He Intones

[DGNR8]

I sanded three bodies last night, grain filled two others, and dicked around with three necks. That's my guitar night. I made big wide strides. Nothing finished yet, but at some point, maybe this summer, it will all be over.

In any case, I have this 79 MM with a crappy nut. I know the nut is crap and I bought a bunch of blanks to take care of that. In the meantime I decided to measure the neck to prove the notion that in order to intonate the guitar properly, the bridge should be set the same distance from the 12th fret as the nut is. I measured it, but either the bridge is set back too far, or I am not starting from the right point.

Does this look right to you? (Yes, Aug. I am an idiot. Let's get past that).

I also measured it on the top side of the nut (as shown), but it didn't seem to correspond to the 12th fret at all. From the bottom, it lined up with the bottom of the 12th fret. Those saddles are almost all the way forward. is it possible that the bridge is set too far back? The neck looks straight (with no relief). I haven't messed with that yet. This was my first foray into troubleshooting it.

I also have larger photos if this isn't clear enough. Erlewine says that the nut slots should be HALF the diameter of the strings. HALF, not TRIPLE. This nut has gum disease.

[theshadowofseattle]

If all the strings had to be exactly 24" in length, we wouldn't have individual saddles. You're in the clear, dude.

[filtercap]

I also measured it on the top side of the nut (as shown), but it didn't seem to correspond to the 12th fret at all. From the bottom, it lined up with the bottom of the 12th fret. Those saddles are almost all the way forward. is it possible that the bridge is set too far back?

Exactly what I did/thought last week while switching to that string-thru bridge. And the saddles on the new bridge are pretty far forward on the average. I wouldn't mind moving the whole bridge forward a tad, if it didn't involve a ton of filling & drilling, not to mention dealing with the string-thru holes I've got now. But that's how they built 'em. I guess it's good to err on the flat (long) side, as fretting strings pulls them sharp...

Congrats on all the work!

[DaveB]

Is that an old style body with a new style neck?. I get 24" from fretboard side of nut to saddles on my '74. Half way is the twelfth fret.

[DGNR8]

It's a 79 neck on a body with only ONE pickup route. I am thinking they stopped routing for two in the late 70s, but not sure when. I wonder if Fender or Jesus even fucking know.

I was looking on Ma R. Celroy's site and this one looks like it has the same fat gap between the guard and the bridge. Maybe they sucked. But likely they were just different from earlier models. If you look at these later year models they are all but one at the end of their screws. Maybe it's the truss. I have a 72 I can measure. We might as well use this for research.

[DaveB]

They stopped routing for two about '68 when the Duosonic was disco'd. My Bronco has my other Musicmaster's neck on it. Same measurements as the blue Musicmaster. That's weird. That body should be OK with that neck.

[filtercap]

I was looking on Ma R. Celroy's site and this one looks like it has the same fat gap between the guard and the bridge. Maybe they sucked. But likely they were just different from earlier models. If you look at these later year models they are all but one at the end of their screws. Maybe it's the truss. I have a 72 I can measure. We might as well use this for research.

"May I call you Ma?"

*slap*

That pic is how my '78 MM looked when I bought it. It yellowed a ton over the years. The paint's lighter under the guard.

I looked at a before-new-bridge pic of mine, and the bridge-guard gap is there (guard cut for Bronco trem blah blah) but mine's not quite as wide as that one. However, not to be outdone in the slop department, they screwed my bridge on at a slight angle with the bass side a tad closer to the neck. A vintage design feature I've faithfully reproduced with the new bridge.

The saddles were out a fair bit, but I don't know when I'd intonated it last. And when I did, it was by ear -- harmonic-fret-harmonic-fret-etc. The new tuner-intonated saddles are out pretty far. Farther than I'd like.

[DGNR8]

Kooky observations: now that I have had it strung up for a while it is sounding better. Since I extended the saddles, it intonates just fine. I am still going to adjust the truss to try to affect the buzzing. But it isn't bottoming out anymore. I wonder how many people just say fuck it and play it all buzzy.

I am prolly going to dismantle it this weekend and sand the poly down a bit. I can't play it until I fix the nut anyway. It's going to look something like this one in terms of color.

[filtercap]

Kooky observations: now that I have had it strung up for a while it is sounding better. Since I extended the saddles, it intonates just fine. I am still going to adjust the truss to try to affect the buzzing. But it isn't bottoming out anymore. I wonder how many people just say fuck it and play it all buzzy.

Ignore if this isn't it, but just in case: The saddle barrels are prone to buzz against each other if their ends are just lightly touching. I either reach down and crunch them firmly together end-to-end, or else pry a tiny gap between them with my guitar pick. Eventually they'll move slightly and buzz again, but whatever.


EDIT: Forgot -- these are your compensated saddles on that guitar? Maybe those don't have that buzz problem... BTW the '78 MM neck is my favorite. Built like a baseball bat. Not prone to flex at all.

[mezzio13]

Curious, that pic angle must not be too straight, when I scaled it up, I came up with some weird dimensions. Although, going in just one direction, even if it was skewed, half of the hypotenuse should still show correct at full length.