Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar revisited
It's time for another look at this guitar.
When I originally bought my first Jazzmaster back in 2013, the guitar I tried just before that was the Jaguar...
...and I didn't like it. In fact, it annoyed me.
Some time later either in 2015 or 2016, I tried the Jag once again...
...and it still annoyed me.
It's mid-2017 as I write this, and now the Jag does not annoy me, so I bought a used one.
I don't have the guitar yet. It's en route from Maine to Florida. Being this is a used guitar and bought unplayed, it may be great or it may be total crap. I won't know that until I get the thing.
The price I paid was $344.25. This included tax and the standard (and stupid) Guitar Center store-to-store $21 shipping fee.
How much less this one was compared to outright buying a new one without the shipping fee? The answer is $83.74.
You might say, "Ha! I could have bought it for less from eBay!" Not for this one.
When you search eBay for Squier Jaguars, you can (at the time I write this) come across a Jag in the Vintage Modified configuration for $329 at lowest. Remember, I'm talking about VM configuration here. Not HH and not the bass. The VM.
The difference between what I paid and the lowest eBay price of $329 is just 15 bucks, meaning it was worth it to spend a little extra at the guitar store. If for whatever reason the guitar I receive is crap, I can get my money back with no problem at all, whereas with eBay there might be ship-back charges among other things.
Something else you'll notice is that out of the 4 finishes offered for this guitar, you'll see a lot of Sunburst and Surf Green VMs, then a smattering of Olympic White offerings, and then Candy Apple Red as the toughest to come by.
If I want a used Jag in Sunburst, sure, no problem. But a used Jag in Candy Apple Red? Not easy to come by. And it's also becoming increasingly difficult to find a new Squier VM Jag in the CAR finish.
When I saw this guitar listed and then compared prices elsewhere, I had to go for it. These guitars are holding their value and it may be the last time I ever see a Squier VM Jag in CAR for under $350. Hopefully the guitar will be a good one when it gets here.
Why the change of heart on the Jag?
For a good long time I did not like the Jaguar, but my opinion on that has now changed.
Here's what I know better now compared to four years ago when I first started getting into Fender offset design guitars.
The Jag is the best short scale Fender body design
Four years ago, there were only 2 short scale guitars I tried out. The Squier VM Jag and the Squier Duo-Sonic.
Since that time I've played a Japan-made Fender KC-MG (Kurt Cobain) Mustang, Fender Mustang 90 and Fender Duo-Sonic. What I've come to know is that the Jag has the most comfortable body shape for a short scale electric. When I play it, it just has a very nice feel that the Mustang and Duo-Sonic does not have. This is not to say that the Mustang and Duo-Sonic are bad guitars (they're not), but where comfort is concerned, the Jag is the best of the lot.
My playing style has changed
Four years ago I was banging on strings really hard because I had been playing Strats for so long. I have a much lighter style of play now and even switched over to super-light 8 gauge string on the Jazzmaster.
My lighter style of play takes to the Jag quite nicely compared to the caveman way I used to play.
I have a better understanding of the short scale guitar
Short scale guitars do this thing that I call note warping. To be 100% truthful, any 6-string guitar with a scale length under 25.5" will exhibit that problem. Yes, that means all Les Pauls and SGs do it. The Epiphone Les Paul I owned before did it. You can even see in that linked video how ridiculously easy it was for me to bend notes just by bending the neck with hardly any pressure.
The point I'm making here is that I know what I'm getting into with a short scale electric. Fortunately with the Jag, it basically feels like the adult-size Jazzmaster, just with a shorter neck on it. I greatly prefer that over the Duo-Sonic, which has a design that puts the headstock way too close to me for my liking. The Jag, even while short, keeps proper distances, and I appreciate that.
I sat down with a Surf Green Jag and played it. A lot.
While at GC (I went to my local store to make the purchase of the used one), they did have a new Surf Green Squier VM Jag there. I sat down with that guitar, plugged it into a very cheap, very small beginner's Fender amp on purpose, and just played it.
Typical to pretty much every guitar at GC, this guitar was not set up right. The saddle heights were not correct and the truss rod needed a few small turns.
I noticed something immediately. This guitar did not annoy me anymore, and I enjoyed playing it even with messed up saddle heights and a misaligned truss rod. The guitar felt good.
Something else that surprised me is that the switchgear doesn't annoy me anymore either.
I'm going to say again that the Jazzmaster has far superior lead circuit switching compared to the Jag. Two knobs, one 3-way toggle switch. Nice and simple.
The Jag is not simple. Two knobs and three toggle switches in the lead circuit. There's a front pickup switch, a rear pickup switch and a mid-tone cut switch, affectionately known as the "strangle switch" because it gives the guitar a "nasal" sound when in use.
