Kauer Arcturus Update #6: Bow to the Mastery

@jbnah yep. Gonna look great.

A photo posted by Doug Kauer (@kauerguitars) on

John "Woody" Woodland changed the game for offset players in 2008 when his Mastery Bridge debuted. It was lauded as a miracle piece of a kit - a bridge that instantly made Jazzmasters and Jaguars viable options as "professional" guitars, and a step further from their terminal relegation as "quirky" guitars.

More recently, Mastery released the MV series of floating vibrato units as replacements for Fender guitars, and the OMV series, which uses a different footprint than the traditional offset vibrato, designed with smaller & custom builders in mind. 

This style of vibrato is my favorite; when set up right, there is none smoother. Plus, you've gotta love the extra string length behind the bridge, perfect for wind-chimey sounds and other noisemaking. My Kauer Arcturus is equipped with a Mastery Bridge and a Mastery Vibrato, and these were the final pieces of hardware needed to complete the guitar. See below: