Jazzmaster buying advice needed.

francer

Cookiemonster said:

Out of interest what are the opinions of the Mascis ? Maybe I should start with a lower priced guitar. I know the pick ups are hotter and different from a standard Jazzmaster, from what I can see, they seem to be a step up from the normal classic vibe.

Get yourself over to offsetguitars.com,a wealth of information over there - the general consensus being they are very good.

Again like the Marr Jag, I don’t have much personal experience of the Mascis apart from a little go during a trip along Denmark st. Me and a pal played a bunch of guitars including a real 65 JM with a virtually unplayable set up (wtf!!??) and the Mascis jumped out as being instantly the best of the bunch right off the hanger in terms of feel and set up.

munckee

Over lockdown I bought a mascis jm and a vintage modified jag to see which I preferred.  Although the mascis was better quality I decided I preferred jags, more surfy, shorter scale length, felt less like my strat and tele.  I sold them both and bought a classic vibe jag, big step up from the vintage modified, alnico pickups, bone nut and mustang bridge.  I had to have the nut re-cut but then sounded good, was v heavy though.

When I got some additional funds in the kitty I sold the classic vibe and got a mexican classic lacquer jag that someone had changed the bridge to a mustang bridge - absolutely brilliant guitar which I stupidly sold this year to raise funds for something else.

I've recently bought a vintage modified again where the previous owner has put AV62 pickups in, re-wired it, mustang bridge and fender tremolo - really good, not quite up to the classic lacquer as heavier and the mustang bridge puts the strings closer to the edge of the fretboard as mentioned above.  I think the AV65 pickups in the mexican are better than the AV62s also.

I have ordered a Staytrem (long wait apparently) and will at some point buy some AV65s and sell the AV62s and then it will pretty much there.

Seziertisch

The pros and cons of the Mascis, though depending on your tastes my pro might be your con.

Pros 
- the neck profile - Nice and chunky, apparently modelled after the neck on a Rory Gallagher Strat that J owns
- jumbo frets

Cons
- adjustomatic bridge - not traditional in terms of playing/feel.
- Vibrato positioned closer to the bridge than on a regular JM. This affects the behind the bridge resonance that is so much a part of the offset sound.

Neither pro nor con
- P90ish pickups - seeing as pickups can be changed easily, this is really a non-issue

thermionic

meltedbuzzbox said:

thermionic said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

The marrguar doesn't have a staytrem bridge, it has nylon bushings from staytrem that stop the bridge from dropping (traditional bridges can be known to drop their height and fall into their thimbles).
The string spacing and bridge barrels are all from a cheap mustang bridge. 

I personally don't like the string spacing on the stock mustang bridge, it places the e strings far too close to the edge of the fretboard for me. A proper staytrem doesn't do that.

The Johnny Marr Jaguar bridges changed about 2015 to fix the string spacing issue. The Staytrem has stainless steel saddles compared to the Fender’s plated brass (I think). I actually prefer the Fender Mustang spring arrangement to set intonation to the Staytrem’s fiddly nylon washers.

Interesting. I haven't seen one for a while to be fair

I am surprised you can find fault with the staytrem intonation. The special Allen key that came with the bridges made things super easy

Oh no, it’s a very nicely engineered part that fixes all the priblems - but sometimes the nylon washer moves away from being butted up against the back of the bridge and can rattle very slightly. Staytrem know about this and show you how to push it back with needle nosed pliers. Anyway I’ve just looked at the Straytrem site and they now come with metal clips that don’t come loose - excellent!

meltedbuzzbox

thermionic said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

thermionic said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

The marrguar doesn't have a staytrem bridge, it has nylon bushings from staytrem that stop the bridge from dropping (traditional bridges can be known to drop their height and fall into their thimbles).
The string spacing and bridge barrels are all from a cheap mustang bridge. 

I personally don't like the string spacing on the stock mustang bridge, it places the e strings far too close to the edge of the fretboard for me. A proper staytrem doesn't do that.

The Johnny Marr Jaguar bridges changed about 2015 to fix the string spacing issue. The Staytrem has stainless steel saddles compared to the Fender’s plated brass (I think). I actually prefer the Fender Mustang spring arrangement to set intonation to the Staytrem’s fiddly nylon washers.

Interesting. I haven't seen one for a while to be fair

I am surprised you can find fault with the staytrem intonation. The special Allen key that came with the bridges made things super easy

Oh no, it’s a very nicely engineered part that fixes all the priblems - but sometimes the nylon washer moves away from being butted up against the back of the bridge and can rattle very slightly. Staytrem know about this and show you how to push it back with needle nosed pliers. Anyway I’ve just looked at the Straytrem site and they now come with metal clips that don’t come loose - excellent!

