That Mosrite Sound

[Sarah93003]

Sarah, The bridge is a big part of the overall sound. I put a Stetsbar on my Squier Tele Thinline last month and the tone improved a lot over the ashtray one I previously had.

You're absolutely right. I forgot about that. I put a Compton aluminum bridge on my Gretsch Annie and a brass bridge on my Gretsch G400 and the improvement was wonderful! On my Streamliner project I intend to put a titanium zero fret and a titanium Compton bridge in hopes to create a unique sound. I think I'll use stainless steel for the rest of the frets and have them nice and low like my Celebrity. I have Dearmond 2000's for the neck and bridge and will probably put a TV Jones P90 in the middle position. I'm going to use a seven position push/pull switch so I can get all of the pickup combinations and switch between series and parellel wiring. This will be my little tone monster experiment!

[JohnChambers]

I agree that the bridge can make a big difference to the sound. The bridge-body connection is also important. About 10 years ago I put a TOM bridge on my '67 Gretsch Nashville. I liked the intonation capability but not the sound. Then I noticed the (wood) bridge base was a poor match for the curvature of the guitar's top. After sanding the bridge to make full contact with the top, the sound improved considerably. The effect is probably a little less on a solidbody, but I'm just trying a Mastery bridge on a MIJ '62 RI Jazzmaster (which I'm "Americanizing"; the neck on that guitar is outstanding) and it affects the sound quite a bit. That bridge is made to fit tightly in the body thimbles as opposed to the very loose fit of the stock bridge (intentional, for rocking when the trem is used). The Mastery gives quite a bit more top end and more sustain. I'm still figuring out if this is desirable on a Jazzmaster.

Which brings me back to the Mosrite sound. I occasionally hear that a long sustain means a guitar is good and a shorter sustain is bad, but I don't agree with this in general. I don't yet own a Mosrite, but based on recordings and old memories of playing them in the store as a kid, I think they tend to be on the shorter side when it comes to sustain, and this is also part of the sound, adding clarity and definition and not sounding so compressed. I would say the same about the Gretsch. I'd love to know what those more experienced with Mosrites think about this.

Sarah: that should indeed be a tone monster!

John