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I had difficulty not having mine screech like a motherfucker through a loud Marshall, and that was with a Seymour Hot neck/Quarter Pounder bridge. The original Japanese pickups were even worse.

placeholder wrote:The tremolo is incredible, although the arm likes to fall out if you lean over too far.didn't I mail you my old MIJ arm? wrap about 1/2" of scotch tape around the base and it'll stay in no problem. it'll eventually ooze off and you'll have to keep doing it, but it works.

I use one and I love it. I have the Elvis Costello model not because I'm a huge fan, but because I like the walnut finish, it was priced right, and it's a US model.As mentioned repeatedly, they are not for everyone. Soundwise, they are kind of clangy, and they don't rock out so much. If you want to play AC/DC style crunch guitar, I wouldn't pick this instrument. I like the clang and feel it shines particularly when I'm doing different chord voicings - e.g. not banging out power 5ths.They are such odd birds that nobody wanted them, and they were cheap as hell in the late 70's and early 80's. That's why all of the now indie heros bought them: they were cheap USA made Fenders. Once they went up in value, the Mustang was next, which is kind of a joke because people are paying over $1000 for a toy guitar in that case. They are definitely cool, but 1000 bucks for a Mustang? Ha ha ha! Suckers!Anyway, the Jazzmaster and Jags are definitely worth spending time with before you buy. It's a rare case where you should absolutely buy the US model. To get a Japanese model right, you have to spend enough dough to where you should have just bought the US model to begin with. This from a guy who usually prefers Japanese Strats and Teles over the US ones. I go into the differences here:viewtopic.php?p=1004019#p1004019As much as I love mine, I'll say that the reason I use it is because the tremolo is fantastic, and I like the behind the bridge option. Over half the time I play, the bar is in my hand. If it weren't for those things I would probably play another guitar, but those are big things for me because I use it for atmospheric/shoegaze/drone rock a lot. When I'm not playing that style I usually play an SG or Rickenbacker, depending.Best of luck!-A

I have 2001 American re-issue (I think its is a 1962). The bar never stayed put and I never bothered to get it fixed when I could have for free... I never used it anyway. The bridge on these things is awful, or at least mine was. At the time I bought it from Eastcoast Music Mall in Danbury, CT I had some friends there who got me a deal. I had a new bridge put in. For some reason (this store was of the meathead variety, and frankly never had anyone buy one of these there as I had to order it) they decided to see if an SG bridge fit... it actually did, though I have noticed some issues from this as far as alignment. A simple Google or two would have revealed the mustang bridge option as a better choice, as the guitar would pop strings left and right with those lil teeth on the gibson bridge and a moron like me over zealously playing his new "indy rock noise" guitar. I eventually had to put them graphite bits into the bridge, which helped considerably. I do like this guitar a good deal, but I paid too much for it, and frankly, I just like my semi solid body guitars much better. The sound is good, if you want it... though I recently have begun using the roller pick ups more, and don't get why I never did before. I have never tried to keep it clean and polished, and as its white with tortoise shell, it never did stay that way on its own. It has been played very hard in many bars, and you can tell here and there from the dings and dangs... and even caught considerable "yellowing" from a kerosene heater fire in our practice space that sooted all of our noses and covered us all in blackface. While I would feel weird about these types of things happening to my other guitars (i keep them in good shape, mostly) it all seems to fit the Jazzmaster "look" very well. All in all, most people (me included) want these things because they look cool. I mean they sound good too, I guess, but man its just cool to have one. People pay too much for these things, think about that some before you spend a load of money on what might amount to a pair of flashy pants... there are other, way more functional, way more practical guitars for a lot less money. But we all need to splurge on something hip now and again, I guess.

Fair enough... I suppose I am simply projecting on others about the hipness factor at play with buying a Jazzmaster. No offense to anyone else who doesn't feel that is a factor in their decision to buy one. When I got mine, I would never had admitted to myself it was based a good deal on its looks and hipness quotient... I am pointing out that I am older now and regret it because of that fact... Never mind I couldn't afford the damn thing either! It was not the result of the guitar, but I did declare Bankruptcy not too long afterwards, so I never really did pay it off in total!It is a great rock guitar, it just never really delivered for me when I got it, as it had more headaches than it should have... which only reinforced my stubbornness to get a different guitar as I WANTED a Jazzmaster, despite all of its protests! In reality, I didn't really want one I guess, but really thought I did.Carry on!

I have a mid-90's one too, and love it. Replaced the bridge with a Warmoth one which is way better.

I got mine because it looked cool. Hey, I was young and foolish and needed the excitement.As it turned out I became an instant fan of how it played and sounded, especially for surf rock sounds. I would never play metal or any kind of palm-muted chun-chun music on it, it just sounds wrong.BTW, the locking tremolo on it is widely misunderstood and underused. If you have one, it's worth researching to learn how to properly use it. It can keep 5 strings in tune if one breaks and alters the tension on the whammy spring. Here's a good resource:http://www.webrocker.de/jaguar/cms/2007 ... lo-system/

If you're thinking of obtaining a Jazzmaster because it's cool then you're as vapid as any person who would buy any given piece of equipment based on it's looks and/or hip factor. A pathetic pursuit.It's not a pair of funny pants, it's a musical instrument with particular qualities. Unfortunately I think the current popularity of this guitar is based on its looks and also due to the clowns that have started playing them in the past few years, acting like they discovered The Jazzmaster as a rock guitar.While I'm all in favour of playing cool-looking gear, if the playability, sound and action isn't great then why play it? My Veleno was perhaps the coolest-looking guitar I've ever owned but it didn't play well or sound great so I eventually got rid of it.

Young zom in 1983:I have to disagree that the Jazzmaster isn't suited to perhaps more aggressive rock, Rifle Sport wasn't particularly noted for atmospheric or understated guitar, and I had to compete with some great aggressive drumming and Flour's klangy Rickenbacker bass.. it was not a problem to even play semi-metal with the Jazzmaster.You probably wouldn't have known I was playing one if you couldn't see it.

I have a SD Quarter Pounder in mine and played through an Ampeg VT-22 and a '73 100-watt Marshall Super Lead with no problems.