Just get a mastery



Then cross your fingers that you don't get an annoying rattley one that likes to drop it's post height. 

Seziertisch

meltedbuzzbox said:

thermionic said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

thermionic said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

The marrguar doesn't have a staytrem bridge, it has nylon bushings from staytrem that stop the bridge from dropping (traditional bridges can be known to drop their height and fall into their thimbles).
The string spacing and bridge barrels are all from a cheap mustang bridge. 

I personally don't like the string spacing on the stock mustang bridge, it places the e strings far too close to the edge of the fretboard for me. A proper staytrem doesn't do that.

The Johnny Marr Jaguar bridges changed about 2015 to fix the string spacing issue. The Staytrem has stainless steel saddles compared to the Fender’s plated brass (I think). I actually prefer the Fender Mustang spring arrangement to set intonation to the Staytrem’s fiddly nylon washers.

Interesting. I haven't seen one for a while to be fair

I am surprised you can find fault with the staytrem intonation. The special Allen key that came with the bridges made things super easy

Oh no, it’s a very nicely engineered part that fixes all the priblems - but sometimes the nylon washer moves away from being butted up against the back of the bridge and can rattle very slightly. Staytrem know about this and show you how to push it back with needle nosed pliers. Anyway I’ve just looked at the Straytrem site and they now come with metal clips that don’t come loose - excellent!

Just get a mastery



Then cross your fingers that you don't get an annoying rattley one that likes to drop it's post height. 

A little splash of Loctite will sort that out, I have Masterys on 3 guitars and two of them needed Loctite.

I think 224 is the one that’s recommended. It secures them without being too secure.

Though I think the coating on the screws supplied on the more recently made Mastery’s is different and less prone to slippage.

NelsonP

freakboy1610 said:

I've had my J Mascis Jazzmaster for 7 or 8 years and it's probably my favourite guitar. It's a great guitar straight off but easily upgradeable too. It has P90s rather than Jazzmaster pickups, an adjust-o-matic bridge and the trem is a bit closer to the bridge than traditional Jazzmaster to give a better break angle. 
I've put decent Jazzmaster pickups in mine as well as a roller bridge. I changed the tremolo for a Hosco locking trem and added a Staytrem arm and collet. I put Gotoh tuners on it but the stock ones were fine really. 
I suspect the Fender Am Pro ii is in a different league and it should be as it's £1000 more than the Mascis. I'd love to try one when Peach guitars re opens.

@freakboy1610 ;

 Your J Mascis sounds v similar to mine. I've got seymour duncan hot jazzmaster pickups, vintage rewire, cts pots, switch and jack, fender trem and gotoh locking tuners. I've also had the neck shimmed as the action was still too high even with the bridge wound right down. This gives a nice action and a good break angle over the bridge.

Great guitar.

Loobs

Cookiemonster said:

Hi, 

I am surprised by how few American Jazzmasters seem to be available used.

I have been looking at the professional 2 models, and seeing who has stock of them to buy new.

On a different note - Is the Marr Jaguar worth the 
 money.
 I can only see two colour options for these, is that right ? I had a Jaguar before but it really wasn't a great guitar, so although tempted by jags I would have to make sure the strings don't pop off the saddles for a start

At this point I've managed to completely confuse myself, had in mind to get a classic vibe Jazzmaster , but some reviews on YouTube have put me off, so now thinking of going for the American version and I have my Telecaster AVRI up for sale/trade and my Gibson Les Paul Tribute in order to cover the cost.(Both are I'm the Classifieds)

I figure there must be some Jazzmaster experts here, what would you recommend buying ? 

There's a lot of great advice in this thread. I can't say much about Jaguars but have a bit of experience with Jazzmasters. I think if you want a good out-of-the-box JM you could do a lot worse than an Am. Pro II, though the pickups aren't really vintage-voiced. They sound good though and I was generally really impressed with the guitar when I played one (Miami Blue) recently. 

On the other hand, I'd also look at an American Vintage or American Original. Can't remember which preceded the other. Think it was AV then AO. Either way, both are really nice, although you'll want to sort out the bridge because the stock JM bridge, irrespective of what anyone says, is a piece of junk and one of the worst things Fender designed. Some people love the Pure Vintage stock pickups, many people replace them - I think they do the vintage JM thing very well. 

