from telecaster thinline to jazzmaster in less than 3 days

Yep, new guitar in the barn. But not after owning another one for less than 3 days first.

Okay, so here's the story. I was faced with the choice of doing one of two things. I could either a) "rebuild" my USA Fender Strat with a new replacement neck, electronics and tuners, or b) spend the same money on a new guitar instead.

The Telecaster Thinline

I opted for B, and bought myself a Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Thinline in Shoreline Gold.

The Squier Thinline Tele is as close to Telecaster perfection as you can get. Everything about that guitar is 100% right, except for one very, very annoying problem. It's not grounded correctly from the factory.

What happens is that when you touch any metal on the guitar (strings, knobs or bridge), the guitar is fine and there's no buzz, it plays perfect and sounds perfect. But when you take your hands off the metal, buzzzzzzzz... I brought the guitar back for repair and a new volume pot was installed. Got it back home, and buzzzzzzz again. I swapped out the cable, checked everything and yep, it was the damned guitar that was doing it.

So I took it apart and tried to figure out the ground problem for myself. Well, as it turns out, the guitar has no ground connection to the bridge plate by design. And I also found that the shielding surrounding the controls was next to nothing, also by design.

To make the Squier Telecaster Thinline not have ground buzz issues, shielding would need to be added, the bridge plate would need to be swapped out with specific mounting screws to better ground it, a wire would need to be run from the pot to the back of the bridge plate, and the bridge pickup would need to be replaced.

In other words, about $150 worth of hardware is needed plus some rewiring just to get the guitar not to have ground buzz problems.

From my research on Telecaster Thinline models, you may or may not get electrical ground buzz issues just because of the way the axe is made, Squier or Fender. The 1969 design (which is what the Squier Thinline patterns after) is just one of those wonky wiring setups that even when done exactly right from the factory, it can and usually does have ground buzz problems.

I also found out the Squier Thinline Telecaster model is being phased out. Now I know why. And because of that I owned my Tele for less than 3 days.

I went back to the guitar store for a refund, but then I went home with a Jazzmaster.

I talked about getting a Jazzmaster before. And after having a bad experience with the Thinline Telecaster, I got my Jazz in Candy Apple Red (which is the color I wanted). This is the guitar I should have bought in the first place instead of the Tele.

In the guitar store I went to (Sam Ash Tampa), they had, amazingly, three Jazzes to try out, and even a few Jags. Nobody ever has these guitars in stock, so it was very cool to play them. The Jag was even in Surf Green if you can believe it. And it was a proper Surf Green and not that "blue with a hint of green" thing.

Of the three Jazzes, one was in Olympic White, the second in Sunburst and the third in Candy Apple Red. Yep, this store had every color except for Sonic Blue. It's rare any guitar store has Jazzes to begin with, but three in three different colors? That basically never happens.

Did like the look of the white one, so I tried the sunburst. It was a buzzy, bongy, ringy mess. Not good.

Tried the Jag, same thing. Buzzy, bongy, ringy mess.

Tried the red Jazz. Only slightly ringy, which is how a Jazz is supposed to be. Played amazingly well. All electronics worked - which is important because the Jazz's electronics are rather complicated.

I had the Thinline Tele with me and had made the decision that I was either going to get a refund for it or take a Jazz or a Jag home with me. I took a Jazz home, and since the price was the same as the Thinline, I didn't have to spend any extra cash. It was an even swap.

My take on the Squier Jazzmaster

Cool guitar, if you understand that the Jazz is a quirky guitar. Even more quirky than the Stratocaster.

A list of things everyone complains about with Jazzmasters:

1. The lengths of strings from the vibrato to the bridge ring out "bad" harmonics.
2. The multi-groove saddles are too easy to knock the strings out
3. The bridge sometimes has a lot of buzz to it
4. The vibrato system sometimes has a lot of buzz to it
5. The vibrato system puts strings out-of-tune quickly

All true? Yes, but only if you play it like a Strat or a Tele. Basically, what that means is that you can't bang around on a Jazz like you could on a Strat or Tele.

1 and 2 are cured by switching over to a more flexible/flappy pick.

3 is cured by changing your playing style. You can't play a Jazz like a Strat. Change your style and you won't get bridge buzz.

4 is cured by stuffing the vibrato springs with paper towels, exactly the same as you would on a Strat to make its tremolo springs stop ringing.

As for 5, that's the fault of the player and not the system. The Jazz has a "slow" vibrato, and if you use it slow-style, it doesn't put the strings out of tune at all.

