Tell me about the Jazzmaster.

[upnorthbacon]

I'm in the mood for another guitar.  I really like my strat and they are my favorite necks.  I've been checking out the new MIM Jazzmaster Blacktop guitars.  Looks like the same neck as the strat.  I want something different and I like the combination p-90/Hum in the Blacktop guitar.  The bridge looks pretty funky, do they hold tune?  I really don't play with my bar but I want something that's going to hold tune.  Can I get classic rock/blues out of these?  They seem like just a funky shaped strat with a different bridge?

 

[AprioriMark]

Well, it doesn't sound much like a Strat at all. I like the pickups a lot, mostly because of the extremely different sounds that are fairly well balanced, considering that one is a big single coil and one is a humbucker.

Here was my quick review: http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=14100.0

-Mark

 

[upnorthbacon]

I actually should have stated I thought it would sound more like a HSS strat in the bridge position.  It sounds like the neck specs are basically the same as the MIM strats?  Can you get a decent high gain sound out of the bridge pickup as well?  It seems like it would be a fairly versatile guitar with the pickups.  It definately has my gears turning, might be cool with a warmoth mohagany Jazz body swapped in too!

 

[AutoBat]

natural question arises: if you want a new guitar, and plan to swap the body for a Warmoth, why not build it up from the body & get the W neck you want?

 

[Jusatele]

Funky shaped Strat?  :toothy12:
nope, they are a guitar unto themselves, with a loyal following. The surf sound was built around these guitars. Leo did design it for a Jazz player and that never caught on, but the guitar did find it's place in history.
I will not commit about the bridge, but I think if you like the style then maybe you could have it routed as you want for what ever bridge you want to use. That is the big feature Warmoth provides us, customization.
Besides that, if you are going to buy a complete guitar with the intent of replacing the body, think about a complete build. You will more than likely upgrade all the hardware that way and come out with a much nicer axe.

 

[swarfrat]

Unfortunately, part of the signature of the jazzmaster comes from what can truly be consider a design flaw. The bridge and super shallow string angle across it. 

 

[AprioriMark]

I actually should have stated I thought it would sound more like a HSS strat in the bridge position.  It sounds like the neck specs are basically the same as the MIM strats?  Can you get a decent high gain sound out of the bridge pickup as well?  It seems like it would be a fairly versatile guitar with the pickups.  It definately has my gears turning, might be cool with a warmoth mohagany Jazz body swapped in too!

The necks on those Blacktop guitars are a different feel from the MiM Strats I've played.  I find them similar to the MiJ Vista series Squiers and MiJ Fenders of the mid 90s.  I like it, a lot.  High gain sound, yes.  It is very versatile.  I will say that if you're going for traditional sounds, you won't have much use for the humbucker, and if you want high gain sounds, you won't have much use for the Jazzmaster pickup.  This guitar really shines in gritty, in-between sounds where you want one guitar to go from smooth and shimmery to barking nasty.

If I replaced anything, it would be the neck, not the body.  The finish work is great on this, and nothing tops a Warmoth neck.

-Mark

 

[jalane]

Unfortunately, part of the signature of the jazzmaster comes from what can truly be consider a design flaw. The bridge and super shallow string angle across it. 

I really do agree with this.  If you've ever tried a Classic Player jazzmaster, they have a TOM bridge and the tailpiece is positioned closer to increase the break angle, and imho they just feel and sound completely different (not in a good way).

I found a perfect solution when i built my jazzmaster:
www.masterybridge.com
This thing is definitely not cheap, but it seriously is amazing.  It made the guitar feel more solid, completely eliminated the buzz, tuning stability is great, and it preserves the wonderful JM tone but also dramatically increases sustain (another problem for which the JM is notorious). 
$150 for a bridge is steep, but I really cannot say enough good things about it.  Knowing what i now know about the Mastery Bridge quality, i would PROBABLY buy it even if it were twice as expensive (though that would definitely suck).

 

[Paul-less]

Unfortunately, part of the signature of the jazzmaster comes from what can truly be consider a design flaw. The bridge and super shallow string angle across it. 

I really do agree with this.  If you've ever tried a Classic Player jazzmaster, they have a TOM bridge and the tailpiece is positioned closer to increase the break angle, and imho they just feel and sound completely different (not in a good way).

I found a perfect solution when i built my jazzmaster:
www.masterybridge.com
This thing is definitely not cheap, but it seriously is amazing.  It made the guitar feel more solid, completely eliminated the buzz, tuning stability is great, and it preserves the wonderful JM tone but also dramatically increases sustain (another problem for which the JM is notorious). 
$150 for a bridge is steep, but I really cannot say enough good things about it.  Knowing what i now know about the Mastery Bridge quality, i would PROBABLY buy it even if it were twice as expensive (though that would definitely suck).

Looks like a great solution to the worlds worst bridge. This has renewed my hopes of getting a Jag....

 

[OzziePete]

Unfortunately, part of the signature of the jazzmaster comes from what can truly be consider a design flaw. The bridge and super shallow string angle across it.  

