ShortScale.org

Firstly I'm new here, I have a Jap HH Jaguar and just recently bought a 2nd hand jagmaster. Found out about this forum from youtube videos (I like my pedals and enjoy your reviews/demos)

The bridge I assumed was tremolo and has been screwed into a hardtail and the action is really low that playing in drop D is a struggle.

Does this seem like a job I could fix up myself? I only restring my guitars never any more than that.

Cheers

Jamie

It'd be worth your while learning how a tremolo system such as you have works.

The quick fix is to take an allen key to the the saddle for the low e string and raise that. This is probably going to give you higher action on that string that any other though, which is might feel a bit awkward.

Does the guitar play fine apart from that? Try bending notes all over the neck and make sure that they don't choke out. It seems odd to me that it'd be fine, except for drop d.

It is likely that the action might be worth raising all across the guitar.

If I were you, I'd restring it, but whilst the strings are off, take it apart and put it back together again. That tremolo, when set up properly can be great fun and very usable (most of dicking about with a tremolo is done on a jagmaster too). There are loads of pages telling you how to set up a 'vintage' tremolo such as that one, but if you need extra help, there are plenty of people on here that'll know stuff too.

If you're not at all interested in using the tremolo, I'd leave it as it is, and raise the action a bit just. There's a chance that the truss rod might need adjusting at the top of the neck, but the quick, easy fix is to raise the action slighlty until it is playable.

also, if you don't have allen key that small, you can loosen the strings and get the bridge out. then manually turn the screws so they move out of the treading (this will raise the bridge, just like it would if you use the allen key). might need more than one try but it's worth it.

off topic:
if i bend thin E at 16th fret and it chokes, what should i do? (that's on a mustang) i tried higher action but that didn't help.

blacktaxi wrote:also, if you don't have allen key that small, you can loosen the strings and get the bridge out. the manually turn the screws so they move out of the treading (this will raise the bridge, just like it would if you use the allen key).

off topic:
if i bend thin E at 16th fret and it chokes, what should i do? (that's on a mustang) i tried higher action but that didn't help.

Unscrewing those screws will float the bridge, so that it's not pressed up agains the body.

When a bridge is floating, it is being held in position by the balanced tension of the strings and the springs at the back. The upshot of this is that it makes tremolo use far more fun, but the downshot is that you can't go to drop d tuning. If you loosen one of the strings, there be less tension at that side, so the bridge will be pulled down slightly be the springs at the back (the tension will no longer be balanced). When this happens, the rest of the strings have to take on that extra tension, and will go slightly sharp and out of tune.

If the screws are fully screwed in, this can't happen as the body stops the bridge from moving.

I would definitly invest in a set of allen keys. They really are essential tools for setting up your guitar the way you want it. Again, I would advise taking the strings off, floating the bridge, and restringing, even just for educatinal purposes, to find out how the system works. If you don't like it, you can always put it back down the next time you change strings.

As for the Mustang, I dunno. Similar things happen on my Jag-stang, and I supsect it's the truss rod that needs attention, because it should be possible to set it up with reasonably low action, and still bend. I'm cautious about adjusting the truss rod though, so I never have. I suppose it could be a matter of one of the frets needing filed down a bit, perhaps that's what causing the problem. There are other people on ehre who would be much better at answering this question than I would. Robert(original) is probably the man to talk to.

Mustang is a 7.25in radius neck. It is going to choke out on ultra low action no matter how you tweak the truss rod.

Fair enough. I didn't know that.

hmm. since i've tried high action, then i guess it's not going to choke out only on ultra-high action

i figured that this would be the case.

my jap jag is HH with a TOM bridge so i would like to be able to use the tremolo on this guitar. i think ill just try and figure it out as the last time i got my guitar fixed it cost over half of what the jagmaster cost me! will be good to know how it all works.

ill get started in 2 weeks when my exams are over and maybe post some pics or something and see what you think.

thanks for all the info guys, has been very helpful especially seeing as i am a n00b on your forum.

so i had some fret buzz at like 5-7 frets on A and lower E strings, and tuning the action didn't help at all, so i decided to tweak a truss rod a bit. i loosened it for like 1/5 of a turn, and guess what? i can now bend high E at 15th fret for a whole note. it doesn't work perfect, maybe the neck didn't get stable yet (i tweaked the rod 30 minutes ago), but at least it is audible now!

blacktaxi wrote:so i had some fret buzz at like 5-7 frets on A and lower E strings, and tuning the action didn't help at all, so i decided to tweak a truss rod a bit. i loosened it for like 1/5 of a turn, and guess what? i can now bend high E at 15th fret for a whole note. it doesn't work perfect, maybe the neck didn't get stable yet (i tweaked the rod 30 minutes ago), but at least it is audible now!

Nice one. I've never had the balls to mess about with the truss rod. Congrats.