What's the best thing about the Jazzmaster?

The sound of it, of course.

In the Squier VM Jazz are a set of big, fat-ass single-coil alnico V magnet pickups; they sound great and have a tonal character that only the Jazz has.

The Jazz pickups are not P-90s. A lot of people think they are, but they're not. They are literally called Jazzmaster pickups. And they do sound different than the P-90 does.

I can't describe a Jazzmaster's sound other than saying it "sounds like a Fender offset-body with singles in it". When you hear a Jazz or a Jag with singles in it, it's very distinctive.

Traditional-setup offset-body guitars from Fender/Squier (Jazzes and Jags) are guitars you either love or hate and are only meant for specific kinds of players who understand what they're all about. They are, without question, the quirkiest designs ever to come from Fender. Nothing about them is "automatic", and they require you to play them a specific way. And I like the way they play.

Yes, I am happy with my Jazz. Great sound, great feel, and unless something goes horribly wrong with the guitar, I plan on keeping it for a good long while.

And yeah, it is ironic that the Jazz, which is a much more complicated guitar than the Tele Thinline is, actually worked 100% while the Tele didn't.

i haven't used a textured pick in months

I've been using Gibson Standard Heavies for a while now, but recently I dug into my pick tin and grabbed a Fender 351 celluloid Medium and started using that again. I forgot how cool using that pick was.

And while out and about recently I decided to pick up a 12-pack of some more Fender 351 picks, this time in ocean color since the local Guitar Center had them in stock. It was either go with ocean or a more green-colored one. I wanted something different, the green and ocean were the two I liked since I already had some red ones, and ocean won out.

Does the color of a pick make you play different? For me it does. There are times when I glance at my picking hand and see the ritzy look of the Fender 351 and yes, it does in fact give me a good feeling.

I'll put it this way. A Fender Premium 351 Celluloid pick is the absolute cheapest way to get a genuine Made-in-U.S.A. Fender product. So even if you don't own an American Stratocaster or Telecaster, you can always get the U.S.A. picks for cheap. That, and Fender without question has the best-looking guitar picks. You see one, you get a little "wow" factor from it because Fender knows how to do image very well.

And even with my Gibson picks, those have "wow" factor as well, because even though they're black, the Gibson logo is metallic gold. There's a little extra added panache in the respect that most guitar stores don't carry Gibson Standard picks, so if you have them, other players will notice just because they're not available in every guitar store.

I thought about something when I picked up the Medium 351 again. I haven't used a textured pick in months. Several months, in fact. There was a time when I was a "Pitch Black Tortex .88 'til I die" type of player, but for a good long while I've been using nothing but texture-free celluloids.

Ultimately, I find that the flappy nature of celluloids brings out Strat tone better no matter what Strat it is be it Fender, Squier or any other kind of Strat. Granted, I do get more clack when using celluloids, but the sound I get with them more than makes up for that.

Picks made of delrin like the Dunlop Tortex are great, but instead of flappy/clacky noise you get scrape because of the delrin texture. For rock and metal that's great. But for everything else it sucks. When you really want strings to "ping", you need picks with flap and clack, and nothing does that better than celluloids. Thinner ones specifically, like the Medium and the Thin from Fender.

An easy way to get inspired when you get bored playing guitar (which does happen from time to time) is just to switch picks. I purposely have a variety in my pick tin just for that reason, because sometimes just picking up a different piece of plastic makes all the difference.

squier standard gets returned

Some bad news. The Standard had to be returned as the neck did not bow back properly and continued to have some significant fret buzz. That, and the neck just felt thick in the wrong kind of way for my hands. Can't really explain it any better than that.

I'll be sticking with the Bullet Strat I already have.

After returning the Standard, I decided to do a major cleaning on the Bullet, which involved taking off the pick guard. I confirmed that the body color has in fact darkened a few shades, which just goes to show that polyurethane coated bodies do change color over time.

While at Guitar Center I tried out a few guitars, but before I get into that, a few words about the Bullet.

I find it absolutely incredible that the second-to-lowest cost Squier (the only guitar lower in price in the lineup is the Mini) proves time and time again to be best playing, most-trouble-free, best-character guitar they have. I've gone through several Squiers since buying my Bullet in 2010 and they simply don't stack up to how great the Bullet is. The non-gloss neck feels right, the frets feel right, it all just feels right. And while the Bullet pickups are admittedly a bit on the weak side, it does have character. Add on a booster pedal and you've got yourself one seriously amazing sound.

