Heard of GnJ but never been. Never heard of those guitars. They look tasty.
I love this guy.
Phil X is a badass. And I had a 1955 version of that guitar, but without the Bigsby and in Cadillac Green, a nice pearl dark green. Sweet, but in under-the-bed condition (actually, it was found in in-the-basement condition ;)) and Gretsches show wear if Yu look at them funny, so I ended up trading it and got great value…
I love Gretsch guitars. So much so that I even like them in Cadillac Green. As a general rule, I hate green guitars.
Funny. If you google “cadillac green”, the first image isn’t a Cadillac, it’s a Gretsch!
The guitarist in my surf band plays a big ol’ Gretsch White Falcon. It’s gorgeous, and he gets wonderful sounds out of it, but I can’t do much on it. That body is just too huge for me to feel comfy with it (plus, he uses extra lights, I can’t help but bend notes on it). I hear that the Japanese reissues built after Fender bought them, like his, have better build quality and are actually better playing guitars than the old ones were, but I can’t testify to it.
I got my Squier Bass VI on Friday, and haven’t put it down much since. It’s really amazingly good. I’m starting to think Indonesia understands guitars very well. I’ve complained about the pickups in the VM basses before, but these are wonderful. They do a very beautiful, bell-like normal bass sound, and have clarity on full chords even in the first position, no matter what the settings. I did have to remove the spring on the low E’s saddle in order to get it to intonate properly. This is apparently a problem on almost all Bass VIs, and there’s two different aftermarket bridges that fix it. I intend to get one before the end of the month. Kind of a dirty secret for a guitar design that goes for crazy money in its Fender incarnation :). The Japanese market reissues were .3" longer scale, so they probably intonated properly without doing this. If it works out well in practice on Wednesday, I’ll use it at our show on Saturday, and the Dan-o will do backup duty. If you told me a year ago that my favorite two basses would be 30" scale, I’d say you were loony. Maybe either guitar tech or amp tech is the difference, I don’t know. These both sound better than any short scale I’ve played, though. My wife and I are already discussing options for another six string baritone after I’ve fulfilled my stage bass amp needs. I’m leaning toward grabbing a Danelectro one, she’s wanting another Squier VI, in black this time.
Mmmmm, I can’t wait to have a extra bari tuned to open G. 
Damned envious of your VI, scabpicker. And I’ve never even played bass; it just sounds like great fun having an extended scale axe like that. Maybe I can sell a couple of my lower end axes and sneak one of those past the wife, hmmm…
So, here it is. Plays fast. Freaking thin body. And look at that bridge.
Nice looker, Sabs. re: bridge, are you pointing up that it’s a combo bridge/tailpiece? I take it it’s not stringthru.
It is great fun, but I have more bridge woes with it. The A string saddle vibrates it’s set screws loose, and lowers itself. Over the course of a set, it’ll eventually lower itself enough that it starts to intonate weird and buzz. At practice, it started sounding like an upright bass at a time that was perfect for it to do so, but I’m not going to count on it doing that at a show ;). I’m planning on flipping the bridge around to make proper intonation easier, and maybe applying some loctite to the set screws. However, no matter how great it sounded in practice, and how easy it makes things for a pick player due to it’s close string spacing, it’s not getting used this weekend.
That is pretty, what’s the extra switch for, coil tapping? And yeah, what is with that bridge? It looks like a Floyd Rose without a pivot or an arm. Plus, you still haven’t told us how “the pretty” sounds. Will I regret not picking one of these up in 10 years?
Which screws? The pair that raise/lower each saddle’s action, or the large one that moves it toward/away from the neck?
The pickups confuse me. The only pickups I’ve seen with a center row of screws are single coil (think p-90) yet there are rails north and south of them on yours like a double coil. What’s the deal?
There’s a (kinda) explanation in second link in E-Sab’s original post about the guitar. Seems like yet another approach to a single-coil/humbucker pickup that does both, I have no idea how well it works. Sabs?
The one that raises/lowers the action.
