If Fender built a Jazzmaster like this, I would buy it

You probably can't afford this, but if you can, you should get one.

I've not mentioned Bacchus guitars for a long time, but given I'm thinking about getting a Jazzmaster type guitar again, I took a look at the Surf-Breaker model.

The Bacchus Surf-Breaker is made in Japan, and it's not cheap. About $2,200. And that doesn't include shipping.

This is a Jazzmaster body shape made of ash with a 24.75" scale neck (available in maple or with rosewood fingerboard). Fingerboard radius is about 11 inch (280mm). The finish is matte. Pickups are American. The front is a gold foil with thick 44 gauge wiring. Rear pickups is a Telecaster style overwound with alnico 5 magnet pieces using enamel wire. Tuners are premium Gotoh.

What's not said is that when you order one of these, it's essentially hand crafted for you. The only thing you don't get is nitro, but that's totally fine considering how good this looks.

No, I can't afford this guitar, but this is about as perfect as you can get for a blend of Jazzmaster and Telecaster with a Les Paul scale.

The Surf-Breaker is vintage + modern guitar design done very, very right.

Is there an alternative?

For the Jazzmaster shape, not really other than the Squier Classic Vibe Jazzmaster. That guitar is not up to the spec of the Bacchus, but then again, it's WAY less in price and much more attainable.

Re-buying guitars is a bad idea?

Is it okay to rebuy a guitar you had before?

Take the Epiphone Les Paul Custom Classic Pro. Nice guitar for what it is. I've owned an Epiphone Les Paul before, see this one, and think... should I get it?

Over the years I have bought and re-bought four particular shapes of guitars. Stratocasters, Telecasters, Les Pauls and Jazzmasters.

I'm a firm believer in not hoarding instruments. At my worst, I owned 7 guitars. Now I own 4, one of which is in pieces (a Strat,) one of which was brought back to playable condition (my first guitar, also a Strat, and I'm never parting with that one,) and two SX Furrian guitars in the Telecaster shape.

Right now I own no Les Paul guitars, but I see the Epiphone above and think yeah, that looks cool because it has the "tuxedo" black-and-white with gold accents. Very classy. But then I think about the last experience I had with one of these and whether this one would suit any better.

For other players, it would totally work. If you want a Les Paul and want something good for well under $1,000, the guitar above ticks all the right boxes.

For me, however, it wouldn't. I'd ultimately run into the same issue I did with my last one, which is an unusable single-coil sound.

The above guitar does have ProBucker pickups with push-pull for the single-coil tones. But I know I will never be able to make that guitar sound like a Telecaster. That is why I play Telecaster type guitars now. When you want Telecaster type tones, get a Telecaster.

For humbucker tones, oh yeah, that 'Paul can absolutely do that with ease. But that's just not my sound now.

Every now and then when I see a cool guitar I've had before in one form or another, I have to sit there for a moment, think, and remember why I play the guitars I do now...

...but that doesn't mean I don't have other single-coil pickup guitars I'm considering for a re-buy. I'll leave that for my next article.

On a last note for now, the guitar above is one of the better LPs you can buy at the moment. Full body binding front and back and neck, all the good stuff, all the fancy electronics, and so on. Also, when Epiphone does gold, they do gold right. This isn't something where just some of the metal components are gold. All of them are, right down to the strap buttons, output jack plate, tuner covers on the back of the headstock, every screw and even the pickup pole pieces. Again, Epiphone totally does gold right, which to me is a good selling point of the instrument because they don't miss anything.

Garmin nuvi 1390 - "For the love of Jill"

Maybe not the best 4.3" Garmin, but Jill is there.

The nuvi 1390 is, said honestly, not a GPS I recommend because database searching is slow, touchscreen response isn't that great, updating maps via Garmin Express is really slow (USB 1.1 and not USB 2.0), and with modern map data it's absolutely mandatory to set the map detail to "Normal" or "Minimal", because if set to "More", map draw time slows down quite a bit.

Basically put, the 1390 is a product of its time as it was originally released in 2009 (as was the 1490 and 1690).

However, there are a few really nice things about the 1390.

Compared to other nuvi designs, this is one of the thinnest even when compared to other Garmin models of the same screen size. Garmin really did this one right.

Legibility is one of the best for a 4.3". The backlight is great but also the color choices are great too, as what's used is slightly "warmer" compared to other models.

And then there's Jill.

For those that used Garmin GPSes before 2010, you know Jill. She's probably the first Garmin TTS voice you ever heard. And the 1390 is what I believe to be the very last model before Jill was kicked to the curb and replaced with Samantha.

Jill is decidedly very computery in her tone. But out of all American TTS voices, she's still the best one to use.

Why is Jill the best? Simple answer. She's the easiest to understand.

Jill, as computery as she is, can be understood far better than Samantha. And even though there have been several versions of Samantha, it's still never lived up to Jill's pronunciation.

Can you download Jill?

Yes, but you can't use it on any modern Garmin. Jill will only work on older models like the 1390. Jill is a standard voice included on older models, so all you need to do is get one and she will be there.

