J Mascis signature Squire Jazzmaster
 

got mine about a week ago, very impressive quality for a mostly traditional jazzmaster thats under $400! The neck is very nice, frets could be finished slightly better (but not bad at all), the pickups are more like P90's and warmer than the brighter trad. jazzmaster p-ups. the bridge is pretty much a trad. les paul type bridge and keeps the strings in tune when using the trem and more importantly keeps the strings in place as the traditional jazzmaster bridge has the strings popping around issue, trem is decent but the plate doesn't say "fender" and it has been moved forward slightly, i'm guessing to increase sustain and angle to the bridge to prevent the strings from jumping, but 3rd string technique still can be done quite effectively if thats your thing. it doesn't seem as heavy as its speced out to be either. it also stays in tune very well, even under heavy trem arm abuse! i like the gold/copper anondized pickguard more than i though but may at some point go with a trad. red tortoise shell one. I guess this guitar is also designed after a '59 jazzmaster with the same color scheme. so this just replaced my jagmaster as my second guitar.

http://www.harmonycentral.com/docs/DOC-2241

Got mine about 2 weeks, I love this guitar. A very quality Squier, the pickups are really nice sounding!

Thats pretty cool actually. Wonder how it compares to the "Classic player" Fender Jazzmaster (lowest price non-Squire JM). I think the pickguard looks cool, and it seems to me white would be more popular than the purple metal flake J sig model.

written any good songs on it yet?

for me not yet...i'm still in the honeymoon period i'm still figuring out what tuning sounds best for this guitar.

i think i may change the neck pickup to SD antiquity neck p-up or a vintage one as i think its just slightly muddy on its own, however the bridge p-up (though i don't use it much) sounds crazy powerful and good!

isn't the "Blacktop series" the lowest price Fender (non Squier) jazzmaster?

those have that humbucker in the bridge, no rhythm circuit, and the same trem plate position (slightly forward towards the neck)

that second paragraph is harder for me to understand than Klingon

cool, i have a made in mexico jazzmaster that was pretty expensive, i wish i could sell it and maybe get this one instead now

I'm confused. Aren't Squiers just shitty baby Fenders?

I don't know anything about guitars but my boyfriend plays a Jazzmaster. It cost him like $1200.

What the deal is?

Well, I should say that I know about how guitars *sound*, as in I can tell the difference between a strat and a tele and a jag, but that's only from years and years and years of listening to nerdy college rock :)

My favorite is keith's clear plastic Ampeg ref Gimme Shelter. God, I'd love a copy of that.

the deal is you get the closest to the authentic jazzmaster sound for $400.
mexican or japanese jazzmasters need to be seriously modified to get closer to 'that' tone, because of their different pickups, bridges and tuners.
something like that.

I never considered mascis all that great a guitar player. Interesting songwriter, competent musician, but not a great guitar player.

But isn't Squier kind of a... i dunno... cheapo brand? I just thought Squier was the label Fender stuck on all of its hundred dollar beginner guitars. :(

Anyway i can't imagine he'll be pleased to hear people are getting a better tone for $400 than he did after saving up for six months out of his paycheck.

nobody say about the better tone.
just good enough for none-american made. better than mex/japs.
and i believe that this guitar is a new quality for a 'cheapo brand' :)

What brown sugar vid?

Sorry, I'm ignorant of it. I'll have to google it.

Ha ha. Awesome. I've never seen this! Gave me a good belly laugh. And yeah, that's the guitar.

Look how freaking skinny they are!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8Y6EEWXwRU

He has it in Shelter too.

Very nostalgic. Back when they were real.

What does that mean?

Oh. Myself, being like only 10-15 years younger than these guys, this stuff is nostalgic for all kinds of conditions and life circumstances. Most nostalgic for a time in college when I was lusting after a 16-year-old cashier I worked with in my part-time job. I was a dog even back then.

maybe your right, didn't see that one

This is just a generalized and stereotypical statement, an experienced guitar player can find Squiers that sound decent and actually Fenders that sound like utter shit. Like there are a number of more recent Fender Teles and Strats that are pretty awful... they are made in Mexico and can be lesser quality than some of the newer Squiers. Squier has really upgraded on their quality as of late and made really great models starting especially with the "Vista Series" which were affordable and decent sounding guitars. So to me they are coming closer to what Epiphone is doing in relation to Gibson, as some Epiphones are really nice. you definitely have to do your homework i wouldn't just by any Squier at this point (alot of Squier models look bad and have some undesirable features), same as I wouldn't just buy any Fender...

