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A lot of folks will blather about the trem being the 'best in the world' - I'm not convinced it is. It depends on what you use a trem for (and no, I'm not a Floyd Rose divebomber as its not 1985 any more) but I'd probably put the PRS trem in that category for what I play. Its nice, and everything - once its set up properly - and will do everything a Bigsby does without 1) the ugliness, 2) the weight and 3) the dreadful stringing. The only thing it doesn't do that a Bigsby does is knock the guitar hideously out of tune if you so much as look it...
Comfort - unsurpassed imho in terms of body shape. Its great. The ergonomics are good, but the switch can be a pita if you play sitting down.
I'd never be able to replace a Strat or a Tele with a Jazzmaster - all three are very different. But a JM makes inspires me to play in a different way - and that in itself is worth the entrance fee.
Are the Jazzmaster pickups similar to the PRS Narrowfield humbucker?
The Fender Am Pro 1 series and some Squier JMs feature coils that are of similar proportions to a P90 but with individual rod magnet polepieces. (Good pickups but not pukka JM sounds.)
Several third party pickup makers now offer replacement designs that fit under JM covers but are actually humbuckers, Z-coil or whathaveyou.
Persons wishing to make a Jazzmaster fulfil some of the duties of a Stratocaster should check out Roebuck "Pop" Staples' modified JM.
I don't think of it as an alternative to a strat or tele. It feels more like a jazz guitar in geometry, due to the tailpiece/floating bridge arrangement.
It makes me want to play chords. They sound great and can be made to feel great if well setup.
Part of their 'bright' character is down to 1 meg pots as stock. Swap them for 250ks like a Strat and it'll sound like the warmest, thickest Strat ever, without giving up too much definition.
Sonic Youth are a good reference point - the intro to Teenage Riot is a neck pickup, while the intro to Kool Thing is that hollow bridge tone...
It's the best fender by miles for my tastes.
(formerly customkits)
Unless I have used the tremolo I sometimes can’t remember if it’s a Jazzmaster or Strat middle position I’ve used on recordings. But if there’s trem I can tell straight away as both have strong signatures.
As for JMs not being good for blues? This guy seems to getting on fine:
https://youtu.be/Yab9k_bEhQU?feature=shared
I went back to higher gain playing & regrettably sold this last year to raise some funds.
I do have a neck but it's currently with my tech having the headstock painted to match the body and the frets levelled so I currently have one of my strat necks on it whilst I'm away on tour. I absolutely love it! More 3d than a Strat with more lows and highs. It was unusable to start with without a treble bleed. With the 1meg pots as soon as you roll the volume back all the highs were gone and it was a really steep taper to the volume aswell. I installed a cap and resistor as a treble bleed and it made a HUGE difference. I also tend top leave the tone pot rolled off to 7 so it's not quite as bright.
Mastery trem feels incredible though and I don't have any tuning issues with it.
In regard to the OP question I don't feel it's in between a strat and a tele. The neck pickup in mine is bigger sounding than any strat or tele neck I've tried. Very satisfying for playing isolated at home.
2014 with a Mascis:
2016 with an AVRI '62:
2017 with the first of my AV '65's:
...and now my current gigging guitar, also an AV '65:
...the amount of obvious ageing (to me, not the guitars) is dispiriting