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.
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.