Hello Jag, goodbye Jag
Where to begin with this one...
I had a Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar, but not anymore. It's gone. In fewer than 2 days of ownership, I returned the guitar. Why? Because I found a rather large finish crack at the neck pocket. This was something I didn't notice it at first because it was a crack that was painted over at the factory, and against the red finish disguised itself as a dark line that was easy to miss. But in a well lit room, oh yeah, I saw it. So I took it back.
However, even if the Jag had been 100% good, I'm certain I would have have grown to hate it, and that's the main topic of discussion I'll be making here.
I do understand that there are dedicated Jag players who really, really like the Jaguar guitar and consider it very good if not Best Guitar Ever. I've no problem with anyone who believes that. What I'm about to describe is simply my experience with the guitar.
Sound (surf)
The pickups in the Squier Jag are voiced absolutely correct. I've almost no complaint about them (I'll describe the complaint in a moment). These are not cheap Strat pickups with Jag "teeth" on either side. The Duncan Designed JG-101 pickups are true Jag pickups, and I was easily able to get proper surf tone out of the guitar.
My only complaint about the pickups is that while they are voiced right with proper output, I found myself missing the greater output of the bigger pickups in the Jazzmaster.
And yes, the Squier Jag does in fact sound distinctively different than the Squier Jazz. The Jag has less output and more treble response while the Jazz has more output and more midrange response. But make no mistake, both guitars are ridiculously bright due to the 1meg pots used in both guitars on the lead circuit (Strats and Teles use 250K pots).
What I can say is that with the Jazz, it takes a little (but not much) effort to get the surf rock sound out of it. With the Jag, no effort is required. Getting it to surf is ridiculously easy.
Sound (shoegazer and grunge)
For those of you out there who don't play surf at all, you're probably wondering how the Jag performs for shoegazer or grunge.
Here's how the Jag fares concerning those two styles.
Shoegazer
The Jazzmaster is actually better for this over the Jaguar, for the reason the pickups are better suited for it. When you apply chorus, flanger, delay and other effects typical to the shoegazer sound, the longer note decay (as in "more sustain") of the Jazz is much more desirable.
Can the Jag do the shoegazer sound? Yes, of course it can. But for those long, droning tones shoegazer is known for, especially for the "fat-but-not-distorted" sound, that's where the Jag falls short and puts the Jazz in front.
If using a Jag for shoegazer, a compressor is absolutely required to "fatten up" the thinner Jag sound and bring out longer note decays. What position should the compressor be in the effect chain? First.
Grunge
A stock Squier Jag is a terrible guitar for grunge. You absolutely do not want those bright single-coils for the grunge tone. Maybe with some EQ "massaging" you could make it work, but in the end, highly overdriven Jag pickups just sound bad. Believe me, this is why Kurt Cobain's Jag had a pair of humbuckers in it.
Would the Jazzmaster be any better? Only slightly. The tone will be easier to manage because you won't have to use as much overdrive, but it will still be an unmanageable mess in the end.
The best guitar for grunge is not the Jag or the Jazz. It's the Fender Duo-Sonic HS. That's the little short scale you can absolutely wail on, throw as much overdrive/distortion as you want at it, and it will work. Purposely seek out the HS (humbucker/single) model. Remember, the humbucker does split to single-coil for when you play the cleaner stuff. There is seriously no better grunge guitar than the Duo-Sonic.
The only reason not to get the Duo-Sonic for grunge duty is if you can't afford it. Fortunately, there is another short scale that will work for grunge. The Squier Bullet Mustang. It is insanely cheap and believe me, you can afford it. In fact, it's so cheap that you could buy 2 easily. One for regular play and one to smash on stage if you wanted to (not that I recommend that).
Switchgear
On the majority of electric guitars, you're dealing with knobs for volume and tone control and a 5-way blade or 3-way toggle for pickup selection...
