don't be a hoarder
Those who have been following me a while know I've been through a few guitars since 2010. Quite a few of them, actually.
But how many guitars do I actually keep? Not many. Right now I have six, with four in working condition. The working axes are the 2010 Squier Bullet Strat, 2012 Squier Jazzmaster, 1989 Squier II Stratocaster and 2005 Yamaha RBX170 bass guitar. The two inoperable guitars that are literally in pieces are the 1993 American Standard Stratocaster and the 2012 Squier Bullet HH.
I don't play the '89 Squier II. That one is just kept in a case and stored away because it is my very first guitar, and that's the reason I keep it.
As for the '93 Strat, that was an 18th birthday present from my late father, which is why I still have it. I will at some point buy another neck for it since the existing one has a popped truss rod and is therefore unplayable. But being that's not a high priority, it can wait.
The guitar I absolutely don't need and will eventually sell off in parts is the Bullet HH. Why haven't I yet? Laziness. But I will get rid of it somewhere down the line and decrease my guitar stable from 6 to 5.
As for every other guitar you have ever seen me own either in photos or in video, those are all gone. Every one of them. They were either sold or traded out.
The two guitars I play regularly are the Jazzmaster and the bass. And you can't even count the bass as being played regularly because I only use that when I need to lay down a bass track. Otherwise it sits on the stand and routinely gets a layer of dust on it from not being used. But being it does serve a purpose for when I do require bass tracks to be played, I keep it for that reason.
A lot of guys hoard guitars
Guitar hoarders all say the same thing. "I'm a collector." And of course they will talk about how they're "investing" in certain guitars, even though most guitars hold next to nothing for resale value.
Over a period of a few years, that guy, the guitar hoarder, will have somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 25 guitars. And out of that stable, maybe 3 to 5 will be in good, playable condition. The rest will be all junk. Some will need new frets, or replacement electronics, or new tuners or new hardware, etc. There's always going to be something about that "investment" that's wrong with it.
A lot of guys hoard guitars in search of something they will never find
Big-time guitar hoarders will keep buying guitars thinking they'll find "the one" that will be the magical instrument with the "golden tone" and make them the player they always wanted to be.
That won't happen, because most of the time guitar hoarders keep buying the same guitar over and over again.
Take the Fender Stratocaster or the Gibson Les Paul for example. There are guys out there who own several if not many of these guitars. They just keep buying the same thing, over and over, but never seem to locate that one special Strat or Paul that really has what they're looking for. Close, but never on the mark, so to speak.
The reason why the hoarder is never able to acquire a guitar that's "just right" is because the guitar is simply not suited for them and never will be.
It takes a bit of explanation to describe what this means.
Let's say for the moment you hate strawberries. Always have and always will. Would you continue to buy strawberries until you found one that tasted good? Of course not. You'd stop eating strawberries and go eat another fruit instead.
Guitars are the same way. If a cheap version of a guitar doesn't feel right, the expensive version of that same guitar with the same shape will not feel any better. It might sound a little different, but it's still going to not feel right. And no matter how many times you keep buying the same guitar with the same shape over and over, it will never feel right.
I'll put this in even simpler terms.
If you've been buying Strat after Strat after Strat and can never find one that suits you, stop buying Strats. Try a Telecaster instead. Or maybe something different like a Squier Jaguar or Fender Marauder. Try something totally different than what you've been playing.
If you've been buying Les Paul after Les Paul after Les Paul and can never find one you really like, stop buying Les Pauls. Try a Flying V. Try an Epiphone Explorer. Maybe even try a semi-hollow like the Gibson ES-335 or the Epiphone Dot.
Stores like Guitar Center and Sam Ash have a 30-day money back guarantee. This means if you buy a guitar and don't like it for whatever reason, you can bring it back and get a refund. You can "try before you buy" by utilizing that store policy.
Having one guitar that perfectly suits you is a million times better than owning a bunch of guitars that don't
Guitar hoarders will keep buying the same guitar over and over and never find "the one."
Smarter players try different things until they find a shape and style of guitar that suits them just right.
