Mastery Bridge for Rickenbackers in the works

[electrofaro]

Dane, sounds more and more like you are actually looking for something to whine about regarding this bridge

[walker]

Has anyone here put one on their Rick yet? RIC guitars fretboards are cut on a 10" radius, and each trio of saddles on the Mastery are in a FLAT plain, while the stock RIC saddles are set on a radius like the fretboard. This thing's looking more and more like an over engineered version of Leo's original Telecaster bridge. Nope don't own one Erik, but I've never driven a Yugo either.

Am I seeing this picture correctly? It looks like the strings are lying on a radius.

I've never driven a Yugo either, but for all I know, it might be a kick-butt little car.

[electrofaro]

Yugos are not that bad - not worse than a Fiat at least!

[Grey]

Has anyone here put one on their Rick yet? RIC guitars fretboards are cut on a 10" radius, and each trio of saddles on the Mastery are in a FLAT plain, while the stock RIC saddles are set on a radius like the fretboard. This thing's looking more and more like an over engineered version of Leo's original Telecaster bridge.

The saddles have height adjustment screws that allow you to adapt them to any radius from 7.25" and onward. It's getting embarassing when you arn't even reading the spec sheet and still coming here trying to whine about it.

[aceonbass]

Erik...Don't be insulting. I'm a DETAIL oriented person who knows snake oil when he sees it. While the height and intonation of the outer saddles in each trio is adjustable, the middle one goes along for the ride. If you can't SEE that, then you need to get your head out of the manufacturers spec sheet and actually LOOK at the part. Mark, careful examination of this bridge and the one's they make for Fenders shows that the saddle assembly has all three saddle depressions in the same plain. Just seeing that it only has four saddle adjusting screws should tip anyone off that compromises were made in it's design. Now if it had six fully adjustable saddles, I wouldn't even be talking about it. Heck, the height adjusting screws don't even have grooves in the bottom of the bridge to keep them from moving from side to side.

[admin]

I have a Yamaha 12 string years ago that had a 12 string bridge that was ingenious to my way of thinking. It was made by Gotoh I believe and looked a lot like this one. I do not want to take from the good discussion here. While not perfect I think that this bridge might satisfy some with regard to the ability to make adjustments.

[walker]

Yikes! Always with the type-shouting!

Dane, your speculations could very well hold water in some instances, but I'm inclined to take the evaluations of those who have actually used the product more seriously. Like what Biscuti said after having used one with his '65 Jag, and Mitch Easter & Rod Collins' experience with it on their respective Jazzmasters, especially Rod's use in conjunction with the vibrato bar - those are proven examples. There's another (now-EX) forumite who took an incredibly amount of heat for commenting on RIC guitars that he didn't actually own. This sort of limited perspective doesn't really establish any factual basis for comparison, so why put this amount of energy into defending a stance that has no proven merit? If you want to test drive one of these babies and prove your theories, then by all means - bring on the review! THAT I'd like to hear, be it positive or negative.

And Erik - I must say: You are looking absolutely SMASHING these days! We really should hang out more often!

[walker]

Peter - I'm totally out of my element when it comes to 6 or 12-string Ricks. Would this particular Gotoh bridge fit on a RIC guitar? And don't the RIC 12 strings have a 12-saddle adjustable bridge?

[sloop_john_b]

Peter - I'm totally out of my element when it comes to 6 or 12-string Ricks. Would this particular Gotoh bridge fit on a RIC guitar? And don't the RIC 12 strings have a 12-saddle adjustable bridge?

It would NOT fit on a Rick; only certain models (like the 660/12) come with a 12-saddle bridge.

And just to be clear, the Mastery Bridge is for SIX strings.

[sloop_john_b]

Dane, your speculations could very well hold water in some instances, but I'm inclined to take the evaluations of those who have actually used the product more seriously. Like what Biscuti said after having used one with his '65 Jag, and Mitch Easter & Rod Collins' experience with it on their respective Jazzmasters, especially Rod's use in conjunction with the vibrato bar - those are proven examples.

There are MANY happy Mastery users. Nels Cline and Jeff Tweedy from Wilco, the boys from Sonic Youth, Bill Frisell...see where I'm going with this? We're talking about (finally) a solid bridge for dudes who really play the **** out of decidedly finnicky guitars (Jazzmasters & Jaguars mainly). The Rick bridge is a bit less finnicky than those, but there is much room for improvement tonally unless you're content just jangling along (not that there's anything wrong with that but I'm not).

I tried a Tune-O-Matic on a Rick and the difference was quite clear; the Mastery takes that idea even further, except that it's made specifically for them (unlike the TOM).

Even the CEO kinda digs it (see pg. 1). I can't wait to try one on my 330.

[Grey]

And Erik - I must say: You are looking absolutely SMASHING these days! We really should hang out more often!

There's another (now-EX) forumite who took an incredible amount of heat for commenting on RIC guitars that he didn't actually own.

You're allowed to get away with it when you're 52 and know everything about everything.

[walker]

Cool, JB. Now THAT'S a good chunk of proven endorsement that carries some weight! I didn't know these bridges were already so "out there." I understand the concern that some have over the affect the Mastery has on the guitar's tone, but that's why some brilliant soul put tone knobs on amps - to shape the tone to one's preference. I have the 12k & 14k RI pickups in my 4001V63 bass. When run through my amp the way I have the tone controls set for my '68 bass with the 7.5k pickups, the V63 sounds pretty muddy and distorts the hell out of the gain - no twang at all. But back off on the gain and cut the midrange by a decent about of db, it sounds VERY close to the '68. If I knew I could achieve the same tone from a 330 using a Mastery bridge by merely tweaking my amp knobs, I'd be pretty stoked about the response and sustain attributes.

[walker]

You're allowed to get away with it when you're 52 and know everything about everything.

HA HA! Awesome. Can't wait. But does the mere accomplishment of turning 52 automatically qualify me, or am I going to have to study a bunch of krap between now & then?

[aceonbass]

I've never commented on the sound of this piece. It may well sound better to many people, and to make an evaluation on that aspect I would have to have one. As I've said before, I am e very detail oriented person, a quality that most of my customers can appreciate since I have a higher than average hands on knowledge of Ricks and guitars in general. That there are only four intonation screws and a single plain (not curve) that each trio of saddles can be adjusted in is an obvious fact based on careful examination of the company's product line. I'm not saying that users of this line of bridges don't know what they're talking about in relation to the sound of it, or even the adjustability of it as far as what's there, but unless there's something I'm not seeing and someone can verify that the A and B saddles are independently adjustable of their adjacent saddles, I'll stand by my assessment that the bridge itself is a compromise. The base plate is great though Mark, All caps would be shouting, I type in italics because it's faster to find my post on a page and read.

[Grey]

HA HA! Awesome. Can't wait. But does the mere accomplishment of turning 52 automatically qualify me, or am I going to have to study a bunch of krap between now & then?

It's an epiphany, you're able to look at something and know everything about it without ever using or reading about it. You may or may not also start telling kids to get off your lawn.

That's Norah Jones, by the way. ---->