Pick two - Strat, Tele, Jazzmaster

2 guitars only? I'd prefer a Jazzmaster -I love the sound of the (originally higher end) J8 pickups -and a modern Tele Deluxe (Strat Neck with HH). Strat classic tones are too played out for me. If you get a Strat -get one with at least humbucker or some less stratty pickups.... otherwise your going to sound too many other people.

Jazzmaster Guitars play different, they are not everyone's cup of tea -play all three.... reissues of vintage Fender styles (50s and 60s) are going to have thicker burlier necks, fretboard radius that is 7 to 9 inches where the convex shape is heavily pronounced, and narrower/thinner neck widths -good for cowboys chords but feel gross in most peoples hands for walking around on the fretboard.... I'd look at more modern neck profiles 1970s and newer with 10+ radius or even more of a flat Gibson style profile or 12" or 15"+ for shredding and noting.
 
Tele and a strat or two different strats.

Because I prefer the scale length, looks and they sound good. In the case of the tele I don't like a typical neck pickup though.
Currently having two teles and a strat I'd go for two strats with different woods or pickup layouts...but then Jazzmasters are just plain ugly to me.

What do you mean by mentioning scale length here? All three of these guitars have the same scale length.
 
Strat and Tele. They are the classics for a reason.

On another note, I wonder if I should get rid of a Strat in favor for a Jazzmaster?
 
Welp, I found a used Fender Jazzmaster at Guitar Center and brought 'er home. Here she is along with a shot of my buddy's MIA Telecaster and my Frankenstrat. What better way to compare than to, well, compare?

The Jazzmaster has what looks to be P90s - bar magnets on the bottom and adjustable polepieces - rather than traditional Jazzmaster pickups with alnico rods.

EDIT: the Strat/Tele photo is embarrassingly small. If you click on it, it should come up in full size.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20201211_170208076.jpg
    IMG_20201211_170208076.jpg
    41.8 KB · Views: 0
  • IMG_20201212_171113687.jpg
    IMG_20201212_171113687.jpg
    47.4 KB · Views: 0
Welp, I found a used Fender Jazzmaster at Guitar Center and brought 'er home. Here she is along with a shot of my buddy's MIA Telecaster and my Frankenstrat. What better way to compare than to, well, compare?

The Jazzmaster has what looks to be P90s - bar magnets on the bottom and adjustable polepieces - rather than traditional Jazzmaster pickups with alnico rods.

EDIT: the Strat/Tele photo is embarrassingly small. If you click on it, it should come up in full size.

Awesome Guitar man!

Jazzmaster has Fender J8 pickups -not P90s -they are brighter, crisp and crunchier and are chimey -Think Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, The Ventures lead parts, Flaming Lips, Dinosaur Jr, My Bloody Valentine, Television, The Smiths

P90s are more mids loud and bluesy/jazzy.

Both are awesome. This video sort of goes over it -although who pics a Tele with an F hole to do a pickup A/B comparison.

 
Last edited:
Awesome Guitar man!

Jazzmaster has Fender J8 pickups -not P90s -they are brighter, crisp and crunchier and are chimey -Think Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, The Ventures lead parts, Flaming Lips, Dinosaur Jr, My Bloody Valentine, Television, The Smiths

P90s are more mids loud and bluesy/jazzy.

Both are awesome. This video sort of goes over it -although who pics a Tele with an F hole to do a pickup A/B comparison.


Do you have any more info on Fender J8 pickups? I can't find anything. Here's a photo of the pickups. I should've taken one of the bottom, but it has two bar magnets.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20201212_120514329.jpg
    IMG_20201212_120514329.jpg
    37.9 KB · Views: 0
Do you have any more info on Fender J8 pickups? I can't find anything. Here's a photo of the pickups. I should've taken one of the bottom, but it has two bar magnets.

All Jazzmaster Pickups are technically "J8s" -they just don't call them that -I think J8 is from the original factory part numbers. It's all Jazzmaster pickups -they are awesome and legendary. That's what you have .... awesome guitar.

Originally, once Fender offered multiple models -the Jazzmaster guitar was designed to be the highest end guitar from Fender, Strat was the Mid priced guitar and Tele was the basic level -all built to sell in conjunction with their amps when possible.

It just so happens that RocknRoll didn't really require the luthier appointments of old (arch tops, set back angles on headstocks, expensive woods, fulcrum/pin bridge systems-and Fender was poised to leverage that because the pickups are 90% of the sound -which was their specialty.
 
I think NegativeEase is talking about regular Jazzmaster pickups, based on the examples he gave. Though, I admit, I've never heard the term "J8" before, maybe I'm misunderstanding.