I went through a lot of guitars in my search for "the one" that suits me best. And as it turns out, that happened to be the Jazzmaster. That guitar is something I wouldn't have even thought of touching before. But I saw one (a few, actually) in Sam Ash, tried it, bought it, and now it's the axe I play most because it's so unbelievably comfortable. For me, anyway.
If you're hoarding guitars now, sell the hoard. Just get rid of it, even if you sell at a loss. Get whatever you can for it and just unload all that crap out of your home.
After that, try new guitars you never would have thought of trying before. Chances are pretty good your "one" will be something totally different from what you're playing now. When you find it - and you will as long as you keep an open mind - you'll be a much happier player because the quest for "that guitar" will be over. Once you discover what really works for you, you'll be a much happier player.
it's okay to be a bedroom guitarist
There are a lot of kids across the world who got a guitar as a present for Christmas, many with the dreams of being the next big rock star.
A lot of these kids will eventually realize that trying to become a rock star is too much work, and that's it is better just to be a "bedroom guitarist" instead...
...and that is 100% okay.
It is way easier to be a bedroom guitarist compared to being in a band
Being in a band is cool because of the whole band vibe thing and being able to play in a group and all that. But being a bedroom guitar player is way easier.
When doing the bedroom guitar thing, you can record whatever you want, whenever you want, in any style you want and then post over to Bandcamp, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or all of those all at once. And you don't need anyone's permission to do it. You don't need approval of your other band members or any of that nonsense because it's just you doing your thing.
As far as how easy it can be, all you need is one guitar and an R8. The R8 has every single possible guitar effect you could think of, and built-in microphones that you can sing or yell into for vocal stuff. The R8 also has a basic drum machine in it too. When I say that all you need is one guitar and an R8, I mean that literally. Absolutely nothing else is required to record with. When finished with a recording session, just pop out the SD card or connect a USB cable, copy over the master WAV and upload wherever you want or place in a video.
Not in a band? That's okay
Funny but true: You will probably be much more of a success as a bedroom guitar player than you ever would be in a band.
It is totally possible to become internationally known just by posting one song to YouTube. All it takes is just getting the song done, putting it out there and see what happens. Maybe nothing will happen. Or maybe everything will happen. You won't know unless you try.
trying to get a strat tremolo to act like a jazzmaster/jaguar vibrato and failing at it
This is going to be a guitar-nerdy article, but if you're a Strat owner, you'll appreciate this information due to the fact that very few people actually know how to set up a Strat tremolo system correctly.
Three things to get out of the way up front.
First, yes I know Fender incorrectly calls the Stratocaster vibrato system a tremolo system. While they do call the Jazzmaster/Jaguar the proper name of being a vibrato system, on the Strat, Fender always refers to it as tremolo, so that's how I'm going to refer to it.
Second, I hate the modern two-point tremolo system and much prefer the older six-screw, and I'll explain why later as I describe this process.
Third, I don't have photos or video for this, but if you have a Strat be it Squier or Fender, this should be pretty easy to follow along.
I totally love the way the Jazzmaster vibrato system works. It holds tune very nicely, and I wanted to get my Strat to act the same way.
The end result is that yes, I was able to get a Strat tremolo to act like a Jazzmaster vibrato, but on the Strat it ended up being fairly useless and I had to go back to "decking" the tremolo system again because the guitar kept going out of tune. With a lot of work, I could have achieved stable tuning, and I'll describe that later, but I just didn't feel like putting the work into it.
The two reasons why a Strat tremolo will never be as good as one on a Jazzmaster/Jaguar
I'm stating this now so you know this before I describe the process.
On a Strat, the strings do not roll over anything after the string saddle before the nut. On the Jazz/Jag, the string rolls over a bridge separate from the vibrato, and this is a key component as to why the Jazz/Jag vibrato system works so well. Without that rolling point, the Strat constantly goes out of tune at the nut.