I used to hate, and I mean hate the toggle switches on the Jag. And you know what? A lot of other players hate the old-style toggles on the Jag too. That's why the Fender American Professional Jaguar has a single 4-way toggle on the bottom horn and a greatly simplified phase switch on the top horn (which only affects toggle switch selections 2 and 4).
However... when I was noodling around on the Jag with its old-style switching, this was the first time I ever remember not hating those toggle switches.
Did I like them? Well, I won't go so far as to say that. But I'm at a point now where they don't anger me anymore. I guess you could say that I've made peace with the Jag's lead circuit switching.
Does the Jag have something the Jazz doesn't?
Both guitars are insanely good for the surf "drip" sound. I mean, yeah, they're both great for other styles of music too, but for me it's all about whether the guitar can surf or not. It's a Jag, so obviously, it can.
The thing that really makes the Jag surf like nobody's business is combination of the slimmer pickups, the strange switch and the loose feel of the short scale neck. I've known for a long while that the Jag, even in Squier VM flavor, has the formula that really makes it work.
Where sound vs. sound is concerned, I can only describe a Jazzmaster tonal character as "sounds like a Jazzmaster". Similarly, the only way to describe the sound of a Jag is "sounds like a Jag". The Jazzmaster blares a bit more and has more midrange while the Jag doesn't blare as much and has more attack. Jazz and Jag owners know what I mean. If you've not played either guitar, all I can say is just go play them and you'll understand the tonal character differences better.
There is one thing the Jag does better than the Jazz. The Jag looks better, and only for one reason. The split pick guard. The metal areas for the rhythm circuit controls and lead circuit knobs and output jack just look cool. Even the toggle switches on the bottom horn somehow complement the look rather than look like just a poorly tacked-on afterthought. Yes, the metal areas are total fingerprint magnets, but that's just the way it is. Nothing a quick wipe with a paper towel can't cure.
In defense of the Jazzmaster's appearance however, it does have the better headstock logo. The "swish" trails look amazingly cool. But the Jag is more recognizable with its split pick guard because it's a larger area. You see a Jag and have that "Ooh! Shiny!" reaction because it does gleam more. With the CAR finish it especially gleams more because of the metallic flake present in the paint.
Crossing fingers...
Buying used guitars unplayed is always a risk, but I was willing to take this risk because I wanted a short scale guitar, I wanted a Jag and I wanted it in red.
Hopefully this used Jag I bought will end up being a good one. Whatever happens, I'll be sure to document the experience here.
Guitar of the week #105: Reverend Sensei Limited Edition
What makes this Sensei special?
Answer: Bigsby vibrato system.
The Sensei is a guitar I've featured before, but the Reverend Sensei Limited Edition (especially in "natural") has that vibrato system which is a very good selling point and I'll tell you exactly why.
This is a guitar with a 24.75" scale length and a neck with a 12" fingerboard radius - just like a Gibson Les Paul.
If you want a Gibson Les Paul with a Bigsby on it, there are 3 models. The Les Paul Joe Bonamassa "Tomato Soup Burst", the Les Paul Recording, and the Collector's Choice #14 1960 Les Paul "Waddy Watchel".
If you have deep pockets, go right ahead any buy one of those Gibsons if you like.
Or you can get the Sensei LE for well less than half that price.
On a final note, there was an Epiphone Bonamassa Les Paul with the Bigsby. Repeat, was. It's out of production, so the only way to get one is used.
Again, get the Sensei LE if you want a Paul with a Bigsby on it. Right color, right features, right feel and right price for what it is.
The fuzz guitar effect and how to use it
It is strange that so many guitar players are afraid of the fuzz effect.
Fuzz, be it from a cheap pedal, mid-priced pedal, expensive pedal or pretty much any multi-effect unit like the DigiTech RP360 (what I use) or the ZOOM G1Xon, is something that's cool...
...if you understand the nature of how it works.
Blare
The absolute best use of fuzz is taking advantage of what I call its blare. Fuzz, unlike distortion and overdrive, really doesn't have a tonal range. It's either on or it's not. When it's on, you know it.
I consider fuzz to be an "ugly" effect that destroys the tonal character of whatever guitar is plugged into it - and that's what makes it so fun to use.
Low treble ceiling
Fuzz is pretty much all bass and midrange with not much top end. You're not going to hear a lot of treble. This serves as a big advantage if you have a guitar with a high treble response. And that basically means Fender and Squier guitars.
I play a Jazzmaster guitar, which is, along with the Jaguar, ridiculously bright-sounding. Both those guitars with traditional wiring have 1meg pots. To put that in perspective, that's 1,000K resistance. A normal Stratocaster has a 250K pot. There's a lot more treble going on with the Jazz and the Jag...