In any case, I think you're right: that looks like a P-90 construction in a JM cover. Curtis Novak makes some. Probably a bunch of other people too. I once had Strat winds in a JM cover that we're made by Lindy Fralin.
 
I think NegativeEase is talking about regular Jazzmaster pickups, based on the examples he gave. Though, I admit, I've never heard the term "J8" before, maybe I'm misunderstanding.

In any case, I think you're right: that looks like a P-90 construction in a JM cover. Curtis Novak makes some. Probably a bunch of other people too. I once had Strat winds in a JM cover that we're made by Lindy Fralin.

Yep, I am referring to the standard Jazzmaster pickups -the legendary ones -It's certainly possible to have a different winding style in a Jazzmaster -but I think that would be denoted in the Fender model (like a signature model or something) unless it's after market right?

Because if you buy a real Fender Jazzmaster -it's implied that you are getting a pickup in lineage with the originals

Do you not believe these are OEM Jazzmaster Pickups?
 
Last edited:
A used Jazzmaster at Guitar Center whose pickups appear to have unusual, P-90ish, construction?

I think aftermarket is a strong possibility.

I'm having a little trouble identifying the model of this guitar, but it looks like there are some Player series Jazzmasters from 2017-2018ish that have P90s. And the Squier J Mascis model has P90s. Just not a lot to go on. Could be aftermarket too I suppose.
 
After a little googling, my best guess is the Classic Player Special.

I remember when those came out (2010ish?) some purists were upset about the trem moving closer to the bridge, but honestly that's likely an improvement for keeping the strings seated in their saddles.

Also, I remember them marketing the pickups as being hotter, but I don't recall anyone pointing out at the time that they were built like P90s. But looking at pics now, it's clear they have adjustable pole pieces, and the wind on yours doesn't look to me anywhere near as wide and flat as a traditional JM would be.

I'm having a little trouble identifying the model of this guitar, but it looks like there are some Player series Jazzmasters from 2017-2018ish that have P90s. And the Squier J Mascis model has P90s. Just not a lot to go on. Could be aftermarket too I suppose.
 
Last edited:
^^^ If it's a used guitar then there's a good likelyhood the pickups have simply been replaced. There are lots of Jazzmaster replacement pickups that have P-90s or humbuckers under the covers, with screw poles used in both either for authenticity (P-90) or just to fill the space easily and cheaply (humbuckers). In fact I would wager the best-selling JM replacements are either P-90s or HBs and not 'true' JM pickups. They certainly were what we ordered most of in the store here when I was on board, some years back. (The 2010 emo and pop-punk trends really drove that; Jazzmasters became hugely popular overnight, but not for their normal tone.)


Anyhoo.



Assuming they're not limited edition or custom hybrids and we just go with the standard 50s & 60s designs, I'll say a Jazzmaster is a must. It is more different in sound to a Tele or Strat than the other two are to each other and until you get up to the highest frets it's the most balanced and comfortable, too. (Fret access beyond 16 or so is worse, though.)
Strats and Teles do/can sound so close to each other that having both is a bit redundant, unless you're in a position where you can really 'optimise' them for different sounds, or use them for different tunings. A totally standard Strat tuned to E Standard and a totally standard Tele tuned E Standard are going to sound 90% the same through most amps and with most playing styles. Yes, if you A:B them directly next to each other on an isolated track you can hear an immediate difference, but that difference goes away once you factor in playing at volume, having a drummer and bass player going, maybe a second or third guitarist, a singer or two, keys, etc. Ultimately the Strat's defining sound is it gets a middle pickup (which many people ignore anyway) while the Tele's is that there is a little more tonal 'contrast' between its bridge and neck pickups than there is between the Strat's. I wouldn't factor in the vibrato since the Jazzmaster also has one, and we've established for variety the Jazzmaster is making the cut.
So for me it basically comes down to whether or not you'll actually use the middle pickup. Some love it, some never touch it. Personally, I use the middle pickup in all guitars more than I use any neck pickup. For that reason, if I had to only keep one and throw away the other style for good, I'd go with the Strat. If you're one of those people who never gives a second thought to middle pickups then the Tele will be the better bet, since it's that bit more different form the Jazzmaster. However I would also note that if you ever come to want to modify the guitars, it's usually easier to modify Stratocasters, and they can be modified to more extreme lengths, than Teles.

