Jazzmaster tuning stability pursuit

[DarkAxel]

Hey, guys

so, recently swapped the saddles on my JM for Graphtech TUSQ ones, greatly helped me with popping strings and buzz, but i'm still having trouble with going out of tune while using the vibrato. Sometimes it's not that bad, sometimes it's bad, but overall - i need it to vanish as much as possible.

so i'm thinking two things

a) Nut - i just ordered a TUSQ XL nut from allparts.co.uk, the material is lubricated, so that might help

b) preventing the bridge from rocking, maybe by putting some gaffer tape around the bridge posts?

i mean... where's usually the problem? i keep hearing only good things about the tuning stability with Jazzmaster vibrato

[skullservant]

I honestly never used my vibrato on the Jazzmaster because I would slam the shit out of it and the whole guitar would go out of tune, even with a new neck, nut, and tuners. Not nearly as bad as stock, but still, noticable enough that I didn't use it

[DarkAxel]

your experience scares the crap out of me, but you're the only person i've ever heard reporting such atrocities

[skullservant]

Seriously dude it's like I'm the fucking hulk. Except if the hulk was pale, into black metal, and had small enough hands to play a guitar.

I really don't know dude, I seem to unintentionally thrash EVERYTHING I use, and I barely leave the house with any of it. I remember when I took lessons for a very short while in highschool my instructor asked me 'why are you strumming so hard and tensing up so much?' Maybe that is my explination? hahah

[Lemyisgod]

It was like this with my Mustang for years, it would drive me nuts. I finally figured out the problem it was a combination of a shim and the spring tension set wrong. On the Jazzmaster their is a spring inside the tremolo unit maybe its just not set properly.

[DarkAxel]

tried fixing the bridge, i'd say it's an improvement... still waiting for the new nut though

[DarkAxel]

ok, so for me, it's definitely mainly in the static bridge

it still get's sharp/flat, but when i move the wangbar in the opposite direction, it's back again... and it only gets sharp/flat with serious abuse

on the last show, i stayed in tune 90% of the time, the 10% were the abusive song endings

[Mike]

Have a look at this article, particularly the first page. I'm not sure where I found it, but I had it bookmarked from when I got my VM Jazzmaster.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p287 ... setup1.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p287 ... setup2.jpg
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p287 ... setup4.jpg

Reducing friction by sanding and lubricating the edge/pivot point really helped my guitar.

Mike

[theavondon]

I....don't have these problems. And I own the same guitar. BUUUUUUUUUUUUT, thanks for the heads up bout dat saddle thang

[Lemyisgod]

ok, so for me, it's definitely mainly in the static bridge

it still get's sharp/flat, but when i move the wangbar in the opposite direction, it's back again... and it only gets sharp/flat with serious abuse

on the last show, i stayed in tune 90% of the time, the 10% were the abusive song endings

This might be a dumb question but when was the last time you put on new strings. That can be from them being over stretched. That happens on my mustang when the strings are getting old.

[DarkAxel]

let's see... i always change strings approximately two days before a show, right now, that means at least once a month

the ones i have on now are there since January 22th