That being said, I tried out a few other guitars when I went to return the Standard to Guitar Center.

I tried a maple-board (yes, they actually had one) Affinity Strat in a sunburst finish. This particular one wasn't good. Pickup tone was bland and lifeless, the neck had an odd feel to it that I really can't describe other than "doesn't feel right", and there were some seriously weird tuning issues with it no matter how much I stretched the strings (which I must have done at least 10 times just noodling around with it). Fit and finish were fine, no sharp fret edges or anything like that. But like I said, just a "blah" guitar.

A few weeks back when I played a Squier Affinity Telecaster on the other hand, that guitar was just fine front to back, and sounded good too. Can't explain why that is, but it is.

Another guitar I tried was a black-on-black Squier Bullet Telecaster HS, as in humbucker in the bridge and single-coil in the neck. Played fine and felt good, but that humbucker was so dead sounding. With pickup replacements, it would have been great. Also, I'll give credit that the switchgear and knobs were perfect on it.

Finally, I tried a Squier Cabronita Telecaster. Yep, the brand new model. Black with maple board. Pickup tone is really, really good. Sparkly, spanky, and even with the lack of a tone control, it's just a damned good-sounding guitar. However there's only one rather huge problem with it. It has a gloss neck coating which made it feel like total plastic. Were it not for that gloss coating, the guitar would be perfect. Yes, I mean that. If I knew how to refinish a neck, I probably would have bought the guitar and done a satin urethane coating on it. But being I don't know how to do such things, I gave it a miss.

Anyway, the Standard didn't work. But I did learn that alnico magnet pickups are f--king awesome. I won't be replacing the pickups in my Bullet because I like the character of the guitar too much to mess with it.

However, if I get another Bullet Strat (which I might), I may specifically mod that into a "Super Squier" of sorts. Not really a hard thing to do if you know what parts and upgrades to get - which I do. :)

squier standard stratocaster arrives

The used Squier Standard Stratocaster in Metallic Black I ordered arrived today.

Do I like it? I'm not sure just yet, and you'll understand why in a moment.

The condition of the guitar is quite good. On a few minor tiny scratches here and there. The metallic black is actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be, as it has just enough metal flake in it to hide scratches, but from a distance it does not sparkle, and that's a good thing because I don't like sparkly finishes on guitars.

Electronics all work but the pots are stiff. The turning motion is fine, but you do have to put effort into it. It reminds me of the 4-knob layout on a Telecaster Custom I played a few months back as that had stiff knobs on it too.

The neck had obviously never been set up right and needed three 1/8th tightening turns on the truss rod because it had a rather large bow to it. It's a little buzzy at the moment but I'm sure it will settle properly over the next day or so. If it doesn't, I'll have to take it back. But I'm confident the neck will get back its proper shape.

Tuners are good, nut is cut a little bit off and sticks out on the edges slightly (Mexican Strats are usually the same way so no surprise there), but I can work with it assuming the neck bends back proper. And if I find the nut sticking out a little really bothers me, it's easy enough to shave down gently with a file. No big deal.

The most noticeable thing about this Strat is its sound. Very, very glassy. I believe this is because the pickup poles are identical to the pole positions on an American Standard. A low-mounted treble E, totally sunk in B, high G, high D, low-mounted A and low-mounted bass E. That's the vintage pole positioning setup, and that's exactly what the Squier Standard has.

The alnico pickup magnets along with the pole positioning gives the Squier some serious vintage-style voicing to it.

Is this pole positioning on the Mexican Standard? No. The Mexican Standard does a "smooth arc" with its pickup pole positions.

Does this mean the Squier Standard is actually voiced more like an American model than the Mexican Standard is? Yes. Funny how things work like that.

Where the vintage-style pole positioning matters most is in the "quack" 2 and 4 pickup selector positions. The Squier Standard has total vintage Strat voicing, no question about it.

And yeah, that means the 1, 3 and 5 positions are very "spanky", which is what vintage Strat voicing is supposed to sound like.

In other words, no need to replace pickups at all. When most Strat guys go to do a pickup upgrade, they usually go for the alnico magnet pickups. Not necessary in the Squier Standard since it already has them in stock form.

Concerning intonation, yes the guitar was able to be intonated properly. The only string that was out was the treble E, but a few quick turns of the saddle screw fixed that easily.

