I asked a local luthier and
this forum how installing a Jazzmaster style vibrato unit might change the sound on my fixed bridge 2001 Guild M65 Custom Shop. It's a nice and hard to find guitar that cost a fair bit so I didn't want to ruin it. No one could really give me a clear answer so I decided to investigate for myself.
I decided to set up an experiment, laid out below. Please excuse bad mobile phone pics snapped while I went along. I did this as a fun NYE holiday project over a fair few glasses of wine (except for the routing, don't worry). It was a fun experiment, I wasn't paying attention to neatness or looking after the poor sacrificial guitar as I went.
Scroll to the bottom for the results.
First up, here's the Guild M65 on somebody's else's carpet
THE EQUIPMENT:
1 x Duesenberg Vibrola Short
1 x Mastery OMV-P Vibrato
1 x Dearmond M55 sacrificial guitar for UK£70, with the same bridge arrangement as my M65.
3 x the cheapest string sets I could find, GHS 10-38 - a strange gauge a bit light in the bass but the point here was comparison.
Here's the sacrificial guitar. The stock pickup is horrible, the tuners are horrible, and it's put together wonky.
Enjoy the way the bridge and/or neck is misaligned and the way it came strung from the previous owner:
THE PROCESS
First up, I tested it with a new set of the GHS in the original set up.
Then I installed the Duesenberg. Super easy, took about 10 minutes and four holes.
Next up I installed the Mastery. Getting it to work properly on a not-straight guitar proved an interesting challenge. Neither the strap pin, nor the bridge, nor the neck was centred so there was no reliable centre point to work with. In the end I decided to centre it on the neck, which required installing it slightly skewwhiff. However, once on, it works well.
I did the routing with a bit attached to a mini drill and merrily damaged the top of the guitar in the process, for which I apologise. However, I was only interested in getting to the end point as quickly as possible.
I chose to install it closer than on a Jazzmaster as I was keen to get a break angle similar to what's currently on the guitar, although this is a bit shallower.
THE RESULTSSo I recorded the guitar after each step directly into Logic using the onboard Guitar Amp Pro set to US Combo 40 and UK 2x12 closed.
I just played each string open, then strummed the same chord pattern, and then tested the range of the trems when installed.
Audio Samples
Fixed bridgeDuesenberg VibrolaMastery VibratoEQ overlayI used a spectrum analyser plug in to view the EQ response of each recording and average them. Here they are overlaid.
PURPLE = MASTERY
ORANGE = DUESENBERG
GREEN = FIXED
So how do the different units change the sound?
NOT MUCH!
Arguably there's a small loss of bass with the Mastery but it's pretty insignificant. There's also a resonant peak around 120Hz with the Duesenberg, but again nothing huge. What do your ears tell you rather than your eyes?
SustainSustain wise there's not really anything in it. Perhaps the Duesenberg has a slight edge but it's not dramatic.
General
Aside from the sound, both vibrato units work very well. The Duesenberg has a slightly softer spring than a Bigsby B5 but it's great to have the adjustable arm, both for height and length. Range is pretty similar to a Bigsby.
The Mastery has a far greater range, but I'll have to get used to how high the arm is off the body. I guess it could be bent. It would look better if I spent the extra bucks for a metal tip.
Now for what to do with the M65 I'm not sure. I'll muse on it.
Comments
Fit a cheap Jazzmaster trem on the M55 and sell it and the Mastery separately - you'll get more back like that probably.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Actually they might be better with one or the other, it really depends on how smoothly the strings can move over the bridge saddles - which depends to a large extent on the break angle, so setting the vibrato further back than a typical Bigsby will help.
Given the extra screw holes and the wonky neck it probably doesn't matter about a few scratches...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I'm going to do a bridge experiment shortly and have another roller to try.
I’d go for domed thumbwheels with the stock tuneomatic. Similarly benefits to tuning as with a roller bridge.
Also, the Duesenberg looks better than the Mastery, though they feel quite different from one another.
I'm not sure I agree about the looks of the Duesenberg, but it's all still under consideration
The path to finding the right “recipe” for any given guitar is not always straightforward. I’m sure an aluminium bridge from ABM would give very different results
HarrySeven - Intangible Asset Appraiser & Wrecker of Civilisation. Searching for weird guitars - so you don't have to.
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