How are the Classic Vibe Jazzmasters?

DodgeDodge Frets: 1430
edited January 2021 in Guitar
I fancy a JM. Never played one before.

I've owned several of the Chinese CV50s Teles and was always very impressed with the quality for the cash. Are the JMs as highly regarded? I think they're not made in China anymore. Not sure if that's good or bad.

Anything else I should be considering?


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Comments

  • KittyfriskKittyfrisk Frets: 18381
    Ask @@minimoog ;  
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  • duotoneduotone Frets: 971
    @JohnCordy Likes his J Mascis Squier Jazzmaster, afaik it only comes in 1 colour. 
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  • SchnozzSchnozz Frets: 1926
    Buy my CV 50s Tele - It's built perfectly with the best grain I could find, but I bloody hate Teles.

    The fretwork and neck joints aren't as consistent in comparison with the older MIC ones, but there are good'uns still. Also worth noting the change in body and fingerboard timbers (laurel looks shoite!).

    I'd recommend buying in person, so somewhere like PMT has loads to check through.

    I'd look at a G&L Doheny too.
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  • munckeemunckee Frets: 12255
    I had a vintage modified jaguar and then a classic vibe, the classic vibe was a noticeable step up in quality. 

    I had a j mascis and it was very nice. Certainly on a par with classic vibe quality.  
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  • JohnCordyJohnCordy Frets: 650
    The squier j mascis I find is great for the money, I prefer it feel wise to some of the vintera stuff which I felt was finished a bit poorly. (Only a couple examples so not a great sample size)
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  • I have a CV JM, scratched my itch for one certainly. I got the black with gold scartchplate. Have seen the pruple one go a bit beyond it's original price ebay a few times now. 
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  • The mascis was always the cheap one to go for as it had the nicest neck profile and a satin finish to the neck.

    The VMs were ok but always had a bit of a shit finish to the frets higher up the fretboard.

    YMMV and all that
    The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term “vibrato” to refer to what is really a tremolo effect.
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  • Dan_HalenDan_Halen Frets: 1646
    edited January 2021
    I’ve got one and it’s fine. Nothing wrong with it though, just a bit meh.

    The neck is pretty slim and quite glossy. Frets are ok - could use a really good polish but seem ok apart from that. Hardware and trem feel ok to me although I’m no expert with these. Trem is smooth, easy and tuning fairly stable. Pickups are a bit thin and weedy. Overall finish is excellent though (my not liking the gloss is a taste thing rather than a fault as such) and fairly light which is nice.

    I got it to scratch my Jazzmaster itch as well but then immediately got something else as well (a really nice JM bitsa of this forum) as didn’t think the CV was really doing it.

    There's nothing wrong with it as such because all my 'issues' could be exactly what someone else likes and would therefore make it ideal for them. Also aware that I could 'fix' some of my quibbles with some time/money but I don't really like doing that on a guitar I'm not into because it becomes a money pit with no guarantee of success. If the neck was a bit more substantial and in a nice satin finish I'd probably look to keep it but hey ho - Fender know their market better than me and presumably went with it for a reason.
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  • Dan_Halen said:
    I’ve got one and it’s fine. Nothing wrong with it though, just a bit meh.

    The neck is pretty slim and quite glossy. Frets are ok - could use a really good polish but seem ok apart from that. Hardware and trem feel ok to me although I’m no expert with these. Trem is smooth, easy and tuning fairly stable. Pickups are a bit thin and weedy. Overall finish is excellent though (my not liking the gloss is a taste thing rather than a fault as such) and fairly light which is nice.

    I got it to scratch my Jazzmaster itch as well but then immediately got something else as well (a really nice JM bitsa of this forum) as didn’t think the CV was really doing it.

    There's nothing wrong with it as such because all my 'issues' could be exactly what someone else likes and would therefore make it ideal for them. Also aware that I could 'fix' some of my quibbles with some time/money but I don't really like doing that on a guitar I'm not into because it becomes a money pit with no guarantee of success. If the neck was a bit more substantial and in a nice satin finish I'd probably look to keep it but hey ho - Fender know their market better than me and presumably went with it for a reason.
    This has reminded me that I dislike the bridge pickup on it massively. So thin. Neck pup is good. 
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  • Dan_HalenDan_Halen Frets: 1646
    edited January 2021
    Dan_Halen said:
    I’ve got one and it’s fine. Nothing wrong with it though, just a bit meh.

    The neck is pretty slim and quite glossy. Frets are ok - could use a really good polish but seem ok apart from that. Hardware and trem feel ok to me although I’m no expert with these. Trem is smooth, easy and tuning fairly stable. Pickups are a bit thin and weedy. Overall finish is excellent though (my not liking the gloss is a taste thing rather than a fault as such) and fairly light which is nice.

    I got it to scratch my Jazzmaster itch as well but then immediately got something else as well (a really nice JM bitsa of this forum) as didn’t think the CV was really doing it.