The pick guard is actually not white but rather something called "parchment". I knew this before buying it and wasn't sure if I was going to like the look of that or not. I find I do like it because a stark white pick guard on a black guitar is just has way too much contrast even with the one-piece maple neck.

The build year, in case you're wondering, is 2007. I did not know this before buying it. All that I knew of the guitar was from a blurry photo in the original listing. The fact it's an '07 does not bother me, because in all honesty, the guitar is barely used. Also, it's an Indonesian build and not Chinese.

I only had three surprises with this guitar.

First, I was a bit surprised to find out this guitar has a slim-style zinc tremolo block and not the full block. It's not that I use the tremolo at all so it's not a big deal, but on a model labeled "Standard", I did expect a full-size block.

Second, I discovered there were only two tremolo claw springs and not the standard three. The guy who traded it in probably just forgot to put back the third one. I was okay with this since I have two spares and used one of them so I could do my preferred chicken foot spring configuration.

I could tell the two existing springs were original because they have a hint of tarnishing on them, which is par for the course for a guitar that's six years old where the springs are never touched.

The third thing is a pleasant surprise. This is the first two-point tremolo system that I've actually been able to set correct and get proper intonation on. And yeah, this takes a bit of explanation.

Generally speaking, I do not like two-point Fender Strat bridges because I am never able to get the strings set up where they don't buzz and have no intonation issues at the bridge saddle.

Older style six-screw bridges are for all intents and purposes "bulletproof", meaning when you "deck" the bridge by tightening the tremolo claw screws on the back so the bridge doesn't move and use block saddles for extra string height on the top side (which for me I need with a decked bridge), that's a Strat setup that gives you good string tension, no buzz (or very little), and when you set your intonation, it stays set unless you do some major change like switch string gauges or something like that.

On the Squier Standard, its two-point bridge works like it's supposed to. I'm actually quite amazed at this. It is decked, has its intonation set and, well, it actually works. This is the first time out of all my years playing both Fender and Squier Strats that I've been able to get a two-point set up to do what I wanted it to do.

Why does this particular one work? It could be those great full-block saddles, or maybe the smaller tremolo block has something to do with it, or maybe the fact the bridge is a foreign build (meaning slightly different measurements). I'm just not sure. All I know is that it works, and I'm happy about that.

Something I read on Fender's own web site is that the Standard is supposed to have a slim neck, so I expected something, well.. slim. As I discovered, it's actually thicker than the Bullet Strat neck. This either means the Bullet neck is a "super slim", or the Standard's neck is not as thin as Fender says it is. It's not a big deal but I feel it's worth mentioning.

Lastly, at least for the moment, I'm going to talk about the look of the guitar.

Being this guitar is six years old, its maple board is not super-light colored but rather slightly yellowed from age. The Standard has no neck tinting on it whatsoever, which I consider a good thing. But the one I have in particular has the 'bonus', if you will, of being six years old and having a slight natural yellowing to it instead of it being fake.

This is the second big-headstock Squier I've owned. The first was the Vintage Modified Stratocaster, which of course has the tinted neck and glossy-glossy coating all over the headstock and back of the neck, while the Standard is just regular non-gloss polyurethane.

The way the Standard has its headstock shape and logo done is 99% correct. The only part of it that's not correct is the little "Standard Series" at the end. But fortunately that can be scratched off easily. If I keep the guitar, I may scratch that part of the logo off.

Why does the Standard with the one-piece maple neck nail it so good when it comes to the headstock look? It's because the Squier logo is unapologetically large, in gold with black outline, the "STRATOCASTER" is also unapologetically large and in charge, but what adds to the look at the tuners with the nuts on top and the two string trees. This "fills the area" of the headstock and doesn't make it look like just a big unfinished hunk of wood on the end of the neck. Everything about it (with except of that little "Standard Series" crapola) is spot-on.

The three-ply parchment color guitar with the powder coated (or what appear to be powder coated) non-shiny bridge saddles with black screws make for a very classy-looking Strat. And it works very well in metallic black. A lot better than I thought it would.

I consider the Squier Standard with the one-piece maple neck to be a very classy-looking axe. And it certainly has the hardware to sound as good as it looks.

Should the neck bow back proper, this could be my new favorite guitar very quickly.

Why are electric guitars with maple fretboards so hard to come by?

Being that a Squier Standard Stratocaster will be in my possession soon, I've been doing some research on the guitar. Reading articles, watching YouTube videos and so on.

