To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

Nels Cline uses his trem quite a bit and it has always sounded good to me. I don't use mine much, but that is just personal style.

Going back to the sound and tone again. I almost use exclusively use it on the "neck-on" mode. It seems to be more bassy and mellow on the highs as compared to my Tele or P-90 equipped guitars.

Yeah, thats not the pickup really giving that tone...that mellow tone you are calling jazzy is from the electronics...

 

[jcthejester13]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

There is not an issue with the neck pocket however the neck pocket was changed on the Classic Player model to fix the lack of breakover angle the originals have...

Vintage Fender guitars have a zero neck angle and a zero headstock angle but most of the time on Strats and Tele's it overcome by the rest of the design...the Jazz/Jag have that funky tremolo/bridge thing and all those thing together lead to almost no breakover angle anywhere in the string path...this leads to strings thet won't stay put in the saddles, poor tuning stability not to mention crappy tone due to no string tension to speak of...

On the CP JM they moved the position of the tailpiece to aid in correcting this and also routed the neck pocket at an angle to give a little neck angle to helpl correct this...it was a way to fix the issue w/o a complete redesign...

By all counts it has worked...

There are other ways to fix they guitar without a total redesign.

Buzzstop almost always fixes the saddle slips and string buzz that a stock JM used to have problems with. I have heard of few cases where that little add-on didn't fix the issues inherent with a JM.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

There are other ways to fix they guitar without a total redesign.

Yeah, I know...thats what I said and thats what Fender did with the CP...better bridge, better bridge to tailpiece spacing and an angled neck pocket.

All of those things will give you better tuning stability, beter tone and a more silid feeling guitar w/o a total redesign...however to some people it makes it feel funny when compared to other JM's and even other Fenders.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

Yeah, I know...thats what I said and thats what Fender did with the CP...better bridge, better bridge to tailpiece spacing and an angled neck pocket.

All of those things will give you better tuning stability, beter tone and a more silid feeling guitar w/o a total redesign...however to some people it makes it feel funny when compared to other JM's and even other Fenders.

I'm assuming this has something to do with the angle fix as well.

VS

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

I'm assuming this has something to do with the angle fix as well.

Nope, that had to do with tremolo vs hardtail...

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

When I think Jazzmaster, I think three things;
1) Nirvana
2) late 60's surf
3) Low budget Fender.
Great if youre into grunge I guess, or into a reto surf sound..
but really, theres this guitar called a Strat for everything else , and especailly these days when the mexican Fender are halfway decent...that makes me really wondwer why the flyin eff anyone would even want a Jazzmaster.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

When I think Jazzmaster, I think three things;
1) Nirvana
2) late 60's surf
3) Low budget Fender.
Great if youre into grunge I guess, or into a reto surf sound..
but really, theres this guitar called a Strat for everything else , and especailly these days when the mexican Fender are halfway decent...that makes me really wondwer why the flyin eff anyone would even want a Jazzmaster.

Shows what you (don't) know...

1)Kurt didn't play a Jazzmaster...I don't think he ever owned one.

2) Most of the 60's Surf guys used Strats or other non Fender guitars and most of it was in the early/middle 60's anyway. There were a few Jazzmaster players in Surf but not many...

3) The Jazzmaster was the top of the Fender product line from the time it hit for many, many years later.

People want Jazzmasters because they have a sound that is for sure a Fender sound but because it's NOT a Strat or Tele...it's a different flavor of Fender all together.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

Nope, that had to do with tremolo vs hardtail...

Look at the distance between the tail piece and bridge on the newer model and the vintage one.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

Shows what you (don't) know...

1)Kurt didn't play a Jazzmaster...I don't think he ever owned one.

2) Most of the 60's Surf guys used Strats or other non Fender guitars and most of it was in the early/middle 60's anyway. There were a few Jazzmaster players in Surf but not many...

3) The Jazzmaster was the top of the Fender product line from the time it hit for many, many years later.