    There's nothing wrong with it as such because all my 'issues' could be exactly what someone else likes and would therefore make it ideal for them. Also aware that I could 'fix' some of my quibbles with some time/money but I don't really like doing that on a guitar I'm not into because it becomes a money pit with no guarantee of success. If the neck was a bit more substantial and in a nice satin finish I'd probably look to keep it but hey ho - Fender know their market better than me and presumably went with it for a reason.
    This has reminded me that I dislike the bridge pickup on it massively. So thin. Neck pup is good. 
    Yeah, neck is very nice. Edit - I did say I don’t like the pickups but that’s unfair as it’s the bridge that I feel doesn’t work. Don't like the bridge on it's own but actually works quite well in middle position for me. 
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14323
    Dan_Halen said:
    Dan_Halen said:
    Pickups are a bit thin and weedy.
    This has reminded me that I dislike the bridge pickup on it massively. So thin. Neck pup is good. 
    Yeah, neck is very nice. Don't like the bridge on its own but actually works quite well in middle position for me. 
    Are your respective pickups pukka, shallow/wide coil Jazzmaster style or something resembling a Strat pickup on steroids, concealed beneath a JM cover?

    Squier has an annoying habit of combining a reasonably accurate spec neck pickup with an overly hot bridge pickup.

    Most owners would attempt to tame the hot bridge pickup by adjusting it away from the strings. This moves the pickup out of its sweet spot, leaving it sounding both weak and nasty.

    The stock pickups in MIJ/CIJ Jaguars were just as poor. The neck pickup sounded like you wished the bridge pickup would sound. The bridge pickup made the guitar sound like an electric egg slicer.
    Be seeing you.
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  • thefezthefez Frets: 127
    I've had one for a few months now and really like it. Just jumped up to 11s from the 9s that it came with and it just feels better.

    A few issues so far - the frets felt a bit 'gritty' though a polish has helped a bit and the laurel fretboard felt dry, though I do like the size and shape of the neck.

    Bridge pickup is pretty honky sounding but I generally keep the selector in the middle position. 

    I've never had a Squier or a Jazzmaster before but I'd happily buy a classic vibe again.
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  • Dan_HalenDan_Halen Frets: 1646
    Dan_Halen said:
    Dan_Halen said:
    Pickups are a bit thin and weedy.
    This has reminded me that I dislike the bridge pickup on it massively. So thin. Neck pup is good. 
    Yeah, neck is very nice. Don't like the bridge on its own but actually works quite well in middle position for me. 
    Are your respective pickups pukka, shallow/wide coil Jazzmaster style or something resembling a Strat pickup on steroids, concealed beneath a JM cover?

    Squier has an annoying habit of combining a reasonably accurate spec neck pickup with an overly hot bridge pickup.

    Most owners would attempt to tame the hot bridge pickup by adjusting it away from the strings. This moves the pickup out of its sweet spot, leaving it sounding both weak and nasty.

    The stock pickups in MIJ/CIJ Jaguars were just as poor. The neck pickup sounded like you wished the bridge pickup would sound. The bridge pickup made the guitar sound like an electric egg slicer.
    They’re ‘Fender designed Alnico single-coils’ so... dunno but guess not =) Kind of sounds like a bad strat bridge. Very hard to balance with the neck.

    A new set would sort that out but don’t think it would ‘save’ it for me. Although, like I said before, what I don’t like about the CV others probably do.
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  • I assume these aren't problems on the CV Strats and Teles? This was my first CV guitar.
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  • mbembe Frets: 1840
    The Squier CV Jag is supposed to have "all new designed Fender pickups" but according to the label under the stuck-on foam padding they are Bass VI pickups type 1 (5.8 kOhms) and type 2 (6.2kOhms). On my CV Jag the type 2 was in neck position so I swapped their positions. Seems a bit haphazard, but I'm really happy with the tones which are definitely Jag flavours.

    When the CV Jag first came out I saw reviews where the bridge pickup measured 11 point something kOhms. I suspect Fender were using up their stocks of the Duncan Designed pickups from the Squier Vintage Modified Jag on the first run of CV Jags.
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  • munckeemunckee Frets: 12255
    edited January 2021
    mbe said:
    The Squier CV Jag is supposed to have "all new designed Fender pickups" but according to the label under the stuck-on foam padding they are Bass VI pickups type 1 (5.8 kOhms) and type 2 (6.2kOhms). On my CV Jag the type 2 was in neck position so I swapped their positions. Seems a bit haphazard, but I'm really happy with the tones which are definitely Jag flavours.

    When the CV Jag first came out I saw reviews where the bridge pickup measured 11 point something kOhms. I suspect Fender were using up their stocks of the Duncan Designed pickups from the Squier Vintage Modified Jag on the first run of CV Jags.
    I had the squier CV Jag which I liked, I then bought a mexican classic lacquer 60s which has American Vintage 65 pickups - they were considerably nicer sounding than the squier pickups so sold the squier.

    After buying the CV jag I had a luthier re-cut and polish the bone nut a it wasn't right.  I could have quiet easily kept that guitar and just changed the pickups - I'm just a sucker for a nitro finish.
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