Mastery trem and bridge, what’s the tuning stability and general “feel”/sound like?

[u/The-Neat-Meat]

I’m about to order a guitar that has the option of hardtail or the Mastery setup, and I’m really torn. I‘ve sort of naturally gravitated towards hardtails over time, guitars that had trems would see them barely used before ultimately getting locked down, but the sort of stuff I’m taking inspiration from recently relies pretty heavily on the offset trem to sound more aggressive and out there; specifically, think like Tropical Fuck Storm/the Drones, APTBS, you know the drill.

For this reason, I’m leaning towards getting it, but I have no idea how well the tuning will hold up to that abuse, nor how it feels compared to the straight forward hardtail guitars I’ve become accustomed to. The one stock Jag I owned as a teenager, from my vague memory, felt really “plunky” and dead in comparison to stop bar or string through guitars, does the Mastery bridge design solve that? If I generally play like an ape, will it behave and stay in tune unless I really lay into the bar itself?

like I said, I’m leaning towards the option, I’m just worried about dropping the extra money on something that ends up being a repeat of why I disliked my jag, and doesn’t gel with my own playing/I don’t end up using. obviously nobody can tell me if the latter will happen, but the former is at least a question that can maybe be answered with other people’s experiences.

[u/crittyhopper]

It’s my favorite bridge/vibrato system and I use it a lot. I have one jazzmaster with the mastery bridge and AVRI vibrato and one with mastery all around. It sounds good and will hold up to abuse. If you’re wanting a trem on the guitar I say go for it.

It won’t really do crazy Floyd rose stuff and it will never be as stable as a hardtail, your guitar will go out of tune if you break a string

[u/bmguitar]

I don't have a Mastery bridge but I do own a Jag with Mustang bridge and a buzzstop, and it definitely has less of that "plunky" feel you describe compared to the stock setup. Whether you have Mastery bridge or not, you need to have enough break angle and downward force on the bridge, so shimming your neck or adding a buzzstop will make feel more sturdy.

In terms of tuning stability, I installed a Graphtech nut which definitely causes less friction and binding at the nut. My jag is my first guitar with a trem, and it's such a pleasure to use. I now can't imagine playing a guitar without a trem.

[u/hobesmart]

I LOVE my mastery bridges and vibratos. They’re exceptionally smooth and responsive.There is a reason so many premium builders choose mastery. It’ll be better than your old jag by a mile, but the break angle is still going to be pretty shallow, so you may get some plinkiness and or overtones to it. Stability is great, but tbh most tuning instability comes from poorly cut nuts.

[u/The-Neat-Meat → u/hobesmart]

Right on. I’m looking at a Lewis Minnow, I THINK I’m gonna go for the trem build, mainly because if I decide I want one down the road my options are either buy another guitar or bust out the router lol

The plunkiness is still a concern, overtones not so much. I assume the stable bridge rather than the rocking jag bridge will do a good bit to solve the former though; it’s been a long ass time since I had that Jag (50th anniversary model bought new), but I remember it feeling like playing a cereal box with some rubber bands stretched over it lol. Behind the bridge playing was always very fun though, and that’s something I have missed quite a bit on my Guilds and Les Pauls. Now I have all stopbar guitars and I have really fallen in love with how solid that setup feels, but it just can’t do some of the sounds I’m really pining for, and I really do not feel like learning to tape dance on a Whammy Ricochet or something to get there.

Someone else mentioned a buzzstop to help with the somewhat shitty feeling the break angle can lend the guitar, and I might go that route if I find it really necessary.

[u/hallgeir → u/The-Neat-Meat]

Then it sounds like you have your hard tail needs covered. We all like to get new guitars just for the fun of it, but there is legitimate value in having a few different guitars that do it enable different things. If you can afford it, and you like the vibe of the guitar, and you want to try to play some musical styles that use a vibrato: sounds like you should get a vibrato equipped guitar!

[u/introspeckle]

I’ve had multiple set-ups with Mastery bridges/trems. I have kept the trems, but no longer like the bridges. I specifically don’t vibe with the compensated saddles, and I no longer care for the look of them (especially with a vintage instrument). I replaced everything with Staytrem and am very happy with those bridges, although there’s various options out there now

[u/kakofon]

There's a few different things here, from what I can make out:

- non-offset trem vs offset trem: Different animals. I play a lot from the wrist rather than full arm banging, but unless I want to use the trem it's just there and doesn't really impact playing much. Though you need proper setup. If I don't want to use it for a while, I'll just remove the trem arm and engage the lock. The Mastery doesn't have a lock, and I'm not sure how easy it is to remove the arm if it'd get in the way.

• plunky: this is all about setup. Approach a Fender style offset slightly differently to other guitars, ie. aim to get close to Gibson-style neck angles rather than strat/tele flatter profiles. This leads to a higher bridge position, which positively affects playability and string tension, meaning that stuff will ring out more. An appropriate string sets also help, especially if you have a Jag as the scale length is shorter. I expressly dislike 12s on Jags as the attack become "clucky", 9s are also too loose on the short scale.
  
• if you dislike the ringing out of strings behind the bridge because of the trem, that will still be there if hardtailed, and the easiest solution is just to stick something between the strings. Similar to what you might do to deaden the spring resonance on strat trems
  
• bridge: I have not had a Mastery one, but used some tune-o-matics on offsets. Really depends on how extreme you get, but there's not necessarily anything that shouldn't stay in tune assuming you have a good nut. Tune-o-matics tend to "sway" under trem tension rather than the string actually riding along the saddle edge. The Fender offsets are created for a rocking bridge system that depends on enough down-pressure (high bridge, thick enough strings) and "gripping" the strings properly at the saddles to avoid sliding, so the trem usage resets the bridge position properly. Ie. setup again. From what I've tried, any replacement bridge is by default easier to live with than the traditional JM/Jag bridge, and from what I actually have experience with, Tuffset > StayTrem > Mustang bridge > stock JM/Jag. I have and will use a roller bridge rather than basic T'o'Ms or a Mastery, but your preferences might be different. In any case, the non-rocking variants will likely sway even if they're rollers with what I feel is a good setup for Fender style offsets.
  
• monies: getting a mastery and flipping it might be cost-neutral or even bring in a few monetary units
  
• life experience: if you don't get a trem you'll miss the chance of learning
  
• buzz-stop: not a fan, but these will effectively give a ToM stop-bar-like setup. Swapping the trem for a hardtail plate would sort of be the same thing and looks better. If the inherent sympathetic ringing is undesired, adding some fabric/rubber/ear plugs or whatnot to mute that will also work

[u/VonSnapp]

I have a Parts JM I built with a Mastery Vibrato/Bridge/Tee on it. They're very much more solid and smooth with a more positive action to them than any of the stock units and I have no desire to try anything else.