Paul's bridge vs John Mann adjustable

WEDGE

WEDGE

Zombie five, DFZ
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So I am thinking of getting a John Mann adjustable stoptail for my wood library mcCarty and wondered if anyone has had both the Pauls bridge that i have on it now and the John Mann adjustable one and can offer some pros and cons of either one.

I Like the Pauls bridge with the brass inserts but want to fine tune the intonation. Looking for feedback on the JM bridge, and also wondering what my Paul's stoptail would be worth if i sell it to get a Mann bridge.

Thanks
 
I have no experience with Paul's bridge but I have a Mann bridges on all of my PRS. They are the bees knees
 
I swapped it from the compensated stop tail. The Mann bridge is taller. His recommendation is to put the studs all the way down so they are touching the body, better for tonal transfer anyway. I like my action a little higher to grab some meat so I have it raised only slightly. Yes you will probably have to adjust the posts. Just take a measurement before so you know where it needs to be and then you should be able to adjust no problem.
 
This I don't understand. While I can see the value of the Mann bridge (and I have thought about it), I have absolutely no problems with my Paul's guitar and its bridge with the brass inserts. It intonates perfectly and the sound is stellar to my ears. But maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough to be able to tell the difference. However, for a non-brass insert stoptail, I guess I would lean heavily towards the Mann bridge.

Having said this, I've never heard a Mann in person, so my opinion is obviously quite limited in scope.
 
I'll be perfectly honest here, I did my first MannMade for purely asthetic reasons. I was trying to pimp my Angry Larry Studio to all black "accessories". Rings, knobs, tuner buttons, and an uncovered 59/09 had all been installed. The only glaring omission was the stop tail. When John introduced the 2300 and it had a black option, I was all in. I'd already purchased other items from John and Roxanne and loved the service, and the experience. I got that black 2300 and installed it. Looked great, sounded awesome. It just enhanced the already great tone. I liked it so much, I ordered two more and upgraded an SE Bernie and Cu22. I had no intention of doing that until I got the first one. And I am positive that my Studio would still have an original stop tail if John hadn't introduced the 2300.

Admittedly, there were other options out there for a black stop tail, but I wasn't willing to put something else on a PRS (no offense to those that do, just my opinion/preference). Knowing the background between John and PRS made the decision easy. I was confident I was getting an A+ accessory that would enhance my playing exepience. In my mind, that's exactly what I got.
 
I'm not going to enter the bridge discussion, since I don't have any experience with an alternate bridge for a PRS.

But it's worth mentioning that a guitar is fretted in equal temperament, not just intonation, so that it can play in more than one key. What this means is that other than playing the strings open, a guitar is never truly in tune, the tuning is very close, but a little bit off for various notes up and down the scale, and will vary depending on key.

So most notes on a guitar neck are a very close approximation of being in perfect intonation, but aren't really in perfect intonation.

Open strings, of course, can be intonated perfectly.

This is one reason folks like PRS and Buzz Feiten have searched for (and made) slight variations on guitar fretting systems. I believe that Paul Smith actually holds a patent on his fretting/tuning system (could be wrong on this, please someone correct me if this isn't the case).
 
markintime said:
This I don't understand. While I can see the value of the Mann bridge (and I have thought about it), I have absolutely no problems with my Paul's guitar and its bridge with the brass inserts. It intonates perfectly and the sound is stellar to my ears. But maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough to be able to tell the difference. However, for a non-brass insert stoptail, I guess I would lean heavily towards the Mann bridge.