And to note, for proper Jazz/Jag vibrato to work, you are NOT supposed to stiffen the bridge in any way. It is supposed to be loose and rock slightly whenever the Jazz/Jag vibrato is used. All a stiffened bridge does is make strings break faster and makes strings go out of tune just like on a Strat when vibrato is used.
Second, the Strat tremolo arm is just too small. Yeah, I know, this sounds dumb, but that dinky arm a.k.a. "whammy bar" is too short to have any real control for slow bends and bends where you want to do flutter-style tremolo. The significantly larger Jazz/Jag vibrato arm on the other hand gives you much more control over bends. You can even do 1/4-semitone bends with no problem at all, which is basically impossible to do with a Strat tremolo arm because again, it's just too damned short.
First step: Bridge screws (setting up the float part 1)
Okay, so.. getting a Strat to do slow tremolo bends. Not an easy task no matter what kind of Strat it is.
The first step is setting up the bridge screws properly.
Detune all the strings so they're loose, or alternatively do this when all the strings are off.
Take off the back plate, loosen the tremolo claw screws, then take the claw springs out completely and set them aside for now.
Loosen all 6 bridge screws so they're sticking up. You don't have to take them all the way out, but you do have to loosen them quite a bit. You'll understand why in a moment.
Here comes the part where you'll probably get confused, but I'll explain it anyway.
Put your finger under the tremolo block and push up. You don't have to push hard. Just enough so that the bridge is sticking up to the point where it's against the bridge screw heads and can't be pushed any further.
A general rule of thumb is to make your bridge float at a maximum height of 1/8th of an inch. No, you don't have to be precise about it. Just take your best guess.
While pushing on the tremolo block to give it tension, tighten down the outer two bridge screws, as in the screws next to the 1 string and 6 string. When the angle of the bridge is around 1/8th of an inch away from the body, and both outer screws are at the same height as far as you can tell, then tighten down the remaining 4 bridge screws to equal height of the outer screws.
This is the point where I complain about the two-point tremolo system before continuing.
One would think that a two-point would be easier to do this with since there are only two screws instead of six. It's not easier. The screws are much more difficult to turn, requiring a larger tool to do it with, and it is really easy for the screwdriver to slip out and scrrraatttch, you just put a nice big, nasty scratch in your guitar body. This doesn't happen on 6-screw because the screws are smaller, easier to deal with and have a Philips head instead of slotted.
If you ever see a Strat that has a big scratch right next to the bridge, now you know exactly how it happened.
Seriously, Fender... slotted bridge screws? Really? Would it have been that much of an issue to put in nice big Philips head screws there? I guess so.
Anyway...
Right, so you've tightened down all six screws, and now when you push up on the tremolo block, the bridge only raises 1/8th of an inch above the body. The first step is complete.
Second step: Tremolo claw springs and claw screws (setting up the float part 2)
For proper control of the floating bridge, three claw springs are required. Every Squier and Fender comes with 3.
Would 5 make a difference? Not really. The only thing putting 5 springs on does is add in more tension and spring noise. Having 3 is fine.
If you have no idea how you should set up your springs, just put one on either side of the block, and the third one right in the middle.
Now comes the claw screws. For now, you tighten these, but just enough to hold the claw springs so they don't fall out. We'll come back to this later.
Third step: Tune to C#, adjust claw springs again
The reason you tune to C# is because you're going to be tightening the claw springs, which will pitch up all the strings.
Tune up to C#. Don't worry about being in perfect tune because you're about to put all your strings out-of-tune anyway.
Tighten or loosen the claw springs enough so that the bridge floats and doesn't touch the body.
After that, tune up all strings to standard E. The bridge may raise a bit when you do this. Or it may not.
What height should the float be when strings are tuned to standard E pitch? This is another answer you'll probably get confused by, but again, I'll explain it.
If you set your maximum possible float to 1/8th-inch, the float should rest at half that height, as in 1/16th-inch.
The reason for this? So you can bend in both directions, either up-pitch or down-pitch.