If for some strange reason Jill isn't there, you can connect an older nuvi to Garmin Express, go to the "Tools & Content" area, then "Utilities", then "Optional Updates", expand "Language Files" and then check the box for "English." Download/install that and Jill will be included. Again, Jill only appears on older nuvi and StreetPilot models, otherwise you will get Samantha.

What makes Jill so good?

Again, it's the computery nature of her voice. The way she speaks is very deliberate and a bit over-pronounced - and that is exactly what you want when driving.

Modern TTS voices (on anything, be it Garmin GPS or smartphone) all sound too soft and friendly. Developers think this is what users want. This is wrong because the softer and friendlier a TTS voice is, the easier it can be ignored.

Garmin did an unbelievably fantastic job with Jill, but mainly by accident. They made the best possible most-human sounding TTS voice but were limited to 2009 technology. It's the combination of great effort with technical limitations that makes Jill so wonderful.

When driving, Jill cuts through traffic noise while at the same time not sound like she's yelling at you or trying to sound overly nicey-nicey. Jill is just right.

For any developers making TTS voices, I'd tell them to go get a Garmin 1390 or 1490, listen to Jill and make the voice sound like her. Jill is a TTS voice done right.

Alternative to Jill?

The modern "Zoe" in the Garmin DriveSmart 66, 76 and 86 is actually really nice. The nostalgia factor isn't there, but she sounds pleasant enough.

The one reason why you should buy a Casio A700W

All F91W type watches should be this good.

When you get to know Casio watches, there are a few you become intimately familiar with.

First is the ubiquitous F91W, the most popular watch in the world. After that, the F105W, which is the F91W with a slightly different case shape with the EL (ElectroLuminescent) night light for easy night viewing. After that, the A158, which is the "steel" version of the F91W, and then the A168, the "steel" version of the F105W.

All these watches work exactly the same with just slight variations between them.

Then there's the recently introduced A700W. Acts like an F91W, looks like an A158W, so what's the deal with this model?

Legibility. That is the best reason to get this watch. The second best reason is that it's only 6mm thick. That's not a typo. Ever tried a CA53W calculator watch, which is already ridiculously thin? This is even thinner than that, and it's amazing.

What makes the A700W so legible? Three things. The 6mm thinness, the mineral glass crystal (yes, real glass here and not acrylic,) and the amber night light.

There is basically zero LCD "wash" on the A700W. Lean the watch at any angle and it can still be read without the LCD segments becoming unreadable. The F91W is already amazing at this, and the A700W is even better.

The mineral glass crystal makes the display so clear it almost doesn't even look like it's there. I had no idea a Casio digital display could look this good.

Finally, the amber night light is absolutely perfect. Not too bright, not too dark, looks better than the blue/green EL light on other models, and obviously blows away the cheap green light of the F91W.

Any photo of this watch does it no justice whatsoever. This is something that has to be seen to appreciate fully. You've never seen an F91W type with a mineral glass crystal before, but once you do, this is as good as an F91W type gets.

I call this "F91W type" even though I know it's not the F91W. In fact, it's not even module 593. The module used is 3472, evidenced by the thinness, the night light and the fact the display reads SPL (for "split") instead of LAP when using the chronograph lap feature.

You'll notice the A700W does cost more (and by that I mean about $7 more than a comparable A168.) Worth it? Absolutely. You are paying for a better watch with distinctively better features and not just a variation on a theme.

Good on Casio for doing this. Super thin, super legible, best of the lot, no question about it.

Fretless bass for under $350 USD (way under!)

The rarely seen inexpensive fretless bass. It exists.

Take the Stagg SBF-40, which at the time I write this is not just under $350 but under $300. If you're in the market for a fretless, grab this one now.

What's the big deal with fretless bass?

Fretless electric bass is a weird animal in more ways than one.

First it should be said that if you intend to buy one of these, consider switching to flatwound strings. Not only will it make the fingerboard last longer, but more importantly get "the sound of fretless" by eliminating string drag noise. To my ear, a proper fretless bass sound is one where you hear no drag. This drag I speak of is the sound of your fret hand finger literally dragging on the string as you move it up and down the neck. With flats, there is no drag noise. Also remember that tapewound strings can also get "that sound" too.

Second, fretless bass is a sound that sampling has never been able to recreate accurately. With picked bass, sure, you can emulate that with a synthesizer easily. But fretless? No. You need the real thing. Samplers and synths can't (and will never) be able to recreate the sonic nuances of fretless bass play.

Third - and this is the part I find most interesting - I have no idea why there aren't more cheap fretless basses. One would think all the electric bass manufacturers would be churning out these things since they are cheaper to make due to the fact there are no frets on the neck. There's really no reason why companies that churn out cheap fretted basses by the thousands can't do the same for fretless models. For whatever reason, you just don't see cheap fretless options often. This being true, whenever you see a cheap fretless like the Stagg, you grab it.

The Stagg above is priced exactly as it should be for what it is. Under $300, individual string saddles with a lot of adjustment for easy intonation, easy controls and a design that has no neck dive.

Again, if you want a fretless and want it cheap, get this one. For most bassists or even the hobbyist player that wants to get into fretless for cheap, this is as good as it gets on the low end (ha ha, bad pun yeah I know).