...except on the Jag. On the lead circuit, pickups are selected via on/off switches and they're just annoying to use. But not so annoying as to make you totally frustrated.
The lead switches are just part of the Jag's character. While true there are several ways to improve the switching with something else (such as what Fender did with the fender American Professional Jaguar), visual character is lost whenever anything is changed down there.
I may not like the lead circuit switches, but it is part of the whole Jaguar look and I wouldn't change it.
Scale length
The single biggest difference between the Jazzmaster and the Jaguar is that the Jazz has a Fender standard 25.5" scale length while the Jag has a 24.0" short scale.
Things change significantly from 25.5 to 24.0. Frets are spaced closer, the headstock is closer and the tension of the strings is looser.
I did find myself fighting with the guitar. I can rip out The Wedge by Dick Dale on the Jazzmaster without a problem, but could not on the Jaguar. I kept pushing the 6-string low E off its saddle and the looser tension of the strings made it difficult to butterfly-pick. I even used a thicker string, but that didn't help.
Eventually, yes I would have become accustomed to the short scale, but it would have taken a while.
Will I ever get another Jag?
Probably not, because I don't think I would ever truly get used to the 24.0" short scale length. At best, the Jag would always be a secondary guitar. Since I don't collect/hoard instruments, I don't like a guitar that sits in a case and only gets used once every few months. I buy guitars to use them and not be case queens.
Back in November 2013 when I bought my first Jazzmaster, I had the choice of whether to go with that or the Jaguar. Even back then, the Jazz just felt so much better. My playing style has changed a lot since '13, but what hasn't changed is that I still greatly prefer the 25.5" scale length.
It was a blessing in disguise that my Jag had a crack at the neck pocket that prompted me to return it, because ultimately I'm just not a Jaguar guy.
Again, I've no issues with anyone who loves the Jag. And yeah, I know some who read this will be disappointed that I didn't fall in love with the guitar. The guitar just wasn't for me, and I prefer the Jazzmaster.
Casio LDF-50 review
Casio unintentionally made a stylish adult watch with this timepiece.
The LDF-50 is a watch I've been eyeing for a few years and I finally bought one. The intended audience has been changed around a lot since its introduction. It's been billed as being for men, then unisex, then for women, then boys, then kids and then girls. Yes, all of them. And keep in mind the size and features of this timepiece never changed during all these classification changes. Casio simply does not know how to market this thing.
You might see the 46.7 x 23.6 x 11.4mm (length, width, thickness) dimensions and think, "Nope, too small."
Don't be so sure.
Yes, this watch is really skinny with its 23.6mm case width, but surprisingly readable. Part of the reason for the skinny case is that the watch has no side buttons at all. Everything is controlled from the face buttons below the display.
But more importantly...
Can a man get away with wearing one of these?
Yes, and it's for a very interesting reason.
If you take a look at the Fitbit Charge 2, which is a fitness tracker, the case size of that is 0.84 inches. That's 21.3mm, which is, amazingly, 2.3mm skinnier than the Casio LDF-50.
On the Fitbit web site, the super-skinny Charge 2 is shown being worn by both fit women and decidedly manly men. That sends out the message that it is totally OK for a man to wear something skinny on the wrist and still look masculine.
Heck, the Charge 2 isn't even the skinniest model Fitbit makes. The skinniest model with a display on it is the Alta, which is just 0.61" (15.5mm) across, and they show men wearing that too!
The Charge 2 does come in 3 sizes (small, large and XL), but that only refers to the strap length. Every model is still just 21.3mm across.
If you haven't guessed by now, the LDF-50, even though really skinny, basically looks like a fitness tracker, and that's why a man can totally get away with wearing one...
...if if fits the wrist.
I have a 6.75" wrist at the thickest point, and the LDF-50 does fit, but not by much. On the strap I'm only left with 2 holes before the strap runs out, so the biggest wrist this watch could fit would probably be 7" and no larger.
