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I just took delivery of my Jap Jag, and I am thinking of naming it
"Skippy" because when I bend the strings, they slip out of the nut and
across the bridge! Anyway, filing the nut a little is easy, but I'm in
a quandary about what to do with the bridge. Buy a Buzz Stop or drop
in a Mustang bridge? Which will solve both the buzzing and the string
movement? And which Mustang bridge works best - a Warmoth, a Fender, a
Stew-Mac, or one off an actual Jap Mustang? I assume they are similar
(except for the Warmoth), but assumptions often are wrong.
Also, the bridge floats - does that matter? Will the Mustang bridge
float? And how does this impact intonation, etc.?
Someone who knows, please advise!
Gavin
Hey Gavin,
First of all don't panic. You really should head over to the Fender Forum
and look through the archives in their Jazzmaster/Jaguar forum.
The bridge is supposed to float. When you dip the trem bar, the whole bridge
will tilt very slightly. In this way the strings aren't rubbing over the
saddles if the bridge was fixed.
It sounds like you need a good setup, badly. Slipping out of the nut is a
new one on me....it must be really out of whack. Is the bridge too high? Is
the neck bowed? Is the neck shimmed?
What I have done on my US Jag reissue is lower the bridge a bit, but then
raise the saddles up to compensate. So now I've got my saddles up higher
than normal, so they seem to be held down better by the string pressure: no
buzzing or rattling. The neck should be shimmed also, this will get you a
better string angle over the saddles: no skipping. My Jag has 2 thin pieces
of pressed wood for a shim from the factory, but others have used a slice of
a credit card or pick. You also will want to use at least 11 or 12 guage
strings to help hold things together.
Again, your best bet is to start posting questions / searching the archives
at the Fender Forum:
I might be in the minority, but the stock bridge without a buzz stop works
fine for me. However, Dave Wronski, Fender employee, and master of the
Jaguar (Slacktone, Jon & The Nightriders), uses a buzzstop. But he has
tricked out his Jaguar pretty badly anyway. He also reverses his bridge to
avoid having the strings touch the intonation screws.
If you feel you need a different bridge you have many options. The Mustang
bridge will drop in (it floats too), but you really only need the Mustang
saddles. Graphtech makes saddles with one groove, I think Boulder Bob has
some of these. Warmoth makes a replacement bridge that is basically a
Mustang bridge but some of the saddles on the ends have height adjustment
screws (Dano says these can get in the way).
If it all seems to much, try to find a tech who knows something about these
guitars to help you out. Most people complain on the Fender Forum about
techs who don't understand these guitars and end up doing the work
themselves. But maybe you can find someone knowledgable. It sounds like this
might be the best option for you since strings slipping out of the nut is a
pretty extreme situation.
Also check out the setup guides that Fender publishes on their customer
service site:
Good luck!!
BN
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gavin Ehringer <>
> [mailto:]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 6:27 PM
> To:
> Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Jaguar Bridge Question...Help Please!
>
>
> I just took delivery of my Jap Jag, and I am thinking of naming it
> "Skippy" because when I bend the strings, they slip out of the nut and
> across the bridge! Anyway, filing the nut a little is easy, but I'm in
> a quandary about what to do with the bridge. Buy a Buzz Stop or drop
> in a Mustang bridge? Which will solve both the buzzing and the string
> movement? And which Mustang bridge works best - a Warmoth, a Fender, a
> Stew-Mac, or one off an actual Jap Mustang? I assume they are similar
> (except for the Warmoth), but assumptions often are wrong.
>
> Also, the bridge floats - does that matter? Will the Mustang bridge
> float? And how does this impact intonation, etc.?
>
> Someone who knows, please advise!
>
> Gavin
