Redline wrote:Ok then, Aluminum Jazzmasters for you!Holyfuckingshitlove

So whats the overall opinion on how to get the best JM for the best price? Save up $3K for something made 50 years ago, get a squire and mod it to death, get a partscaster, get a japanese knockoff, etc? I've never played one but they look and sound cool and I'm interested enough to go to Guitar Center and check em out just to see if I connect with one. Theres a Warmoth with mastery bridge and duncan antiquity's on reverb for like $900, which is in my wheelhouse, but i'm kinda done with buying guitars before playing them, unless i know I can resell it quickly. Do they all have chunky necks? I guess i like slimmer necks, especially after playing an EGC for 10 years?

My (truly bootleg) "Jazzmaster" is a MIJ Squier Vista-series Jagmaster with GFS Mean 90's. Short scale, standard humbucker-sized route. Is there a reasonable facsimile of a Jazzmaster pickup out there in that size?

Tommy wrote:llllllllllllllllllllllll wrote:Frank Decent wrote:I love the look and sound of these guitars. Definitely a favourite. My only bug is that I love the growling feedback that humbuckers give and I'm not big on the squeeeeling feedback of single coils. Hoping these pick ups handle that better.Wire the middle position in series and there you go.Or, if it is actually squealing, the pickup is microphonic and/or shitty. Since actual WRHB pickups aren't potted some do in fact squeal. Case-by-case basis. I never had a problem generating awesome, full-sounding feedback with a stock AVRI Jazzmaster neck pickup.tl;dr - it's not an inherent single coil problem.Hey, thanks for the education, boys. Salut.

Really missing my fluf and Olivelawn records & cds right now. The main reason I gravitated to one of these in ~'98.Bandcamp (ugh that name) in a pinch though...[/nostalgia!]

Best JM for the best price, in terms of off-the-rack usability, goes to the MIM '60s Lacquer and Road Worn models. '60s Lacquer only available in Surf Green; Road Worn only available in sunburst, with bits of distress here and there, but otherwise they're identical models. You get AVRI pickups, a nitro finish, tuners and wiring that don't need upgrading.I put a Mustang bridge on the Road Worn I just picked up, but I would have been fine with the JM bridge until I got a Mastery bridge, to be honest. My only complaint is the vibrato, which is a cheaper non-locking model that doesn't travel as well as a US one. But it's still OK.Basically, it's more nicely made and truer to original specs than a Blacktop model, and it doesn't require half the upgrades that an MIJ requires right off the bat, and it's like a thousand dollars cheaper than an AVRI. If you'd really like a flatter radius and larger frets, this won't do, but it's basically the cheapest real Jazzmaster imo.

About the closest I've seen are the HB-sized P90s that Manlius puts out ” they do a variant with Fender-style rod magnets that is apparently voiced to be a Jazzmaster pickup.

Bill Flaig wrote:My (truly bootleg) "Jazzmaster" is a MIJ Squier Vista-series Jagmaster with GFS Mean 90's. Short scale, standard humbucker-sized route. Is there a reasonable facsimile of a Jazzmaster pickup out there in that size?It seems like Manlius will make this pickup in "Vintage Jazzmaster" output. That would be what you are looking for, no?https://www.manliusguitar.com/collections/humbuckers/products/fat-goat-r-90Edit:Mason wrote:About the closest I've seen are the HB-sized P90s that Manlius puts out ” they do a variant with Fender-style rod magnets that is apparently voiced to be a Jazzmaster pickup. Seems like Mason and I are thinking of the exact same pickup.

benadrian wrote:Riff Magnum wrote:So whats the overall opinion on how to get the best JM for the best price?My advice, buy the guitar that looks the best first. The bits can be replaced at home easily, but a refinish is hard work.Here's my story.My wife got me a MIJ JM in my favorite color (Lake Placid Blue). I put on a Mastery Bridge and installed Duncan Antiquities (with 250k pots). It was a great guitar.Time passed and I was playing other guitars. I played a lot of high end custom guitars at NAMM. I realized I really liked flatter radius necks with bigger frets. Rather than buying a #k guitar, I got my JM refretted with big frets and, while the frets were off, had the fretboard re-radiused to 9.5"-12".I was playing my Gretsch a lot. I was really loving the filtertron pickups. Something about the Antiquities pickup set was not working for me. However, the JM was much more ergonomic. I found a guy who built filtertrons in a JM pickup enclosure. In the meantime I found a great deal on a Mastery Vibrato. So I put those on the guitar (with 500k pots for the filtertrons).So, it wasn't cheap, but I was able to slowly transform my MIJ JM into something that resembles a high end, custom built guitar. Plus, the cost stretched over a couple years, so it never seemed too egregious. This is how I try to operate now. It I want a new guitar, I try to figure out what is making me want that specific new guitar. Then I try to incorporate those features into a guitar I own that is underplayed or lacking in some way. It's been working well for the last 3-4 years.Interesting. I too like flatter radius necks with big frets. Might make more sense to slowly put one together from someone like Warmoth, then slowly deck it out in the best hardware. I just read some interview with Nels Cline where he sasys the Duncan Antiquity's are the closet to old Jazzmaster pu's. I'm not really married to the idea of anything old or original. If I got 3-5K for a guitar, I'd probably get another EGC or a new/old Bean.

So what do Jazzmaster owners recommend for nut material? I"m putting together a warmoth Jazz and sprung the extra $$$$ for a Mastery bridge/trem. They recommend unbleached cow bone, but i've always used brass for all my other guitar nuts.