As far as certain Squier guitar models go, the Standard and Deluxe models with the maple fretboard are some of the most difficult to find in a guitar store and they do not stay in stock long. More on that in a moment.

Are there too many rosewood-fretboard Squier guitars?

There are too many rosewood-board guitars in general. Walk into any guitar store and count the number of new maple-board guitars vs. rosewood-board and you'll always find more rosewood-board. It didn't used to be that way, but it is now.

For example, when is the last time you saw a new Affinity Strat with a maple board? Probably not for some time. If you want one new, you're pretty much forced to buy it online.

Out of all guitar brands, Fender and Squier produce the most maple-board guitars. The fact that new maple-board Squier electrics have barely any presence in guitar stores right now is just odd since maple fretboards are for all intents and purposes "a Fender thing".

Does Squier only make a just a few maple-board guitars? Actually, no. They make several, including the recently reintroduced Squier '51 and the brand new Cabronita Telecaster. The problem is that most guitar stores either don't stock them or order so few that they sell out too fast before you even have a chance to try them out.

Did guitar stores stock more maple-board guitars before? Yes. If a large guitar store had, say, 100 new guitars on display, about 20 or 30 of them would be maple-board. But now you'd be lucky to find 10. And of those 10, maybe only 2 of those new axes are under the $300 price tag.

Tip: When scoping for a maple-board in the guitar store, go to the used area first. At least over there you'll find more than just 2 choices you can actually afford.

My "first love" with Strats was with the all-maple neck

Back in my mid-teens when I first started playing guitar, I only knew Strats by maple fretboards (mainly because of Eric Clapton) and not rosewood. The maple versions always seemed to look better whenever I saw them in a guitar store.

Fast-forward to 2010. I found out Squier had an "Arctic White" (which is actually banana yellow) on a cheap Bullet model with the rosewood board, and that reminded me of the Ritchie Blackmore Strat look which is a yellow-ish body with rosewood board, black knobs and black pickups, so I bought a Bullet. Mine is similar to the Blackmore look except I didn't do the black pickup thing and am fine with them being white.

Fast-forward to present. For the past several weeks (if not months by this point) I have been getting the urge to get a maple-board guitar. It started when I was thinking about getting an Affinity Telecaster and tried one out. Something about that new maple fretboard just felt really, really good. Then I got the '71 repro decal and that really got me interested in getting one, so I started shopping around for a replacement one-piece maple neck for my '93 USA Strat since its existing neck is wrecked. Then after that I found the best option to get the most for my money was to just buy a Squier Standard Stratocaster, and now I'm just playing the waiting game until the guitar arrives.

I find myself actually getting excited about this because this will be the first ever electric with a maple board that I've bought myself. My previous two maple-board guitars that I still own, the '89 Squier II and the '93 Fender, were both bought by my late father. All the guitars I've personally bought up to this point have all been rosewood-board. Every one of them.

I truly hope the Squier Standard works out well for me, and yes I will be sure to write about it no matter what happens, good or bad.

Reasons why new electrics with maple fretboards are tough to come by

There are other companies besides Fender/Squier that make guitars with maple fretboards on them (Kramer Pacer Classic comes to mind), however your selection is really slim. Why? Because most guitar companies simply don't produce that many maple-board electrics.

You will notice more often than not that maple-board guitars by companies other than Fender/Squier are for "premium" models only. For example, want an LTD with a maple fretboard? You're going to pay a lot for it.

For shredder/metal style guitars, it's actually cheaper and easier just to buy a used Squier Standard or Fender Mexican Standard Strat, gut the electronics and replace with pickups/switching of your liking, and outright replace the neck with a warmoth.com custom order. You can order a 24-fret Strat replacement neck with a 10"-to-16" compound radius, "Wizard" back contour for lightning-fast action, 6150 jumbo fret wire for effortless soloing and a clear nitro finish for great feel. That will run you a little over $300 just for the neck. Worth it? Yes, considering the complete build will be around $700 or so (you can shave off a few hundred more if you get the Squier body instead of the Fender), and that's $500 less than buying one of those "premium" guitars. True, 700 bucks is lot to spend, but it's steal for a pro-grade shredder/metal guitar when you piece it together yourself like that.

For every other type of music, you go Squier or Fender to get a maple-board guitar at the best possible price - if you can actually find one in a guitar store.

Maybe someday another guitar company will come along and blow everyone away with a good, solid electric with a maple fretboard that will genuinely challenge Fender and/or Squier. But I don't see that happening any time soon.