Having said this, I've never heard a Mann in person, so my opinion is obviously quite limited in scope.
Click to expand...
It's really a matter of getting proper intonation for those of us who use alternate tunings, non standard string gauge, etc. I use the PRS adjustable for guitars I play with my band. Drop C tuning... 11 14 18 36 52 60 gauge strings. Impossible to get intonation correct on the normal PRS stoptail for this. The Mann bridge is available in more finishes as bodia mentions, there is also a piezo option on the Mann if you were going to mod a guitar up for that. The Mann is a little less expensive than the PRS adjustable for those on a budget. When I first needed an adjustable stoptail, I couldn't afford a PRS adjustable. I'm not sure it was even available at the time to buy stand alone. I got a Tone Pros then, not know it was slotted for a 12" radius rather than the PRS 10". While the bridge worked fine, it didn't feel as nice since the radius didn't match(since I didn't know, I didn't have the saddle slots made right for the 10").

I love the PRS adjustable. I have not played the Mann because I don't have a need for one right now. I do recommend the Mann over a Tone pros since John is the designer/maker/whatever of the original PRS trem and those are awesome. I always recommend the PRS and the Mann, whichever suits the buyers needs better. I don't know if there's a noticeable tone/sustain difference between the 2. John makes one that's posts fit the SE models also(I think) which is a huge plus.
 
All high quality, well designed parts.

Sometimes 'upgrades' are actually beneficial.

However, guitar forums are full of sheeple who insist on 'fixing' things that aren't broken....
 
I have no real issue with the standard bridge other than when playing with high gain and if the intonation is not perfect and in tune i can hear the idfference and the 'wobble', kind of like when tuning with harmonics and the notes osscilate until they are perfect. Very well may be me and my lack of skills but all the same i was wondering if the adjustable would tweak the intonation that much better.
 
So I finally scored a Mann Made 2300 bridge thanks to Hans. I put it on and it was a super easy install. Came with new studs and inserts but for the life of me I cant figure out how they differ from the stock ones, so I left the stockers on. Screwed the posts all the way down as suggested and slipped it on and it is adjusted for action about perfect, even the intonation was almost set perfectly with 10's; minimal tweaking to get a couple strings dead nuts.

It feels really good under your hand when palm muting and sounds great; better than a Paul's bridge? I cant say yes, my ears are not that good and are more tuned to if I hear good or bad, cant describe tiny differences.

All in I am happy with it and will vouch for the quality of this bridge, well done John Mann!



 
WEDGE said:
I have no real issue with the standard bridge other than when playing with high gain and if the intonation is not perfect and in tune i can hear the idfference and the 'wobble', kind of like when tuning with harmonics and the notes osscilate until they are perfect. Very well may be me and my lack of skills but all the same i was wondering if the adjustable would tweak the intonation that much better.
Click to expand...
Physics says: probably not. Absent a radical string gauge change (that would also require truss rod changes), those saddles are going to arrive in the same place relative to the nut today as yesterday. So unless you have issues where you like varied string heights, a properly made fixed bridge should be all you need.
 
WEDGE said:
So I finally scored a Mann Made 2300 bridge thanks to Hans. I put it on and it was a super easy install. Came with new studs and inserts but for the life of me I cant figure out how they differ from the stock ones, so I left the stockers on. Screwed the posts all the way down as suggested and slipped it on and it is adjusted for action about perfect, even the intonation was almost set perfectly with 10's; minimal tweaking to get a couple strings dead nuts.

It feels really good under your hand when palm muting and sounds great; better than a Paul's bridge? I cant say yes, my ears are not that good and are more tuned to if I hear good or bad, cant describe tiny differences.

All in I am happy with it and will vouch for the quality of this bridge, well done John Mann!



Click to expand...

Looks excellent! I have one of these on one of my guitars and I kind of like the look better than the PRS one.
 
I don't think I've ever played a guitar with a proprietary bridge that was better than a PRS. Not a diss to anyone replacing theirs.
 
WEDGE said:
I can't say this one is better but it offers adjustability which is what I wanted. Also it feels good when playing. Even a PRS can be improved to ones taste.
Click to expand...
I agree... any guitar can. My comment was only about my thoughts on PRS bridges. If someone wants to replace anything or everything on their guitar, it pains me none. Beautiful guitar BTW.
 
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