Can the strap be changed to something longer? Yeah, but it's better to just stick with the original. The lugs have that T-bar shape to them, meaning if another strap goes on (which starts at 20mm and tapers to 18mm), it has to be a 2-piece and a T cutout would have to be manually made to fit into the lug area.
I'll put it another way. If you can fit the F-91W or the CA-53W on your wrist, the LDF-50 should fit just fine.
Casio unintentionally made a cheap and stylish fitness tracker that isn't
The LDF-50 totally looks like a modern, stylish fitness tracker even though it's (poorly) marketed by Casio as a kid's/girl's/unisex/whatever watch.
You can currently get one for well under 50 bucks. I have never seen it for sale in any big box store, so it has to be bought online. There are several color variations. White, black, sky blue, pink, purple, and so on.
Does the LDF-50 have any "smart" features? Nope. It's just a plain digital watch powered by a CR1216 battery that should last around 3 years.
Will this be a mainstream style of watches in the future?
It could be, given how wrist-wearable trends are going.
The LDF-50 has a strap that starts at 20mm and tapers to 18mm. The Fitbit's strap hasn't any taper. When you have something on the wrist where the electronic part of it slightly wider than the strap or exactly the same as the strap's width, that's the wristband design.
I do predict that there will be more wrist-wearable electronics that will adopt this design, both for fitness trackers and regular watches. This is a style that anyone can wear. It's modern, skinny, thin and says "I'm an active person".
Is the wristband look a new design? No, just modernized. The Cartier Tank, a very old model, is very close to being a wristband design but is a classic dress piece while modern wristband electronic designs are sport pieces.
The only thing keeping the tall/skinny case design from being a super huge hit is the fact it's still too skinny.
Both Casio and Fitbit almost have it right. Almost.
If the Fitbit were 22mm wide, that would be as good as it gets for that piece. It's very close to having that just-right width but is off by literally a few tenths of a millimeter.
Side note: Yes, I am aware of the Fitbit Surge. That's actually too big at 1.34" wide, which is 34mm. While 34mm sounds small, bear in mind the strap width matches the case, meaning it too is 34mm wide. Way, way too bulky.
If the Casio LDF-50 were slightly wider at 24mm and had a no-taper strap that matched the case width, that would be perfect for that timepiece.
I swear, if Timex stepped in the game here and made a 24mm rectangle version of the Ironman for sport and the Weekender for casual, wow... those would be super-popular watches. Timex already has the styles ready-to-go. All they need is to design the cases and put them into production. And yes, I would most certainly buy one of each.
Guitar of the week #107: Jackson X Series Rhoads RRX24
What a stupid guitar this is...
...so why am I featuring it?
I'll answer that in a moment.
Take the Jackson X Series Rhoads RRX24. There are a few versions available. One in all black, one with gold trim and one in stupid fugly neon green trim.
Why anyone would buy this abomination is beyond me, especially considering there are far superior Jackson models out there. For example, on the low end is the Jackson JS32 Dinky and an upper mid-tier model is the Jackson Pro Dinky DK2.
I get guitar buyer's remorse just by looking at the RRX24. I don't even have to buy it to know how bad it is.
Are all Rhoads V guitars bad? No. The RRT-3 is positively elegant and arguably the best looking Rhoads V that exists. Take a look and that guitar and then come back here. You'll then understand better how much of an embarrassment the RRX24 really is.
If you like Jackson guitars, you can do a whole lot better than the RRX24 with the fugly neon green trim and inlays. Yeah, don't forget that even the frickin' fretboard inlays are neon green. The RRX24's ugliness knows no bounds. Did you see the Jackson logo on the headstock? That's also neon green. The more you look at it, the worse it gets.
The RRX24 is an example of Jackson emptying their parts bin
This is the reason I'm featuring this guitar. Sometimes a guitar company will slap together something so stupid that you wonder why it ever happened. I believe the entire reason the RRX24 with the neon green nonsense exists is because Jackson is taking their leftover B-stock crap parts they have, cobbling it all together, purposely(?) making it ugly and then crossing fingers they can actually sell these junk guitars.