And the second reason is so you don't put any extra stress on the bridge screws. If you set your float to 1/8-inch and the bridge is floating at 1/8-inch, the bridge screws are literally being pulled, and that's bad. When the float is set to where it's not at maximum height, not only do you get up or down pitching, but the bridge screws don't have any extra stress placed on them.
Fourth step: Test tremolo system
Your strings are up to pitch, the bridge is floating and you're ready to rock at this point.
The first thing you'll notice is that it takes a lot less effort to bend strings with the tremolo bar now; this is normal.
The second thing you'll notice is your strings will probably go out-of-tune instantly, requiring you to re-stretch them a bunch of times until they stop going out-of-tune.
The third thing you'll notice is that if the strings go out-of-tune with a downward pitch of the tremolo, you can usually get them back in tune with a slight upward pitch (as in give a little jerk up on the tremolo bar and that will put the string back in tune... usually).
The pain-in-the-ass part is that you'll find that the tremolo system is either too loose for your playing style, too tight, has too much float, or not enough float.
Loose or tight is an easy fix, just adjust the claw springs.
Too much or too little float on the other hand requires you to detune all the strings and adjust the bridge screw heights - again.
Yeah. Fun, fun, fun.
Fifth step: Adjust your playing style and enjoy the "kinks"
Let's say for the moment you like using a Strat with a floating bridge. Well, you will have to change your playing style.
If you rest your picking hand on the bridge at all, you will have to stop doing that. Why? Because every time you do, the strings will pitch up slightly. You will have to learn not to rest your palm there anymore.
You will also notice that no matter what you do, your strings will make "kink" noises periodically when using the tremolo, especially on the unwound G, B and treble E strings. And no, using "nut sauce" will not cure this problem, nor will better tuners cure it, nor will different nut material, roller nut, etc. No matter what, you're gonna get the kinks and that's just the way it is.
The reason kinks happen is for the same reason I said above. After the string saddle, there is nothing for the strings to roll over. So what happens is that the strings slide in the nut slots at the other end of the neck instead. When you do that, it's kink, kink, kink.
The only way not to get kinking noises is to use the tremolo softly, and also have a very high float. As in greater than 1/8-inch (but not so much that your floating bridge is at some ridiculously high angle).
Worth doing?
Not for me it isn't.
If you want a vibrato system that's designed for those great-sounding slow bends, you have to use a Jazzmaster, Jaguar or something with a Bigsby system on it.
However, if you're determined enough, you could get a Strat to keep stable tuning with a floating bridge, but it requires painstaking setup and probably a drastic change in your playing style to make it happen...
...but you still have to deal with that small tremolo arm. Yes, there are places where you can buy a longer one, but that's just a waste of money.
One of the better ways to do slow bends with a floating bridge on a Strat is to not use the tremolo arm at all. Take your picking hand and "palm down" push-push-push style for a slow flutter-style vibrato, or alternatively lightly grab the back of the bridge and pull-pull-pull for the same effect. As to which one would work better for you, that all depends on which you think feels better when you do it.
Things that will legitimately help with tuning stability on a floating Strat bridge
Use the right saddle upgrade
There is no rolling point for the string to travel on after the string saddle, and the only way to get one on a Strat is by using roller saddles. For a floating bridge, this is the best possible upgrade you can get because now the strings finally have something to roll on.
Will they roll as good as they would on a Jazzmaster/Jaguar or Bigsby? Nope. But it's a very good step in the right direction. When the strings roll at the bridge, that means they are sliding less at the nut, and that's where the tuning advantage comes in.
And to note, roller saddles are worthless on Strats where you don't use the tremolo system; they are only for players that do use the tremolo, and often. If you don't use the tremolo on your Strat, don't get roller saddles.
Use a high-mass tremolo block
The bigger block adds extra weight, and that does make the tremolo arm easier to control because there's more resistance.
There is a drawback, however. This does add weight to the guitar, enough to the point where you will notice it because it's a dense hunk of steel. If you feel your Strat is at "just right" weight right now, putting in the high-mass block may force you to switch over to a padded guitar strap to accommodate for the extra weight when playing the guitar standing.
