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.
Gibson Les Paul Standard is a waste of money
The USA Les Paul Standard is one of those things many players think is a magic guitar. It's not and no guitar is. What makes a guitar magical is the player and not the guitar itself. Anyone with half a brain knows this.
There is a distinct "honor" that the USA Paul holds. It tests the boundaries of what regular Joes are willing to pay for a mass-produced electric guitar.
At the end of 2013 as I write this, earlier this year the Standard was selling for a whopping $2,600. For a Standard. Not a Custom/Custom Shop model. Not for a "Supreme". Earlier this year, the Standard was selling for that much as a street price, as in the price you would find in a guitar store...
...and that was a huge mistake. It was such a mistake that Guitar Center has deep-discounted the 2013 Standard in Heritage Cherry Sunburst down to $1,849 just to get rid of the overstock in an attempt to clear them out.
Street price was $2,599 and now it's $1,849. That's a $750 discount, which is almost 30% off.
The only time GC ever discounts a guitar that deep is either in an introductory promo for a new model, or when they're overstocked with something nobody is buying and are desperate to get rid of it. The '13 Les Paul in HCS is one of the latter.
Gibson officially hit the ceiling with the 2013 price point. They wanted to see how high they could go before people stopped buying the guitar, and well, they found it.
Did the Fender USA Standard Strats get deep-discounted? NOPE. Even though they're overpriced also at $1,200, Fender was at least smart enough to introduce a "Professional" model at just under $1,000.
Not exactly the prettiest Strat, but the point is you can in fact buy a USA Standard that isn't a "Special" model for under a grand, even if just barely.
But anyway, let's get back to the Paul.
It's widely known that the build quality of USA-made Gibson Les Paul Standard guitars is awful. They keep churning out turd after turd and charging ridiculous prices for said turds. But like I said above, they did hit the ceiling for what idiot guitar players were willing to pay for a high-priced turd. Even the idiots got enough sense to realize the price was too high.
It is totally normal to walk into any Guitar Center in Tampa Bay and see USA Les Paul guitars hanging on wall with a light layer of dust on them. They are always in stock, and many go unplayed. Any day of the week I can waltz into any GC local to me and play a USA Paul...
...and that's not how it should be. USA Pauls should be rare and not available to play any time I feel like trying one out. But instead I find these overpriced turds with layers of dust on them because nobody can afford the frickin' things. When you see the dust, that literally means nobody has bothered to touch it for a a week. Possibly several weeks.
Take the Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster I just bought recently. Those guitars are not easy to find in stores, so it was a special experience to play one, and I bought it. Yes, playing a Squier can be a special thing for a hard-to-find model. That's the feeling you should get out of a USA Les Paul, but you don't. Not at all.
USA Les Pauls are the Tiger Games of guitar stores. They're everywhere, they're too common, there's nothing special about them and they just suck. And the fact they're almost always dusty and got a 30% whack in price proves nobody cares about those overpriced turds anymore.
Buy yourself a Heritage H150 (or if you're daring, a Godin Icon Type 2 Convertible) or an Epiphone Prophecy EX instead. You'll be much happier with either, believe me.
my transition to the jazzmaster
I've been playing my Squier Jazzmaster for a little bit, and here's my take on it so far:
I love it. Truly, I do. The Squier Jazz is one amazing axe. I love the look of it, the feel of it, the sound of it... everything about it is just so right.
Do the lengths of strings beyond the saddles ring out sometimes? Yes. Do the saddles buzz sometimes? Also a yes. Does it sustain as much as a Strat or Tele would? Nope, nor is it supposed to because it wasn't designed that way. Even with these idiosyncrasies, I still greatly prefer it over a Strat or Tele.
My playing style on the Jazz is significantly different than when on the Strat. I purposely use a medium-thin Fender pick, pick lighter and it really works out well.
The sound of the Jazz is obviously night-and-day difference compared to a Strat. Those two big-ass Duncan Designed pickups with the alnico V magnets in them are very responsive and bright - but not too bright, which in this case is a good thing.
And let's not forget there are no staggered pole pieces on Jazzmaster pickups, but they're not all the same height either. The pole heights are "curved" very, very slightly. So slight you wouldn't notice unless you specifically looked for it (which I did). The "curve" of the poles follows the curve of the fingerboard radius. On the 1 and 6 they're slightly sunk into the holes, and towards the middle they raise up slightly, but just ever-so-slightly.
Jazzmaster pickups absolutely do not sound like Strat or Tele pickups at all. The Jazz doesn't sound like it has P90s in it either because they're brighter than P90s would be. A Jazzmaster, simply put, sounds like a Jazzmaster.
I can whiz around the Jazzmaster neck like nobody's business because of its offset position. And because the Jazz pickups have more output compared to Strats and Teles, I don't have to pick nearly as hard to get the notes I want.
Another thing that makes a Jazz easier for me compared to a Strat or Tele is that I can feel the notes better. I mean that literally. The Jazz design resonates almost every note played when you can feel the vibration right in the chest. The pick guard is vibrating, as is the bridge, as are the lengths of string behind the bridge, as is the vibrato plate. You can even feel treble-E notes when played.