I really do agree with this.  If you've ever tried a Classic Player jazzmaster, they have a TOM bridge and the tailpiece is positioned closer to increase the break angle, and imho they just feel and sound completely different (not in a good way).

I found a perfect solution when i built my jazzmaster:
www.masterybridge.com
This thing is definitely not cheap, but it seriously is amazing.  It made the guitar feel more solid, completely eliminated the buzz, tuning stability is great, and it preserves the wonderful JM tone but also dramatically increases sustain (another problem for which the JM is notorious).  
$150 for a bridge is steep, but I really cannot say enough good things about it.  Knowing what i now know about the Mastery Bridge quality, i would PROBABLY buy it even if it were twice as expensive (though that would definitely suck).

+1, tho I have not seena  Mastery Bridge up close so I can;t comment about their product. I have never liked the JM/Jaguar bridge & trem designs. Forums like offsetguitars are full of well meaning suggestions on how to tweak them and get the best performance out of them and it all indicates that they don't perform well, straight out of the box! If you start adding a compund radius neck like Warmoth sell, you have problems witha  bridge designed for 9.5" radius having to match up with the lower part of the compound radius on the neck (16"), and that led Warmoth to modify a Mustang bridge to help with that.
http://www.warmoth.com/Modified-Mustang-Bridge-Chrome-P616C716.aspx

 

[jay4321]

Seems like a legit piece of hardware. Maybe someone who wants to try it out can get Warmoth on board if it needs custom routing. 

 

[jalane]

Unfortunately, part of the signature of the jazzmaster comes from what can truly be consider a design flaw. The bridge and super shallow string angle across it.  

I really do agree with this.  If you've ever tried a Classic Player jazzmaster, they have a TOM bridge and the tailpiece is positioned closer to increase the break angle, and imho they just feel and sound completely different (not in a good way).

I found a perfect solution when i built my jazzmaster:
www.masterybridge.com
This thing is definitely not cheap, but it seriously is amazing.  It made the guitar feel more solid, completely eliminated the buzz, tuning stability is great, and it preserves the wonderful JM tone but also dramatically increases sustain (another problem for which the JM is notorious).  
$150 for a bridge is steep, but I really cannot say enough good things about it.  Knowing what i now know about the Mastery Bridge quality, i would PROBABLY buy it even if it were twice as expensive (though that would definitely suck).

+1, tho I have not seena  Mastery Bridge up close so I can;t comment about their product. I have never liked the JM/Jaguar bridge & trem designs. Forums like offsetguitars are full of well meaning suggestions on how to tweak them and get the best performance out of them and it all indicates that they don't perform well, straight out of the box! If you start adding a compund radius neck like Warmoth sell, you have problems witha  bridge designed for 9.5" radius having to match up with the lower part of the compound radius on the neck (16"), and that led Warmoth to modify a Mustang bridge to help with that.
http://www.warmoth.com/Modified-Mustang-Bridge-Chrome-P616C716.aspx

I hear ya.  The problem with JM/Jaguar bridges, at least imho, isn't that they are poorly designed, but rather that they were designed with a very specific genre (Jazz) in mind, and the guitars just never caught on with the jazz-cats.  If you use ridiculously heavy-gauged strings and play with a light touch, like you would when playing jazz, the bridge works beautifully.  However when you play normal-people gauges and start bashing the shit out of some rock-n-roll power chords, well then it buzzes and the strings fly out of the saddles, etc.  But the bridge wasn't designed for playing AC/DC, it was designed for playing Wes Montgomery, ya know?

 

[jalane]

Seems like a legit piece of hardware. Maybe someone who wants to try it out can get Warmoth on board if it needs custom routing. 

No custom routing necessary.  Fits right into a normal JM bridge route.

 

[OzziePete]

Seems like a legit piece of hardware. Maybe someone who wants to try it out can get Warmoth on board if it needs custom routing. 

No custom routing necessary.  Fits right into a normal JM bridge route.

Do you have a Mastery Bridge on that beautiful G-O-T-M Jazzmaster?

 

[Mor Paul]

Looks like it

 

[jalane]

Seems like a legit piece of hardware. Maybe someone who wants to try it out can get Warmoth on board if it needs custom routing. 

No custom routing necessary.  Fits right into a normal JM bridge route.

Do you have a Mastery Bridge on that beautiful G-O-T-M Jazzmaster?

:icon_biggrin: Sure do:

 

[jay4321]

can you take a closer pic please?

 

[jay4321]

Good that no special route is needed. If it works that well then $150 is probably a pretty fair price, don't imagine these are produced in huge numbers.

 

[Jusatele]

it is 165 plus shipping now

 

[jalane]

can you take a closer pic please?

:icon_tongue:

Good that no special route is needed. If it works that well then $150 is probably a pretty fair price, don't imagine these are produced in huge numbers.

Yeah, they're not mass produced.  They'll usually be sold out for a few weeks and then become available for a few weeks, and so on...