This kind of setup is something Fender traditionally calls a "big block" setup, because yeah, the block is big.
Use a thinner pick
Strats with floating bridges have the tendency for chords to go out-of-tune slightly if you bang the strings too hard no matter what string thickness you use.
You could try different strings. But the easier solution is just to switch to a more flexible pick, so no matter how hard you bang the strings, they won't vibrate so much that they "waver" out-of-tune slightly for heavy-handed chord playing.
Easy solution: Buy a Jazzmaster, Jaguar or a guitar with a Bigsby on it
Even with all the stuff I just mentioned, in the end you need a guitar better suited to slow bends. And the Strat just isn't it. It's a fine guitar, but just doesn't do slow bends without major setup changes and having you significantly change the way you play.
You're better off just getting a Jazz, Jag or a Bigsby-equipped axe.
Which famous model of Jazzmaster does the Squier model pattern after?
Classic Vibe and Vintage Modified Squier guitars closely follow the designs of famous Fender guitar models, but of course do not replicate them exactly. Certain things are changed for modern playing style and feel.
A good example of this is the Classic Vibe Telecaster '50s, one of the best guitars Squier makes. While it is true-to-vintage-spec with its tuners and other hardware, the neck has a modern 9.5-inch radius with medium jumbo frets, and the body is made of pine.
Vintage Modified Series from Squier is interesting, because depending on what you get, it will either be a 1970s-inspired design with modern modifications, or it will be a mish-mash of 50s or 60s design with modern mods.
The Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster in particular is one of those that is a 60s design with modern mods to it.
As far as I can tell, the Squier Jazz patterns after a '64 Fender Jazz, but just in appearance, electronics and not much else.
In '64, Candy Apple Red (the color of my Jazz) was a finish option along with the white pick guard, so that's period-correct.
With the exception of a deleted lock button on the vibrato, the hardware is very close to what a '64 Jazz is. Same bridge style, same tuners.
The Squier does have "parchment" color dot inlays on the neck. This follows the look of the '64 Jazz as Fender was using clay fret markers on the Jazz then, so they were never stark white even when new in '64. The Squier fret marker material is obviously plastic, but the point is that yes, the fret marker color is period-correct to a '64.
A '64 Jazz didn't have neck binding on it as far as I know, so the fact the Squier has no neck binding is period-correct. I believe Jazzes got the binding in late '65 and a whole bunch of '66 models had it.
I don't think any Fender Jazzes of the 1960s had a "skunk stripe" on the back of the neck. The Squier Jazz does have the walnut (or possibly koa) stripe. However, this is something I actually like, because to me, Fender designs look proper when that stripe is present.
In the end, yes, the Squier Jazz really nails it well when it comes to emulating the look of a '64 Fender Jazz. And obviously, it's also a fine player.
A few more words on the walnut stripe on Squier guitars in particular
Nobody does a walnut stripe on the back of a neck better than Squier. Yes, Squier. Not Fender. On a Fender Mexico or American neck, the satin urethane makes the walnut stripe look milky and faded even when brand new. On a Squier with its polyurethane or gloss polyurethane, the walnut is dark, rich in color and you can really see what walnut is supposed to look like.
I got used to seeing the dark walnut stripe a long time ago with my first guitar, the 1989 Squier II Stratocaster. The neck look and finish on my new Squier Jazz is almost identical to it. It's a tinted tinted gloss polyurethane, and the maple is slightly flamed.
Yes, my 2012 Squier Jazz does have a flame maple neck, just like my '89 Squier II Strat does. And the tint color is almost identical as well.
In 1993 when I got my American Strat, one of the first things I noticed was the milky/faded look of the walnut stripe. It just doesn't look right and never has. Sure, the satin finish feels great, no question, but the tradeoff is that the walnut stripe is lightened in color significantly.
To this day, new Mexican and American Standard Fender guitars (Strats and Teles) that have the neck with the stripe along with the satin finish all have that faded/milky look to it. And there's no way Fender can make walnut look better through that satin finish just because of the nature of what it is. When you want the walnut to really stick out the right way on a guitar neck, it has to be glossed.