I have a US Vintage Reissue '62 Thin Skin from 2008 which is generally a nice guitar. It apparently has a 'thin skin' finish, but I think that's bullshit because it's certainly no thinner than the finish on any other guitar I've owned in the last 25 years. It has the usual mods - Novak pickups, which sound pretty good, the Mastery bridge/vibrato which I highly recommend, the Mastery bridge thimbles (which stopped the bridge moving) and a (I think) 1-degree StewMac neck shim which made the world of difference to the overall set up. 

I dunno, Jazzmasters are weird. They aren't like other guitars. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it. Often I wish I had a Tele when I take it with me to a gig/session. They have their foibles. But the guitar makes me play and sound different to how I do on other guitars, and it's inspiring. You can also do quite a lot of stuff on one that you can't on other guitars. So I guess that's what matters in the end. It also looks cool as fuck and let's be honest, that's the #1 thing!!

Huwbert

@Cookiemonster if you decide to go for an AO Jazzmaster, I've got a sunburst model arriving from Regent Sounds over the next couple of weeks if that's to your taste.

I've been waiting 10 months for it, but I need to spend the cash on other things right now. It'll obviously be a brand new model for not much more £ than what second hand is these days without the wait. Send me a PM if you want to chat.

Loobs

How sad!

Cookiemonster

Huwbert said:

@Cookiemonster if you decide to go for an AO Jazzmaster, I've got a sunburst model arriving from Regent Sounds over the next couple of weeks if that's to your taste.

I've been waiting 10 months for it, but I need to spend the cash on other things right now. It'll obviously be a brand new model for not much more £ than what second hand is these days without the wait. Send me a PM if you want to chat.

Thank you. I need to sell a guitar or two first 

Cookiemonster

Loobs said:

Cookiemonster said:

Hi, 

I am surprised by how few American Jazzmasters seem to be available used.

I have been looking at the professional 2 models, and seeing who has stock of them to buy new.

On a different note - Is the Marr Jaguar worth the 
 money.
 I can only see two colour options for these, is that right ? I had a Jaguar before but it really wasn't a great guitar, so although tempted by jags I would have to make sure the strings don't pop off the saddles for a start

At this point I've managed to completely confuse myself, had in mind to get a classic vibe Jazzmaster , but some reviews on YouTube have put me off, so now thinking of going for the American version and I have my Telecaster AVRI up for sale/trade and my Gibson Les Paul Tribute in order to cover the cost.(Both are I'm the Classifieds)

I figure there must be some Jazzmaster experts here, what would you recommend buying ? 

There's a lot of great advice in this thread. I can't say much about Jaguars but have a bit of experience with Jazzmasters. I think if you want a good out-of-the-box JM you could do a lot worse than an Am. Pro II, though the pickups aren't really vintage-voiced. They sound good though and I was generally really impressed with the guitar when I played one (Miami Blue) recently. 

On the other hand, I'd also look at an American Vintage or American Original. Can't remember which preceded the other. Think it was AV then AO. Either way, both are really nice, although you'll want to sort out the bridge because the stock JM bridge, irrespective of what anyone says, is a piece of junk and one of the worst things Fender designed. Some people love the Pure Vintage stock pickups, many people replace them - I think they do the vintage JM thing very well. 

I have a US Vintage Reissue '62 Thin Skin from 2008 which is generally a nice guitar. It apparently has a 'thin skin' finish, but I think that's bullshit because it's certainly no thinner than the finish on any other guitar I've owned in the last 25 years. It has the usual mods - Novak pickups, which sound pretty good, the Mastery bridge/vibrato which I highly recommend, the Mastery bridge thimbles (which stopped the bridge moving) and a (I think) 1-degree StewMac neck shim which made the world of difference to the overall set up. 

I dunno, Jazzmasters are weird. They aren't like other guitars. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it. Often I wish I had a Tele when I take it with me to a gig/session. They have their foibles. But the guitar makes me play and sound different to how I do on other guitars, and it's inspiring. You can also do quite a lot of stuff on one that you can't on other guitars. So I guess that's what matters in the end. It also looks cool as fuck and let's be honest, that's the #1 thing!!

Amazing looking guitar

Cookiemonster

munckee said:

Over lockdown I bought a mascis jm and a vintage modified jag to see which I preferred.  Although the mascis was better quality I decided I preferred jags, more surfy, shorter scale length, felt less like my strat and tele.  I sold them both and bought a classic vibe jag, big step up from the vintage modified, alnico pickups, bone nut and mustang bridge.  I had to have the nut re-cut but then sounded good, was v heavy though.

When I got some additional funds in the kitty I sold the classic vibe and got a mexican classic lacquer jag that someone had changed the bridge to a mustang bridge - absolutely brilliant guitar which I stupidly sold this year to raise funds for something else.