People want Jazzmasters because they have a sound that is for sure a Fender sound but because it's NOT a Strat or Tele...it's a different flavor of Fender all together.

I was totally wrong guy! Thanks!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

Look at the distance between the tail piece and bridge on the newer model and the vintage one.

Apples and oranges...one is a floating bridge and a vibnrato tailpiece the other is a stop bar/adjusto-matic...

 

[firebirdV]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

When I think Jazzmaster, I think of this exact song, followed by other songs on this album.



I would love to own one. I don't consider a fixed bridge humbucker equipped jazzmaster a real jazzmaster.

 

[firebirdV]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

Might as well throw another one up.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

^^^that's why i dont want the blacktop and im straying with the Lee Ranaldo. The Ranaldo is a beautiful guitar, but i want jazzmaster pickups on the *****.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

^^^that's why i dont want the blacktop and im straying with the Lee Ranaldo. The Ranaldo is a beautiful guitar, but i want jazzmaster pickups on the *****.

Les Ranaldo loves Jazzmaster but he loves those WR buckers more...his guitars are not reall Jazzmasters and Lee doesn't even call them Jazzmasters...he calls his Jazzblasters!

If you want that tone Costello gets you want a stock Jazzmaster...no P-90 sound alikes, no buckers, none of that garbage...just a straight Jazzmaster.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

Les Ranaldo loves Jazzmaster but he loves those WR buckers more...his guitars are not reall Jazzmasters and Lee doesn't even call them Jazzmasters...he calls his Jazzblasters!

If you want that tone Costello gets you want a stock Jazzmaster...no P-90 sound alikes, no buckers, none of that garbage...just a straight Jazzmaster.

Exactly.

I'm considering the Costello model, or the J Mascis model. both in my original post. (first and last)

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

IMO, the Fender Jazzmaster and Jaguar have always been flawed designs BUT this is precisely what makes them interesting/refreshing to play. They combine the Fender feel with a different tonal palette.

For sure, the floating vibrato tailpiece design, (lack of) neck pitch angle and low string tension spoil the sonic potential of the instruments. Without these "endearing" shortcomings, the Fender offset waist guitars would be too much like their Tele and Strat ancestors.

As some of you may know, I own a modified Fender CIJ Jaguar. It doesn't see a great deal of use but, when I do use it on a recording, it brings something unique that PRS, Gibson, Fender Relic and Squier JV pieces can not.*

To my way of thinking, the Jazzmaster and Jaguar belong in the Teisco Del Ray zone. (The magazine columnist and the instrument of the same name!) Quirky but interesting failures from the past. Still deserving of use in the present. Unlikely to overtake the Tele, Strat, Les Paul or whatever any time soon.

* Mainly, plinky noises and weird 'n' wonderful metallic overtones.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

I am not sure, but I think Nels uses his in neck-on here.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

Exactly.

I'm considering the Costello model, or the J Mascis model. both in my original post. (first and last)

Both are discontinued...

I'd look att he Classic Player...lots of minor tweaks sond good on paper...

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

I think they were named JM because jazz players wre the initial targets. That said, JMs supposedly found their most widespread use in surf music.

Personally, I love the sound. If you want to hear the darkness maxed out find the youtube video of Elvis Costello playing Allison in his first TV appearance ... just him and his guitar.

The tremolo has a real sweet sound and to my ears is very different from any other but closest to a Bigsby. The basic drawback of the design is that the strings have to somewhat rub to and fro across the bridge sadlles or the bridge has to rock.

I love the JM sound where it stands out in this video. My guess is that he's using some DL4 too.

Clean stroke with slight trem wave @ :10 and :22
Single notes with slight OD or distortion @ 3:39

 

[blueman335]

Re: To anyone who's played a Fender Jazzmaster..

I don't find anything about a Jazzmaster jazzy at all...I mean you can play jazz on any gvuitar you want but when I think about a jazz tone I think hollow body Gibson and a Twin reverb or a big SS amp like a Polytone.

+1. Jazzmasters were never popular with jazz guitarists. The name is misleading.