Now even though I don't like a gloss polyurethane finish on a guitar neck, the Squier Jazz I have is very, very close to what my '89 Squier II Strat is. The feel of the back of the neck is so close that it's scary, but in a good way. And that's one of several reasons why I'm totally loving the neck on it. Late-1980s Squier necks are frickin' amazing, and the Squier Jazz, even though Indonesian made, has the late-80s Korean build quality to it.
I have no idea how thick or thin the finish is, nor do I really care. All I know is that it looks 100% correct and feels 100% correct.
Is the stripe PAINTED on?
It is true that some people who try to fake a Strat or Tele neck will in fact paint the skunk stripe on the neck, usually with black paint.
From my examination of the Squier Jazz neck, I can easily see the grain pattern change where the stripe is, so it is definitely a different piece of wood. And I seriously doubt it would be a sticker because that would do nothing but add cost to production of the guitar. Squier axes are built with cost-cutting in mind, and since there are already plenty of other Squier axes that don't have the stripe, it would make no sense to put one on the Jazz as it would do nothing but add cost to the build.
In other words, yes, the Squier Jazz does have a real-deal skunk stripe on it. If that stripe is a sticker, it would be the most convincing sticker-pretending-to-be-wood I've ever seen. I'd expect to see something like that on a fake Fender, but this is a Squier, so there's no reason for anything on the axe to be fake at all.
after a month of owning a jazzmaster...
It's been a month (well, very close to a month) since getting the Jazzmaster, and some interesting things have happened, both good and bad.
I do truly love the way the Jazzmaster plays. Never in my life have I felt a guitar neck that felt so right, or so I thought. More on that in a moment.
I fell in love with the Jazz so much that I put my Bullet Strat in a gig bag and haven't touched it for probably a few weeks. It was just incredible to me how good the Jazz felt.
Today, after having the Strat in a bag for several weeks, I pulled it out to strum it a bit...
...and it felt awful. The guitar that's been my #1 go-to instrument since 2010 just felt completely wrong.
That's when I realized it really wasn't the Jazz neck I fell in love with particularly, but the position of the neck.
As you may or may not know, Jazzmasters and Jaguars have what is called an offset-waist body. What this does is stick the neck out more. The Jazz is the same 25.5-inch scale as a Strat or Tele, has the same frets and the same fingerboard radius, with the difference that it's positioned out further by about 2 or 3 inches. And oh, what a difference this makes.
I can do things on that neck I could never do (or at least not do easily) on a Strat. That offset position just feels 100% correct.
So what's the bad part? The Strat now feels foreign to me. I sit down with the Strat and everything about it feels wrong. I don't like the position of the neck and how my hand has to scrunch up to play certain things. I dearly miss the "slow"-style vibrato system that the Jazz has and the Strat doesn't. I don't like how the Strat just feels much more difficult to play.
Basically put, I'm an offset convert. It may have been that all this time what I really needed was a guitar with a neck in a different position. And I got it with the Jazz.
This is not one of those things where you put a Strat down, pick up an acoustic for a while, play that and then switch back to a Strat later. Nope. This is totally different. The offset shape and different position of the neck on the Jazz was a total game-changer for me.
I honestly don't know if I'll ever be able to pick up a Stratocaster or Telecaster again and not feel annoyed to play it now. It doesn't matter if it's my Squier Bullet Strat or an expensive American Standard because that neck position will always be the same, and there's not a thing I can do about it.
Am I saying Strats are bad? Of course not. Will I get rid of the Strats I have now? Of course not. But I doubt I'll be playing them much.
For those that take what I say seriously, no, I am not telling you to dump your Strats and Teles for Jazzes and Jags. Not at all. If you like what you have, keep on playing what you always have been and don't do that "If Rich does it, I'll do it" thing.
I just found that the guitar for me is the Jazz, or to be more specific, offset-waist body guitars. The neck position they have is just perfect for my playing style, and is the only position that has ever in all my years of playing guitar felt right.