How to set up a Musicmaster

kylinder · Post by **kylinder** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:18 pm

Hi all.

I got my first shortscale a few months ago, it's a black 78 MM.

I would like to try and set this guitar up. I have only ever changed strings before so am looking for advice and tips of what I need to do.

Any help would be appreciated.

Ps. I have a mint black on black 78 Bronco in the states waiting for me to go and collect. Cannot wait!

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:36 pm

Welcome. Post some pics so we can what it needs.

kylinder · Post by **kylinder** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:11 pm

Thanks for the reply.

I'll take some tonight and post them up.

I need to change the strings too and I have 10s on it at the moment.

Fingers crossed it will improve the guitar as i'm not overly happy with it at the moment. This pickup seems very bland

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:33 pm

Musicmasters were cheap guitars with corresponding pickups

They're just standard Strat pickups, IIRC. You might need to replace it to get a tone you want; proper setup isn't going to affect the tone so much as the playability of the the guitar.

With a hard-tailed shortscale, string gauge doesn't matter so much, but light strings will probably feel kinda loose. .10s should be fine if that's what you're comfortable with.
How's the action?
How's the intonation?

kylinder · Post by **kylinder** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:38 pm

I think it's because I play with an overdrive pedal on most of the time. However when I'm playing through a clean a sparkly amp it does sound nice.

I think the action is fine but the intonation needs to be sorted as when I changed the strings I knocked the saddles all over the place.

cur · Post by **cur** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:46 pm

For a cheap reference the Hal Leonard: The Complete Guide to Guitar and Amp Maintenance Book is a good start. Can be found a most music shops and has good enough detail and pictures to get you started on setting most guitars up. Not the best, not the worst, but not bad for $15 and gets rid of a lot of confusion.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:49 pm

Three things to look at on your guitar:

1) String gauge - move up to .11s (or higher) fixes lots of issues with Fender Shortscales. Not required but I don't have any issues with mine.
2) Intonation - The strings should be the same note both open and at the 12th fret. You can adjust intonation by moving the saddles forward and back. I found a youtube video that helped me with this.
3) Action - Make sure the strings aren't too low to cause buzz and match the radius of the neck.

I just put together a 1978 Fiesta Red Musicmaster with a 1972 Musicmaster neck. I completely lucked out because the action and intonation were nearly perfect. I have not adjusted it at all.

kylinder · Post by **kylinder** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 4:00 pm

Thanks for all the replies! They're a great help.

I've always been reluctant to start taking apart my guitars but i'll order some new strings and go for it. In the meantime I think i'll make a start on my strat or ovation viper.

WRT checking the tuning at the 12th fret, I saw somewhere before saying to play the octave there. Is it fine to play the note normally?

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 4:25 pm

Yeah, play it normally. You can also be really picky and use the harmonic too.
With the Musicmaster 3-saddle bridge, you're not likely to get perfect intonation (not that you ever are, really... just the nature of the even temperament scale), it's a bit of a balancing act to get the two strings on each saddle as close as you can to being intonated. There will be compromises, but with some play, it'll sound good. Move the saddles towards the neck to raise pitch, towards the butt to lower pitch; retune after adjusting and check again... rinse repeat until you have it where you want.
Obviously, an accurate, fast tuner will help produce the best results.

I'd suggest getting your action right before playing with intonation. The easiest way to adjust action is changing saddle height. If you can't get it right with saddle adjustment, you'll have to play with the truss rod. If you have to adjust the truss rod, take it easy

It's not that scary, but it can be intimidating. A counterclockwise turn will loosen it (bow towards the front of the instrument), and clockwise will tighten it (bow towards the back); just don't do much more than 1/4 turn, retune and let it sit a little bit for the wood to adjust. If you have to, you can then go at it again.

You might want to adjust pickup height if you find output too low or too high.

seb_ennis · Post by **seb_ennis** » Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:18 pm

kylinder wrote:Thanks for all the replies! They're a great help.

I've always been reluctant to start taking apart my guitars but i'll order some new strings and go for it. In the meantime I think i'll make a start on my strat or ovation viper.

WRT checking the tuning at the 12th fret, I saw somewhere before saying to play the octave there. Is it fine to play the note normally?

Ovation Viper eh? Black on black '78 Bronco eh? You wouldn't happen to be an Arctic Monkeys fan now would you?

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:21 am

Mine intonates perfectly and even rings on harmonics. I think Mezzio made a deal with the devil for it.

kylinder · Post by **kylinder** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 9:24 am

seb_ennis wrote:
kylinder wrote:Thanks for all the replies! They're a great help.

I've always been reluctant to start taking apart my guitars but i'll order some new strings and go for it. In the meantime I think i'll make a start on my strat or ovation viper.

WRT checking the tuning at the 12th fret, I saw somewhere before saying to play the octave there. Is it fine to play the note normally?
Ovation Viper eh? Black on black '78 Bronco eh? You wouldn't happen to be an Arctic Monkeys fan now would you?

Haha yeh I am.

kylinder · Post by **kylinder** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 9:30 am

I check the intonation of mine and it seems perfect.

There is a bit of buzzing so the action may need to be adressed, hopefully when I move up to 11s it will solve it.

Also, there is a problem with the outside screw of the saddle which holds the low e string. The face of it has been worn away so when I turn the allen key it just spins without any friction so the screw cannot move.

seb_ennis · Post by **seb_ennis** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:09 am

kylinder wrote:
seb_ennis wrote:
kylinder wrote:Thanks for all the replies! They're a great help.

I've always been reluctant to start taking apart my guitars but i'll order some new strings and go for it. In the meantime I think i'll make a start on my strat or ovation viper.

WRT checking the tuning at the 12th fret, I saw somewhere before saying to play the octave there. Is it fine to play the note normally?
Ovation Viper eh? Black on black '78 Bronco eh? You wouldn't happen to be an Arctic Monkeys fan now would you?
Haha yeh I am.

HA! Too easy. All you need is a '59 Jazzmaster and a poo brown, Warmoth Jazzmaster copy, then you have the Lex!

My '78 Bronco sounds EXACTLY like FWN through my RAT.

Is it an Arctic White Strat?

kylinder · Post by **kylinder** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:25 am

Haha No it's sunburst!

Although I do have a Zodiac and a Martin GT-75 haha

With the zodiac though tbf I saw one for sale at a great price, and that day I met Alex Turner and told him about it. He saidx they're brilliant and at that price I should get it, so I did lol. I originally thought the GT75 was Miles Kane's as I'd only ever seen him play it. Never mind lol

I got rid of my Rat as I can use the high treble setting on the Selmer and my ts808

kylinder · Post by **kylinder** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:40 pm

Here's the saddle. The face of the far left screw is worn out so I can't get it to turn. Also the middle screw hole seems to be filled with something ?

At some point it looks to of had a big sticker or something on the body which has left the paintwork quite damaged

kylinder · Post by **kylinder** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:41 pm

I did raise the pickup and after playing it for a while i've changed my mind....IT'S AWESOME

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:43 pm