...and the fuzz effect totally kills off that treble even with volume and tone on 10.
How does this benefit the player? If you have a guitar with super-bright pickups, a stomp on a fuzz pedal easily cuts the treble without having to touch the guitar's tone knob. It also makes for a fantastic lead solo tone - even when using the rear (bridge) pickup.
A famous guitar player that uses fuzz often is Eric Johnson. Yeah, that guy who wrote Cliffs of Dover. That guy with the signature Strat. He uses fuzz so much that he even has a signature fuzz pedal. Listening to EJ's sound, you'd never think he uses fuzz, but he does and it's very much a part of how he gets such a "smooth" sound.
One requirement
I only state one rule when it comes to which fuzz pedal to get. If it's a standalone pedal, make very sure it has a treble or tone knob. Without that specific control, you really can't "tune" a fuzz pedal to a guitar.
This is, incidentally, why I don't like Dunlop's Fuzz Face. There is no tone nor treble control present on that effect. I don't like that. Even the itty-bitty (and cheap) Donner Stylish Fuzz has a tone control on it.
When using a multi-effect pedal like the DigiTech or ZOOM mentioned above, both obviously have built-in controls for tone/treble so you don't have to worry about it. But for standalone pedals, that tone or treble knob has to be there or else you're 100% relying on the effect's circuit to have a treble response that "agrees" with your guitar - which it may not.
Why styles of music are fuzz good for?
For soloing that requires a high amount of gain, any style. Switch your guitar to the front (neck) pickup, kick on the fuzz and go.
For rhythm play, fuzz works well with surf (obviously), '60s acid rock, '70s ZZ Top style sound and '70s punk.
For the '80s era, fuzz is best for soloing and pretty much just that.
For the '90s era, fuzz works with just about all grunge music.
For 2000s music and beyond, the genre known as stoner rock (a cross between metal, doom, psychedelic and acid rock) uses fuzz tone quite a bit.
Fuzz allows you to be lazy
Generally speaking, you do not use palm mutes when using fuzz, meaning everything is open-string. And because fuzz blares so much, playing fast while using the effect really doesn't work that well.
The advantage of this is that your sound is really "fat" with loads of bottom end and midrange with no rushing required. You can slow down, be lazy, don't mute anything and just enjoy the sound.
Remember, you play guitar to have fun and enjoy. Sometimes a lazy, fat sound is just perfect.
The Fender '57/'62 might be the best Stratocaster pickup upgrade
You have a ton of options where Strat pickup upgrades are concerned, but this pickup set rises above the rest.
When it comes to Strats, there are 3 things I prefer.
First, I favor the SSS pickup configuration most where all 3 pickups are single-coil. Yes, there are "hot rail" pickups for Strats (which can be had for fairly cheap these days) that are humbuckers, but that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm referring to are true singles.
Second, I greatly favor the classic look of exposed pole pieces.
Third, I favor pickups with good output, but not so loud that it's an unmanageable mess.
The Fender Original '57/'62 Strat Pickup set seen above meets all these requirements. And, fortunately, it is not the most expensive pickup set for a Strat Fender sells. (For the curious, the most expensive Strat pickup set by Fender sold right now is the Eric Johnson Signature). It's a set that Fender states was reverse-engineered out of a '63 Stratocaster. What you get is a blend of '57 and '62 voicing, and this is the kind of clean tone Strat players go for.
What ultimately matters on a Strat is how good the clean tone is because that's your foundation. If the guitar sounds good clean, you know it will sound good overdriven or distorted later. You also know it will take well to effects such as reverb and delay.
This set has been out for a while now, and oh yeah, it's good. Definitely gets my stamp of approval.
Guitar of the week #104: Schecter E-1 Standard
A while back I featured the Custom Special Edition of the E-1. This is the Standard.
What are the main differences between the Custom Special and the Standard? From what I can tell, cosmetics and price. The Standard is $300 less in price, has inlays with a different shape and no pick guard.
Is this still the best Explorer type guitar you can buy that's not a Gibson? Unquestionably, yes. Great electronics (with push/pull), fast neck, great Explorer style looks.
Like the Custom Special, the Standard is a true player's guitar. This thing is made to be played and not be put in a case and sit in a closet for 20 years. I also dig the fact it has a nice blend of vintage '80s + modern looks to it. The balance is just right on this guitar.
My only complaint is that the only finish offered is Honey Sunburst. Granted, it's a really nice burst, but it would be great to see this guitar in red or maybe even a matte gray.
This is a great guitar and the fact it's priced lower than the Custom Special makes it even better. And bear in mind the Custom Special's price was already good to begin with.