The RRX24 is not Jackson taking a risk with a design to introduce something new and innovative to the guitar market. It's just a stupid guitar Jackson put together to clean our their parts bin, because seriously, nobody wants a guitar that looks like a Grave Digger monster truck.
I bring this guitar to your attention to tell you that Jackson has way better models than this one, and that you should choose one of them instead.
Squier Jaguar, take two
What once was used is now new.
Some interesting little bit of info before starting this one: Did you know the Vintage Modified Jag is the only Jag Squier currently makes? At the time of this writing, Squier makes 19 models of Stratocaster, 14 models of Telecaster, 7 models of Jazzmaster, 3 models of Mustang and just 1 Jaguar.
At one point there were 2 Squier Jags. The one that got discontinued was the Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar HH, which is a very oddball model. I've only ever seen it in Fiesta Red. That guitar has concentric controls, no vibrato, a 3-way pickup selector on the top horn and a Stratocaster "football" output jack. It's just a plain dual-humbucker style rock guitar but a very easy collectible that can be had for cheap (easily under $300 in like-new condition).
So anyway, back to my Jag.
I bought a used one last week. The guitar was at Guitar Center Maine, so it had to be shipped down here to Guitar Center Tampa Florida...
...and UPS lost the guitar. Gone like a fart in the wind. See ya. This was UPS's fault and not GC's.
Guitar Center apologized for losing the guitar. I talked it over with the Tampa store and it was agreed to replace the lost guitar that never made it with a new Squier VM Jag. No additional cost. Same guitar, same Candy Apple Red, same everything, just new instead of used.
GC does ship guitars from store to store all the time all across America, and I have bought used from GC in the past this way with no problems at all. This is just one of those rare (and believe me, it is rare) instances where the shipment got lost somehow.
I'm hoping this one actually arrives like it's supposed to, and that it's in good shape when unboxed.
Like the last time, I will document whatever happens right here in a future post.
Fingers crossed...
Would a tremolo lock button be useful on the Squier Jaguar or Jazzmaster?
The lock button looks cool, but that's pretty much all it's good for.
On Fender Jags and Jazzes such as the Fender American Professional Jazzmaster and Fender American Professional Jaguar, there is a button on the vibrato plate forward of the tension screw where you can lock the system in place, purposely preventing it from being used. Neither the Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar nor the Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster has this. Also, a few Fender models like the Fender Standard Jazzmaster HH and Fender '60s Jazzmaster Lacquer do not have it either.
Some players believe that having the lock button is a super-important thing to have.
It's not.
The only time use of that button actually works right is when jazz gauge string is used. And by that I mean something like a flatwound set such as the D'Addario Chromes in 12-52 size. At the time the Jazzmaster was introduced back in 1959, thicker jazz flatwound strings is what was used and what the guitar was originally designed for...
...but times have changed. A lot. The majority of electric guitar players, myself included, use strings that are much thinner and roundwound with much coarser string wraps compared to the thicker, smoother flatwound jazz strings from days of old.
Unless you're using thick jazz flatwound strings, the lock button really serves no purpose. Every time the lock is engaged and then disengaged on a Jag or Jazz with roundwound strings installed, you have to retune every string. Why? Because the overall tension of the strings changes from locked state to unlocked state. Again, leaving the system permanently floating is the better option. The only time I could ever recommend a locked system is if you never use the vibrato at all, but that kind of defeats the purpose of owning a Jag or a Jazz in the first place.
Flatwounds can handle the tension change because they are much tighter when tuned to pitch, but with roundwound, not-so much.
Basically put, you're not missing anything by not having that lock button. Once a new set of strings are properly broken in and stretched properly, the Jag or the Jazz will keep its tune just fine.