About Fender and Squier Jag/Jazz bridges

so1om · Post by **so1om** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 10:44 pm

Ok.. so we all know the "debate" about buzzing bridges, Mastery, Mustang, etc..

I was at Chicago Music Exchange this afternoon and I took a good hard look at vintage Jaguars/Jazzmasters, some of the CP and AVRI and a few of the Squiers.

The finishing details of the bridge on the vintage and say the 50th Anny Jaguar: Clean well-finished, deburred edges and chamfers. The screws are also clean and they have what appears to be a bright zinc finish -it could be a different grade of chrome as well. It's really hard to say as finishing processes have come a long way in the last 50 years.

The Squier (I own a Jaguar model): Again, the edges are clean, you won't snag the palm of your hand or cuff or anything, but for those that work in metal and machining, it appears they have a looser tolerance for what they accept on the machining and finishing. The chamfers and lead ins for the set screws, etc. Plus the allowance for finish build up. It would appear that the set screwss have a looser fit as well

Remember they have to have make the threads, for the screw and for where it threads in (the saddle). Then they have to consider the flash of metal they have to put on before they put on the flash of chrome finish. High quality, expensive parts -they can allow a tighter fit, a lower yield for a given lot of parts, and a higher cost per part.

I think what a lot of us are seeing in the Squier VM line are the looser fit parts. As a result, we are experiencing more buzzes, rattles, screws that seem to fall out, etc. That is not to say the design is bad or that it cannot be overcome. All it takes is a little patience and time to take care of those things.

Perhaps someone has a Squier and a vintage where we could see side by side pics?

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 2:18 pm

mike does, whether or not he'll post photos is a DIFFRNT MATTER

Post by **Mike** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 2:37 pm

I'll dig them out of my parts bin (both my vintage and Squier Jags have Mustang bridges) and take some photos but bear in mind I don't have a whizzy camera.

George · Post by **George** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 6:12 pm

Grubs on my vm mustang saddles are much looser than my old cij jaguars for sure

That's as far as my experience goes

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 6:58 pm

i don't mind if my guitars rattle. because thats what they were designed to do and sound like.

if i wanted a guitar with no moving parts i would just buy a les paul special with a wrap around bridge.

but fuck that ugly fucker

George · Post by **George** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 7:03 pm

Cant stand les Pauls

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Sun Feb 10, 2013 7:15 pm

me neither.

other than they look fucking uggo....they don't rattle. there is no character to the instrument

singlepup · Post by **singlepup** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 7:39 am

My VM JM doesn't rattle and neither did Lucamo's Jag. But it took quite a long time to set them up right.

The grub screws are loose as hell. I already lost one. However, you can find replacements at Ace Hardware. In fact, just buying new grubs at 50 cents each is an excellent investment for these guitars. They are metric: M3 8mm .5 pitch.

I also have the dreaded sinking bridge syndrome

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:10 am

This was a concern when Squier announced these models. If the Fender versions drop to bits then i didn't think the budget versions would be any better, probably worse.
Its all fixable of course but it could put more players off these models. You have to be in love with the designs to put up with the bridge nonsense at times.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:18 am

Nothing to add other than to say a good post by OP, and definitely qualifies for the AVJ&Dave anally retentive awards. LOEV this kind of post. The right combination of science and niche interest = AVJ&DAVE

luciguci · Post by **luciguci** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 10:04 am

I set up my VM Jag that I bought off of lank81, got rid of all the bridge rattling, changed the saddle height and bridge height to stop the intonation screws from poking into the G and low E strings, and tweaked the intonation on the low E since it was so off compared to the others.

It's pretty impressive (to me, anyway) that it turned out so well for someone who never owned or set up a Jaguar before.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:36 pm

robroe wrote:i don't mind if my guitars rattle. because thats what they were designed to do and sound like.

if i wanted a guitar with no moving parts i would just buy a les paul special with a wrap around bridge.

but fuck that ugly fucker

I really doubt the bridge was designed to rattle... They are mobile and prone to rattle, but they can certainly be set up so that they don't (rattle that is, while maintaining mobility). I cannot see the designers saying "this bridge needs to rattle" and working to make it happen.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 7:45 pm

My Jag doesn't rattle. If rattling was the only character Jags had to them I wouldn't play them.

A Les Paul Junior with a single P90 and a wraparond has as much character as anything... no guitar (out of strats, teles, jags, stangs, HH Gibsons, 6/12 string acoustics or basses) have ever reinvigorated my playing as much as those.
I find Jags a touch more limiting by comparison. That's sort of what I like about them.