I've recently bought a vintage modified again where the previous owner has put AV62 pickups in, re-wired it, mustang bridge and fender tremolo - really good, not quite up to the classic lacquer as heavier and the mustang bridge puts the strings closer to the edge of the fretboard as mentioned above.  I think the AV65 pickups in the mexican are better than the AV62s also.

I have ordered a Staytrem (long wait apparently) and will at some point buy some AV65s and sell the AV62s and then it will pretty much there.

Nice to see you go through the different models, tempted to do the same, I literally had a classic vibe in my cart on andertons for a few days, but started second guessing myself hence this thread

Cookiemonster

Loobs said:

How sad!

?

liftman

As has been said above the Mascis is a good guitar- will give you a flavour of a Jazzmaster but not the whole thing. Japanese made ones are great but getting pricey these days and you still need to change the pickups ( Mojo make great JM PU's). I personally find a JM can be very versatile and cover a lot of sounds and styles.

Teyeplayer

Personally I’d consider the vintera range, they are every bit as good as the Fender Japan models I’ve had and have needed less upgrading/fixing. In fact, I recently picked up a vintera jag and I prefer it to the avri-65 I had a while back; good bang for the buck and much better pickups than on previous midrange models. Drop a staytrem in and you are laughing (although some of us might make a few more mods whilst we are at it). As above, jags and jazzmasters are very different, so know which one you want before buying. 

Here’s my jag: 
https://www.flickr.com/gp/157224850@N02/93Y17n

Loobs

Cookiemonster said:

Loobs said:

How sad!

?

That Huwbert can't keep it! 

Loobs

Cookiemonster said:

Loobs said:

Cookiemonster said:

Hi, 

I am surprised by how few American Jazzmasters seem to be available used.

I have been looking at the professional 2 models, and seeing who has stock of them to buy new.

On a different note - Is the Marr Jaguar worth the 
 money.
 I can only see two colour options for these, is that right ? I had a Jaguar before but it really wasn't a great guitar, so although tempted by jags I would have to make sure the strings don't pop off the saddles for a start

At this point I've managed to completely confuse myself, had in mind to get a classic vibe Jazzmaster , but some reviews on YouTube have put me off, so now thinking of going for the American version and I have my Telecaster AVRI up for sale/trade and my Gibson Les Paul Tribute in order to cover the cost.(Both are I'm the Classifieds)

I figure there must be some Jazzmaster experts here, what would you recommend buying ? 

There's a lot of great advice in this thread. I can't say much about Jaguars but have a bit of experience with Jazzmasters. I think if you want a good out-of-the-box JM you could do a lot worse than an Am. Pro II, though the pickups aren't really vintage-voiced. They sound good though and I was generally really impressed with the guitar when I played one (Miami Blue) recently. 

On the other hand, I'd also look at an American Vintage or American Original. Can't remember which preceded the other. Think it was AV then AO. Either way, both are really nice, although you'll want to sort out the bridge because the stock JM bridge, irrespective of what anyone says, is a piece of junk and one of the worst things Fender designed. Some people love the Pure Vintage stock pickups, many people replace them - I think they do the vintage JM thing very well. 

I have a US Vintage Reissue '62 Thin Skin from 2008 which is generally a nice guitar. It apparently has a 'thin skin' finish, but I think that's bullshit because it's certainly no thinner than the finish on any other guitar I've owned in the last 25 years. It has the usual mods - Novak pickups, which sound pretty good, the Mastery bridge/vibrato which I highly recommend, the Mastery bridge thimbles (which stopped the bridge moving) and a (I think) 1-degree StewMac neck shim which made the world of difference to the overall set up. 

I dunno, Jazzmasters are weird. They aren't like other guitars. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it. Often I wish I had a Tele when I take it with me to a gig/session. They have their foibles. But the guitar makes me play and sound different to how I do on other guitars, and it's inspiring. You can also do quite a lot of stuff on one that you can't on other guitars. So I guess that's what matters in the end. It also looks cool as fuck and let's be honest, that's the #1 thing!!

Amazing looking guitar

Thanks! 

Hattigol

I am completely lost on all the geekery in this thread. Changing bridges, neck shims, switching out pick-ups....what a faff.

Your alternative is to save your cash and buy a Custom Shop one. Absolutely wonderful out of the box. No tweaks necessary.

There's a very good reason why you hardly ever see secondhand ones for sale and when you do, they command a premium.

Huwbert

Loobs said:

Cookiemonster said:

Loobs said:

How sad!

?

That Huwbert can't keep it! 

Yeah it's a shame, especially because I've had to borrow guitars since selling my two last year to fund the AO JM (my original delivery date was December 2020)!