Ugh, that sounds like a pretty intractable problem. Those pins are so small it’d be difficult to get them to lock in place. I’d almost consider sticking a shim under that saddle if you can find something that’ll not wander around and doesn’t hurt the sustain. Maybe you could try swapping in one of the other saddles; if the threads on the A saddle were tapped too large, maybe they’re more normal on another saddle. If they all respond the same way, this is a pretty serious bridge design defect.
Can you post whatever solution (or lack) you come up with? I’m interested in this instrument, and don’t want to buy one and end up with the same problem.
It is a pretty awful problem. I’ve heard about it happening with Jaguars and Jazzmasters on the offset guitars forums. I don’t know why this doesn’t seem to happen to tele, strat, or even Fender bass saddles. The only thing I can think is different is that the bridge is floating, so the base that the saddle sits on can vibrate against the saddle more easily (the screws in the saddle for the low E has worn little ruts in the chrome already). I’m gonna try switching the set screws from the A’s saddle with another though, that’s a good idea.
Well, if swapping the screws out doesn’t work, it will probably be something along the lines of this. It’s not cheap (ugh, $173, shipped), but it’ll fix the problem. I’ll probably order one toward the end of the month if I don’t have it worked out.
I’m thinking perhaps it’s because Tele, Strat, and P-Bass strings break at a much steeper angle across the bridge, firmly locking down the saddles toward the body. Where on the Bass VI and JM, the strings travel, what? 4-5 inches beyond the bridge into the trem? That shallow angle would make the downward force on the saddles much less, so they can vibrate and wander around when you play and the saddles can settle as they do.
So here’s a weird idea off the top of my head: remove the strings and all of the bridge saddles. Place a strip of electrical tape across the bridge plate so that the saddle pins that would normally rest on the bridge instead rest on the tape. Reassemble everything and put the strings back. The saddle pins are now resting on a surface that they’ll tend to dig into a little (hopefully not all the way through) and not be liable to loosen because the tape will resist the pin turning. Filing some slots in the bottom of the pins might also help anchor them. Friction tape would probably work even better, or there’s adhesive strips that have some ‘cush’ to them e.g. double-sided tape. If you’re worried about the look, tape can be had in different colors, it could probably be made less objectionable. But that’s for later; we’re experimenting for now, so to heck with how it looks, make it play correctly first.
Yeah, I googled up the Mastery bridge as well as one other (that seems to be no longer made). It’d be a shame to have to drop coin on that with a brand new guitar, but it looks like it’d work.
This sounds like it has a good chance of helping, especially if you can get your hands on some friction tape, as** squeegee** said. You also mentioned trying Loctite to the height adjusters - you might find that the combination is all that you’d need.
And if you don’t have any Loctite handy, I’ve found that fingernail polish makes an excellent substitute - though I’ve never tried it on any part that’s subject to as much vibration as your bridge would be, so YMMV.
Actually, hell: duct tape would probably work pretty damned well, and be nearly invisible. It has enough give for the saddle pins to sink into and not turn, enough adhesive to stick for years of playing, and it’s silver like the bridge base and wouldn’t be very noticeable.
Fantastic suggestions, really. The string angle reducing the tension is probably the true cause of the problem, possibly made worse by the slightly lower tension of the thinner, short scale bass strings.
I’m going to try clear fingernail polish first, I think. Loctite seems a bit extreme, and it shouldn’t take too much resistance to keep things stable. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try the tape next. Duct tape? Skateboard tape? That’s pretty much a toss-up, I’m playing it in a surf band, so probably black friction tape first. Either way, I love how it sounds and plays, the other band members like its sound enough to compliment it, so I’m figuring out a solution for it’s bridge problems. Even if it ends up being the Mastery bridge, it’ll still end up about $300 less than a Pawn Shop model VI, and around $700 less than a Japanese built reissue, so I still think it’s quite a steal.
I think you guys are on the right track. scabpicker, have you gone to any message boards with a lot of discussion on that bridge layout to see if it is any issue they’ve talked through?