Now before you say, "That's the tonewood talking!", no it's not because the body on the Squier VM Jazz is basswood, just like my Squier Bullet Strat. It's the guitar design that's talking here.
I have played Strats and Teles with bodies that resonate like crazy, but the Jazz is different in a better way. I prefer Strats/Teles to have a mild amount of body vibration when being played, because anything more than that bugs me on those body styles. The Jazz vibrates more than the Strat/Tele does, but in the way it does it, it feels 100% correct. Why? I couldn't really say. Could be the offset-style body shape, could be that everything is loaded on top compared to string-thru of a Strat/Tele, or any number of other things. Whatever it is, it just feels good.
Is the Jazzmaster the guitar I always wanted? So far, it's looking that way.
Note before continuing: No, I am not trying to make you dump your Strat, Tele or Les Paul for a Jazzmaster; this is just my personal experience with the guitar. If you like what you have and genuinely enjoy playing the guitar you currently own, stick with it.
Why did I go get a Jazzmaster in the first place?
The first time I tried a Jazzmaster was in Guitar Center in Clearwater, Florida. But it was not a traditional setup. Instead it was one of those Jazzmaster Special types with the concentric knobs (middle of knob for volume, "ring" for tone) and no vibrato system. I did not like it. While it was built well, and the best way I can describe the guitar is that it looked, felt, played and sounded generic. Nothing special, even though Special is in its name.
Then in September I tried a Vintage Modified Jazzmaster at Sam Ash in Tampa. It was a Candy Apple Red with the white pick guard just like the one I bought (and for all I know it might be that same guitar). I fell in love with the vibrato system instantly. The guitar just felt so comfortable.
Why didn't I buy it then? Too much.
Then in November I bought a Thinline Telecaster. Great guitar, but it had a grounding problem. Took it back, had it repaired, same problem. Took it back, traded it for an even swap for a Jazzmaster. And that was the right price that time around since I paid $279 for the Tele originally, so technically I got the Jazz for the same price (it ordinarily runs for $299).
ANYWAY... it was a combination of things that made me pick up the red Jazzmaster. First was the look of it. Frickin' gorgeous guitar. Second was that vibrato system I wanted to try out. Third was the big honkin' single-coil pickups.
That combo, as it turns out, is exactly what I wanted.
It needs nothing
When I play the Jazz, I don't think, "Gee... this guitar would be so much better if it had [this, that, the other thing] in it." I don't think that at all. I just pick up and play and not think about those things, because there's nothing on it that needs improvement as far as I can tell.
That, for me, is super-rare with any electric. Whenever I pick up an electric no matter what it is, be it a cheap Squier or a ritzy and expensive Custom Shop Fender, I always feel that something could be better about the guitar. But not so with the Jazz.
It has issues, but I actually like them
The Jazz has wonky issues with it. But here's the thing - they don't bother me. Those wonky issues actually give the guitar good character that I like.
I'll put this in comparison to a Strat just to explain better what I'm talking about.
All traditional-setup Strats have what's jokingly called "Stratocaster reverb" where the tremolo claw springs in the back ring out when you play certain stuff. You'll play a few riffs, stop and hear a dulled "brrriiinnng" noise. That's annoying. So, like most Strat players do, you take off the rear cover, stuff the springs full of paper towels and that kills the ringing noise. Problem solved.
Jazzmasters ring also, but it's all on top since it's a top-loader. And the ring comes from the extra lengths of strings after the bridge to the vibrato plate. This ring is something you can actually use because it makes certain notes sound different in a cool way.
When I first started playing the Jazz, I admit I hated the string ring. But as I kept playing it, I discovered that ring actually contributes some really cool overtones to certain chords and notes. Heck, there's even stuff you can play where that ring adds in a very faint natural chorus of sorts.
The idiosyncratic nature of the Jazz is something that really fits me. I think it's great.
For either this month or when the new year starts I'll be writing some new cool music with it, so watch for that.
so how does it feel now that i finally own a jazzmaster?
I mentioned before that I wanted a Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster, and now I finally have one. I've owned it for a very short time, but how do I feel about it? Well, that's what this bloggo is about.
My reasons for buying the Jazz was for tone first and body shape second. A third reason is because it is one of the most "anti-metal" electrics that exists. As far as I'm aware, there are no famous metal players who play Jazzmasters. I like that. A lot. You could even arguably call the Jazzmaster a hipster guitar.
When I look at my Jazz on the guitar stand, I think to myself, "Wow, that's a cool guitar." In fact, it's the first Squier that I truly believe is a premium-grade axe in every way. The tuners are perfect, the neck, while glossed, actually feels right and the maple has a flame to it (yes, really). The rosewood fingerboard is nice and dark. The fret markers are purposely parchment-colored for that cool off-white look. The Candy Apple Red finish is perfect. The pick guard is a 3-ply with a proper thick black mid-stripe. The pickup covers are parchment as are the knobs. And of course there's the chrome. Shiny chrome on the bridge and a big-ass chrome piece for the vibrato plate.
In other words, the Jazz is on seriously swanky guitar. Heck, even the Squier logo on the headstock with the little "swooshes" looks correct. The guitar is just done right from stem to stern in look, form and function.
It's just a great guitar.