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Been looking at Jazzmasters, but what do I really want?


Fluttershy

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The size of the Jazzmaster is starting to become an issue for me. Thinking of getting one of the GFS ones. But after shipping & mods it'll cost as much nearly as much as getting a Classics Player second hand, but not be the same overall quality of instrument. Tough choice.

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The size of the Jazzmaster is starting to become an issue for me. Thinking of getting one of the GFS ones. But after shipping & mods it'll cost as much nearly as much as getting a Classics Player second hand, but not be the same overall quality of instrument. Tough choice.

 

 

the fender blacktop JM has a smaller body than other JMs. I layered them directly on top of eachother in photoshop to look at where the size differences are. most of the outline is the same until you get to the butt of the body where the blacktop is considerably shorter... top and sides they're the same, but the BT has a smaller butt. it's a pretty good design and probably a bit lighter.

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The size of the Jazzmaster is starting to become an issue for me. Thinking of getting one of the GFS ones. But after shipping & mods it'll cost as much nearly as much as getting a Classics Player second hand, but not be the same overall quality of instrument. Tough choice.

Are you fundamentally opposed to a Mustang? I'm sure you'd love it.

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I finally bit down on one. been looking at guits, especially offsets, for a while now. I've been waiting on a good deal.

 

as usual, my goal is to get 20% off. in the past that's often been pretty easy. however, after many calls to all the usual haunts, I've not been able to get anyone to give me 20% off on any fender.

 

nstuffmusic.com -- which I found from its library of demo videos on youtube -- has very competitive below MAP prices on many products. they immediately offered me $715 on a new classic player JM.

 

I then called MF one more time and asked them for just 15% off... which would be $680... they declined. In conversation I learned that the best chance at getting the bigger discounts like 20% would be around 4th of july. I don't really want to wait that long.

 

I asked if they'd do $700 even, they offered me $720. I know nstuff has it for $715, but I went ahead with MF because of some mixture of lazy and the fact that I'm already familiar with the MF machine and that it will ship pretty quickly and nstuff would be new to me.

 

anyone, I went for it and the wait begins.

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Cool...which color did you go with?

 

I've been struggling with this for a while, frankly. When I dialed the phone I still hadn't really made up my mind.

 

When she asked me which color, "sunburst" popped out of my mouth for some reason. Weird way to decide, but I think I'm happy with my choice.

 

557624.jpg

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I'm not sure what Mustang I could get for an affordable price. There's no Squier, Classics Player or cheap KO. I'm also worried about the lack of low-end.

 

Be aware that mustangs/duo-sonics by no means sound ANYTHING like jazzmasters. The trem on a mustang is also very, very, very different than a JM style trem. Mustang pickups are generally much weaker, and have a lower output. If you're worrying about a "lack of low-end", I don't know what you're going to think of a mustang pickup, let alone a JM bridge pickup :lol:. Mustangs/duo-sonics also have less sustain, or at least to me, than JMs. Same goes for jaguars; the shorter scale affects that.

 

GFS jazzmasters are actually really good for the price point. The necks are kind of meh, but that may just be me.

 

reference: I own two offsets :lol:

 

5527540991_9006c6245c.jpg

 

'66 duo-sonic on the left (with a '75 musicmaster neck), warmoth jazzmaster build on the right.

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haha, funny story, after my last post I decided I really wanted black. like, really really.

 

so.. I called and asked them to switch it. they said the other order is already packed and waiting UPS, and they can send a stop order but it may or may not work..

 

I said go for it, and let's order the black one.

 

so, as of this moment, I have two CP jazzmasters ordered. one of each color. :) the sunburst one may or may not be stopped before it ships out. lol.

 

worst case scenario 2 guitars show up at my door and I'll have explaining to do... I'd just return it, of course, but still... funny.

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If a Mustang (or your Musicmaster, WTF) has poorer sustain than a Jazzmaster, I hate to put it like this, but I think you're doing it wrong. Or your idea of sustain is different from mine. In my experience, Jazzmasters/Jaguars have the worst sustain out of any of the major Fender designs, by a mile. That's not a bad thing, it's just what it is. Mustangs have a lot of bite and attack, so it seems like it's not sustaining, but the note itself will ring a lot longer than the same note from a Jaguar. And a Duo or Musicmaster is hard tail so it certainly sustains well.

 

Anyway, the beauty of Mustangs is that they take standard Strat pickups, so if you don't like your sound, it's easy, easy, easy to change it to something you WILL like. You can't say that about a Jazzmaster. Can't put Kinmans in one of those.

 

And Mustang trems are different. They're better because they allow manipulation without a trem arm, by using your palms (or elbows).

