concentrated on making tunes come out of it :)

My string gauges are as follows:

.46 .32 .16 .16 .11 .09

Works for me- maybe it will for you.

Not something I'd recommend you do yourself, but in the interest of discussion:

If you find you really hate it, you can always have the entire bridge replaced....I know most of SY's Jazzmasters/Jaguars have Tune-o-matic bridges on them.

Yeh I read about the Tune-o-Matic mod, and if I recall right, you have to do some chopping and sawing of the body to get it to fit. The Mustang bridge apparently fits perfectly, it just doesnt have the dodgy saddles.

I did a bit of work last night setting up the bridge and it seems alot better, so it'll do for now at least

Cheers for all the replies!

hey i'm setting up a jm too. got the mustang bridge. what i want to know, is the bridge supposed to fit snugly into the thimbles? i thought it would fall in like a pen to a pencap. it fits more like a lolipop stick to a pencap. is there something i'm missing?

Use higher gauge strings or get a buzzstop. Or just stick with getting a Mustang bridge. I'm getting a JM during the summer and have already decided to put 11s on it to start with.

Nope, they're just like that..

..unless I'm missing something too.

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/gbridge_mustang.htm

Chrome bridge for Mustang on the right.