J Mascis specifically wanted from Fender/Squier to have a model that was affordable for almost anyone, that is why it is designed as such.
so its def. not a CIJ or vintage Jazzmaster but its close and upgradable. Tone is subjective, these squier jazzmasters are warmer sounding and have abit more sustain and though the neck is nice it takes abit more effort to dig in and play (thats just my immediate opinion right now and i like that the guitar fights back abit) this is compared to my friends 90's reissue CIJ Jazzmaster that i played for awhile. So i wouldn't say I'm getting a better tone, I can improve the tone by changing the pickups (more so the neck pickup IMO). I do like the bridge more than on standard jazzmasters, string popping and sliding off of the individual saddles is a major issue thats why SY went with the same Les Paul type bridge (as on the J Mascis Squier Jazzmaster) but now you can go for the ultimate, a Mastery Bridge which is $175 itself!

I have no interest in paying $1200 for a guitar that i'd have to worry about getting ripped off or even a hairline scratch...etc. etc. I want a guitar i can really play and do my thing on... so i never have and never will buy such an expensive guitar, unless i was a "professional" musician and made it my "career", which is unlikely. I'd rather put that money into an amp (which in IMO is more important tone wise) but i'd also never buy a $100 guitar unless i was just learning. The most I paid for a guitar is $650, for my '72 reissue Fender Telecaster Custom and its my primary and favorite guitar.

Some Squiers are actually better than some Fenders, it all depends on the year and plant they were made in.

The Squier Jagmaster, Venus, and Super Sonic are all great guitars, definitely not "shitty baby Fenders".

~Jeremy~

Quite right.

I have a '62 American Vintage, and it's always been my go-to and guitar of choice. I know it well and I'm a fan of the model.
A friend of mine bought the Mascis model for something like $599 (not sure), I believe through the Fender website. When he got it, I checked it out. It does an excellent job of replicating the sound of the original, which is monumentally more expensive.
Yes, it's a Squier, but as scottv said, there are some pretty poor Fender models out there. The mexican strat, for instance. It's not a piece of junk, but it does not play like a true strat, and yet it has the Fender logo on it.
Mascis's Squier comes closer to achieving the sound of its namesake than the mexican strat does.
Personally, although my vintage was about four times as expensive, I'm glad I have it. But if I didn't, and didn't have the $2k+ to get one, I would feel no shame in owning and playing the Mascis model.

That said, import strats aren't all bad. I spent years playing mainly a mexican strat and it was fine. The differences in these things are for purists and real musicians only. If you just want to play some basement shows and jam with your friends, buy a cheap model. Wait until you're older to buy a vintage or classic guitar, and make it an investment. A lot of great music has been made on cheap guitars. So the mascis model is really perfect for people who don't have several thousand to spare.

Hey so I just got one of these, and it's pretty amazing. Quick question though, the bridge is different than those old jazzys, but has anyone had string popping issues?

my low E string pops out when i do triplets/heavy playing and I didnt know if it was common with these.

Should I file the groove on the saddle a little bit somehow to make it deeper so the string sits in it better? Or would that mess it up if I dont know what im doing?

Besides that it plays pretty amazingly!

so...what happened to all the people on here who had this guitar? haha

I still have it, its my primary guitar for the two bands and solo stuff i do. My 1972 tele custom reissue is in storage for now.

I don't have the issue you seem to be having, i do play heavy at times too. I have more issues with string breakage high E and once the B, but thats been solved by going to a higher gauge for me. i've been thinking more and more about changing the pickguard to a "tortoise" colored one. i never did change the pickups i think they are quite fine for what i do and my tone. it is abit bright sounding through my vintage Traynor YBA-1 amp, i have to roll the tone knob back to about 6, first time i've ever done that to any of my guitars however nearly all of my previous guitars had humbuckers.

So you're satisfied? Do you feel that it is a worthy substitute for the classic models now that you've had it for a while?