 

:)

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If a Mustang (or your Musicmaster, WTF) has poorer sustain than a Jazzmaster, I hate to put it like this, but I think you're doing it wrong. Or your idea of sustain is different from mine. In my experience, Jazzmasters/Jaguars have
the
worst sustain out of any of the major Fender designs, by a mile. That's not a bad thing, it's just what it is. Mustangs have a lot of bite and attack, so it seems like it's not sustaining, but the note itself will ring a lot longer than the same note from a Jaguar. And a Duo or Musicmaster is hard tail so it certainly sustains well.


Anyway, the beauty of Mustangs is that they take standard Strat pickups, so if you don't like your sound, it's easy, easy, easy to change it to something you WILL like. You can't say that about a Jazzmaster. Can't put Kinmans in one of those.


And Mustang trems are different. They're better because they allow manipulation without a trem arm, by using your palms (or elbows).


:)

 

It's a musicmaster neck, what is there not to get :idk:. It's no different than a mustang or duo-sonic neck :facepalm:.

 

I'm unaware of what JMs you've played, or duo-sonics/mustangs for that matter, so I'm not going to go ahead and make a condescending comment, as you've already attempted to do. In my experience, the jazzmaster has more sustain, but they're completely different designs. It's comparing apples to oranges. Most people buy a jazzmaster because it sounds like a jazzmaster, and the converse for mustangs/duos. If you don't like the way one sounds, I'm not going to tell you that you have to. I'm quite aware of what my duo sounds like, and what my jazzmaster sounds like. Like I said earlier, apples to oranges, especially when it comes to the trem I never said one was better than the other, as mechanically, they're completely different! That's quite an uneducated comment to say that one is better than the other.

 

I'm just stating my opinion; if yours is different, hey, that's alright. However, attempting to talk down to me isn't the friendliest way of going about expressing that.

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I said WTF because you are saying that a very poorly sustaining tremolo-equipped guitar like the Jazzmaster has worse sustain than a hardtail Music/Duomaster. It makes no sense.

 

Maybe it's in your pickups or something because it really makes no sense.

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I said WTF because you are saying that a very poorly sustaining tremolo-equipped guitar like the Jazzmaster has worse sustain than a hardtail Music/Duomaster. It makes no sense.


Maybe it's in your pickups or something because it really makes no sense.

 

 

Again, apples to oranges. I have Novaks in both, which are wound to vintage specs, if you're wondering. More goes into how a guitar stains than just the bridge. If you'd like to read up on this subject, I'd be more than happy to have a constructive conversation with you.

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sustain is sort of a bull{censored} distraction... it really doesn't matter... every decently build electric guitar sustains pretty dang well. I don't know who goes "ah, I left the note ringing for 10 seconds on my strat, I really need an extra second or two..."

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Of course, it's not that important in my mind. I think poor sustain is one of the trademark qualities of the Jazzmaster/Jaguar sound and why you'd want them in the first place. If you want to know just how poorly a Jazzmaster sustains, just swap the bridge out for a Tune-O-Matic style bridge.

 

It's just a bit odd to suggest that Duosonic/Musicmasters are lacking in sustain. Even acoustically they ring out forever, you could go and have a bite.

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Of course, it's not that important in my mind. I think poor sustain is one of the trademark qualities of the Jazzmaster/Jaguar sound and why you'd want them in the first place. If you want to know just how poorly a Jazzmaster sustains, just swap the bridge out for a Tune-O-Matic style bridge.


It's just a bit odd to suggest that Duosonic/Musicmasters are lacking in sustain. Even acoustically they ring out forever, you could go and have a bite.

 

 

I'm not suggesting, that was a declarative statement I made. As I've said, if you think otherwise, I'm not going to tell you you're wrong. A simple difference of opinion. Also, JM =/= jaguar, tonally, by any means.

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I know they don't have similar tone because they have different pickups. But in terms of construction they're nearly identical aside from scale length (which has no effect on sustain). The bridge on a Jazzmaster is a sustain killer, with the bridge being coupled to the body by tiny, tiny screws, and there are many aftermarket products that purport to increase their poor sustain, such as the Mastery Bridge, the Whizzo Buzz Stop, the various Tune-O-Matic style bridges people install.

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this silly argument seems to have better sustain than any guitar.

 

:lol:. Also, it should be noted that classic player jaguars/jazzmasters have a tune-o-matic bridge on them, incase you were unaware of that. That's what you were looking at buying, correct? Also, I enjoyed the two squire JMs that I've played. Great guitar for the money.

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:lol:
. Also, it should be noted that classic player jaguars/jazzmasters have a tune-o-matic bridge on them, incase you were unaware of that. That's what you were looking at buying, correct? Also, I enjoyed the two squire JMs that I've played. Great guitar for the money.

 

As said, I just ordered TWO new classic player jazzmasters! (unintentionally) and yeah, I was aware of the bridge. I actually am FOR some of the modernizations on the Classic Player ones -- some of the design choices used on the vintage correct jms/jags may be charming and may be desirable for people looking for that really authentic experience, but for me, the modernizations are nice.

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