Short Answer
A type of guitar bridge produced by the company Mastery Bridge. This brand of bridge specializes in enhancing intonation and playability for Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Telecaster, and Rickenbacker guitars.
Long Answer
It's not too often that you have a guitar bridge manufacturer rise up in conversations, but with so many players electing to use Mastery Bridges on their guitars, it only makes enough sense. Mastery Bridge operates independently of the big-name brands and has amassed a significant following of their own. Famous guitarists like Nels Cline of Wilco, Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age, and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth have been known to use Mastery Bridges with their offset guitars for improved intonation and playability.
What makes a Mastery Bridge so masterful is in its design. Mastery Bridge designs focus in on a more involved design to produce more mechanical consistency than your average bridge. The Mastery Bridge patented design utilizes four intonation adjustment screws instead of a traditional six. Fifty-two millimeter string spacing between each string and solid brass saddles with a proprietary, self-lubricating hard chrome plating makes string placement and movement more consistent. The Mastery Bridge design also focuses on a guitar's break angle – the steepness of incline between where strings meet the saddle and the tailpiece. Mastery makes for a steeper break angle than your average guitar which results in a more even distribution of weight and more regular movement of strings when playing.
Mastery Bridge offers a wide range of bridge models for vintage, modern, domestically, and internationally-made electric guitars. In any case, they make for reliable, sturdy, playable, and musical additions to any guitar.