But, really, you could just flip a coin for Strat v Tele. Case in point, if you ever look up any advice or videos to sound like Prince you'll see many people telling you to get a Tele, since that's the shape of guitar he played... but his guitar had Strat pickups in it, mounted through pickguard material with no baseplates or anything, so it didn't actually sound like a Tele. It was much more like a Strat, just the shape of a Tele... and yet many people still use a Tele to imitate him and you know what, it does the job just fine. Similarly I've got a Mustang with some Tele pickups in it and guess what, it sounds like a Tele and you'd barely tell in a recording that it was a differently-shaped 24" guitar, and live there is absolutely zero audible difference. They're all that interchangeable in tone.
 
^^^ If it's a used guitar then there's a good likelyhood the pickups have simply been replaced. There are lots of Jazzmaster replacement pickups that have P-90s or humbuckers under the covers, with screw poles used in both either for authenticity (P-90) or just to fill the space easily and cheaply (humbuckers). In fact I would wager the best-selling JM replacements are either P-90s or HBs and not 'true' JM pickups. They certainly were what we ordered most of in the store here when I was on board, some years back. (The 2010 emo and pop-punk trends really drove that; Jazzmasters became hugely popular overnight, but not for their normal tone.)


Anyhoo.



Assuming they're not limited edition or custom hybrids and we just go with the standard 50s & 60s designs, I'll say a Jazzmaster is a must. It is more different in sound to a Tele or Strat than the other two are to each other and until you get up to the highest frets it's the most balanced and comfortable, too. (Fret access beyond 16 or so is worse, though.)
Strats and Teles do/can sound so close to each other that having both is a bit redundant, unless you're in a position where you can really 'optimise' them for different sounds, or use them for different tunings. A totally standard Strat tuned to E Standard and a totally standard Tele tuned E Standard are going to sound 90% the same through most amps and with most playing styles. Yes, if you A:B them directly next to each other on an isolated track you can hear an immediate difference, but that difference goes away once you factor in playing at volume, having a drummer and bass player going, maybe a second or third guitarist, a singer or two, keys, etc. Ultimately the Strat's defining sound is it gets a middle pickup (which many people ignore anyway) while the Tele's is that there is a little more tonal 'contrast' between its bridge and neck pickups than there is between the Strat's. I wouldn't factor in the vibrato since the Jazzmaster also has one, and we've established for variety the Jazzmaster is making the cut.
So for me it basically comes down to whether or not you'll actually use the middle pickup. Some love it, some never touch it. Personally, I use the middle pickup in all guitars more than I use any neck pickup. For that reason, if I had to only keep one and throw away the other style for good, I'd go with the Strat. If you're one of those people who never gives a second thought to middle pickups then the Tele will be the better bet, since it's that bit more different form the Jazzmaster. However I would also note that if you ever come to want to modify the guitars, it's usually easier to modify Stratocasters, and they can be modified to more extreme lengths, than Teles.

But, really, you could just flip a coin for Strat v Tele. Case in point, if you ever look up any advice or videos to sound like Prince you'll see many people telling you to get a Tele, since that's the shape of guitar he played... but his guitar had Strat pickups in it, mounted through pickguard material with no baseplates or anything, so it didn't actually sound like a Tele. It was much more like a Strat, just the shape of a Tele... and yet many people still use a Tele to imitate him and you know what, it does the job just fine. Similarly I've got a Mustang with some Tele pickups in it and guess what, it sounds like a Tele and you'd barely tell in a recording that it was a differently-shaped 24" guitar, and live there is absolutely zero audible difference. They're all that interchangeable in tone.

Well it's been an interesting weekend filled with entirely too much guitar playing and ferocious comparison. And the kiddo napped like a champ so there was even more opportunity than usual. Each guitar has some pros and cons.

Tele Pros - amazing clarity, love the cluck of the neck position. This is a sound I've been chasing for years. Quite comfortable to play. Modulation effects sound unreal.
Tele Cons - I have to give my friend his back soon. Shopping for my own is predictably awesome and stressful (particularly with Covid restrictions)
Strat Pros - the notch tones are just awesome and the middle pickup alone has been one of my favorite Strat tones since I was a wee lad. The body completely melts into mine, I hardly know it's there. This wasn't something I noticed when I was a Strat Only Man, but now that I'm demoing more guitar types the beauty of this body design really shines.
Strat Cons - the sound is less direct and immediate than the Tele. Controls a bit cramped.
Jazzmaster pros - this vibrato system is unreal. So musical and available. Maybe it's the extra length of the bar. The extra string length allows for some B-bender style playing, and it's fun to rest the hand on that bit of string for fingerpicking. Has many intellectually intriguing design features.
Jazzmaster cons - Needs extra setup love... neck shims, bridge keeps coming loose, truss rod is only accessible under the pickguard, possibly swap the P90s for JM pickups. The instrument feels like a boat paddle compared to the other two.

So we'll see. It'd be great to have one of each, of course.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top