staytrem vs master vs ...

stilwel · Post by **stilwel** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 4:34 pm

I went with the Staytrem on my Blacktop Jazzy as well as my Bass VI.

No looking back. They work great and don't look like a piece of alien technology.

Dillon · Post by **Dillon** » Sat Dec 20, 2014 12:14 am

paul_ wrote:Polepieces aren't individual close-mics on each string, strings lining up perfectly with them totally doesn't matter that much. The strings will probably still be over their respective poles even if they aren't centered on each one, which is fine.

This. Lindy Fralin himself even told me this once when I called to ask about what pickups I should order. He even went as far as to say that you could use four magnets (bass pickups) on a six string if you really wanted to. It would change the sound, yeah, but it would still work fine.

On my VM I took an MIJ Mustang bridge and put aluminum shims under the outer two saddles to match the 9.5" radius. It's a cheap(ish) solution and works great. You might still get the height adjustment screws moving...they don't for me, but I'm not an aggressive strummer.

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Sat Dec 20, 2014 12:45 am

I play quite hard so that probably wouldn't work out for me.

SherwoodJim · Post by **SherwoodJim** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 12:26 am

I switched my old AVRI Jag bridge for a mustang one. Easy switch and was totally stable. Not convinced by mastery yet tbh, plus I can't adford their stuff. What model guitar are you changing the bridge for?

Do people replace bridges in their mustangs for staytrem/mastery? Hardly seems worth it. Am I missing something?

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 12:00 am

I guess it really depends on your style of playing/string gauge etc. I have the plain old Jaguar bridge on my main guitar and I've never had an issue with it. My Japanese Jag was a little prone to popping the E string. I swapped it for a Mustang bridge and hey presto no more issues.

Concretebadger · Post by **Concretebadger** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 12:08 am

^Weirdly, the tuning of my JM is the most stable of any guitar I've ever owned (the guitar is CIJ but it's an AVRI trem). I have .10s fitted as long as I'm using standard or half-step detuning. In contrast, my mustang is a CIJ '65 RI and the trem is pretty much unusable, so I can understand why people swap those out. I'm not sure whether the reason for the 'stang's problems come from the bridge or tailpiece though.

SherwoodJim · Post by **SherwoodJim** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 8:22 am

The mustang bridge seems totally fine to me in terms of stability (the trem is another matter altogether!). I'm just curious as to whether people switch out the mustang bridge for a mastery; are there any benefits?

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 3:57 pm

Thomas wrote:I guess it really depends on your style of playing/string gauge etc. I have the plain old Jaguar bridge on my main guitar and I've never had an issue with it. My Japanese Jag was a little prone to popping the E string. I swapped it for a Mustang bridge and hey presto no more issues.

Same here. I rocked a TOM on my CIJ for years but once it was time for it to be Jaggy-as-ballz again I went back to a Mustang bridge and that's probably my favorite set-up for traditional vibez with a bit more stability. My stock CIJ trem has also never given me any tuning woes (with bar use), even when it's worked itself creaky.

NickD · Post by **NickD** » Thu Dec 25, 2014 8:50 pm

I've never found a problem with a well set up offset trem, no matter what the trem, Squier, CIJ or vintage.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 12:14 am

The only reason I had issues on my Japanese one was due to the fact that I was using 10s so the height grubs could move a little and it would eventually sink and the string could pop out due to the lesser downforce on the saddle. A teeny bit of tape on the screw and widening the thread on the saddle fixed the issues. About 5 minutes work and no cost.

I can't imagine ever buying a Masteryor a Staytrem, well maybe a Staytrem for my bass VI just for extended travel intonation wise. I don't know if you can even buy any other one with the wider baseplate.

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 3:59 am

TUSQ saddles on the Shadowmaster. Other than the minor annoyance of moving the ground wire to the trem, it was way cheaper and easier than any other option.

singlepup · Post by **singlepup** » Sun Dec 28, 2014 11:08 am

I like the Mustang bridge just fine for all offsets. The StayTrem is cool because it has plastic bits and no springs.

The Mustang bridge I had was rusted so I couldn't intonate properly. I could have bought another Mustang bridge online, but I didn't want to order one with gappy saddles by accident. StayTrem had a 9.5 radius option, so I bit.

No one really needs a StayTrem, but I do like mine. In the future I'll use whichever bridge makes the most sense in a given situation. I'm certainly OK with using a Mustang or stock bridge if I can do so without issues.