How is the Musicmaster II / Duosonic II bridge grounded? Right now I have a small bare wire squashed between the metal contol plate and the bridge. Is there supposed to be a hole drilled under the brige, with a wire running from one of the pots, the bare end of it touching the bridge when it's screw...

Thanks, mine is not so far off I think. Here's a picture:

You could be right. Can you do me a favor and measure the height of the neck on your duo sonic? From the heel where it sits in the neckpocket to the highest point of the fretboard (excluding the frets). Thanks

This is getting a little offtopic gents. I posted pictures of my guitar yesterday. Does the bridge and esp. the saddle height look abnormal to you?

I've taken some pictures of the guitar and especially of the bridge saddles. Notice they are way up. The action is ok this way, but I'd like the saddles a bit lower.

Click here for photos
Two more

Photos are quite large so it may take a while to open.

The latest model American Standard strat has a 2 point bridge with vintage style saddles. I don't know what model strat you have, but it might fit.

Oops you already have that

Thanks, guess I'll just have to try. The compensated ones are nice, had those on a tele some time ago.
But the grooved ones probably look best on my musicmaster, those thread-end style things is what's on there now. The intonation might be slightly off but that's no biggie.

That looks like a nice idea

What about my first question, the telecaster saddles? Will those fit as replacements?

Wait I remember: one of the previous owners had made cutouts in the pickguard for a second pickup and switches. The slider switches where not original. I renewed all electronics. New aftermarktet pickguard, switches, pots etc. The pickups themselves though are real old Fenders. Somebody must have th...

I'm not sure about the decal, I'll make some pictures tonight. I think it's like this one: Headstock pic If I remember correctly, both pickups had the same color wires. Originally they would have had different colors, one being rw/rp. So I'm not sure if it was an original duosonic. I never quite fig...

Maybe the neck did not belong with the body and just doesn't work well, sitting too high in the pocket. The neck says 'Musicmaster', but the body has 2 pickups like a DuoSonic. It was not aditionally routed or anything, came from the factory that way. I refinished it so I took it apart entirely. The...

mage wrote:I made a helpful diagram.


the red spot is the neck shim.

Affirmative! My situation now is as in the second picture.

Thanks Black Cat Bone, but I do not live in the UK

Yeah, and with any struggle with max bridge saddle settings, the sensible thing would be to drop the Shims. If I would take out the shim, the neck would sit lower in the pocket at the headstock side. That would lower the action even more and make things worse .. If the neck is lower in the pocket, ...

I'll have a closer look at the neck tonight to see if it isn't warped or anything. I'll make some pictures too so we can see what I'm talking about :) The frets are pretty low so could have been levelled. Maybe that has not been done properly. Anyway thanks for all your replies, I'll get back to you...

So? That is still raising the neck? One end shimmed will make the strings pass closer to the body end of the fret board and the other will increase the break angle and therefore height at the body end of the fretboard. Angle of the dangle up to the nut and all that. Same with truss rod....back curv...

Yeah I placed a shim on the headstock end of the pocket so to say. That would raise the action a little. I already tried adjusting the trussrod, but that did not make enough difference. It's actually adjusted quite ok now. It might help just a little bit more, but only on the first number of frets. ...

The neck is indeed pretty straight and has a very slight upward bow. Nothing out of the ordinary. It's also aligned well in the pocket and lines up with the bridge. It's not the sideways alignment that is a problem. It's just that the allen screws are almost falling out of the saddles because they h...

Hi, I have 2 questions about the bridge on my early seventies Musicmaster guitar. First, the saddles are quite rusted and the heads worn, so it's difficult if not impossible to adjust them. Can I replace them with the grooved style Telecaster saddles? I'm not sure if these are the same size. I found...