As you can see I also got a nice SKB case for it.
I've been full of anxiety since I sold my Strat, really wondering if it was the right call. Once it was sold I realised I'd bonded with it more than I thought I had. I should have probably learned this lesson when I chickened out of selling it to Robnobcorncob a few years back. Oh well, it's gone now, and I've been holding on to the hope that once the Jazzmaster was in my hands, all my fears would melt away. This guitar will probably do one of two things: 1) Cure me of Strataholism forever, or 2) Make me realise that nothing else can fill that Strat shaped hole.
No, I didn't try before I bought. It wasn't really an option. I tried this exact model a little over a year ago, even borrowed it for the weekend and played it at church, so I had a fair idea what I was getting myself into, but I haven't played one since then. None of the local stores had one, and the store I work for wouldn't order it in just for me to try, so the only way I could get one in was to agree to buy it. So yes, this was a bit of a gamble, one of the reasons it took me so long to pull the trigger. I've had success buying sight unseen so far - the Strat I just sold and the Reverend I still have were both bought without playing first and I have kept them for four years.
So here's some first impressions. (Only had the guitar for about 5 hours):
Looks: For me, the Jazzmaster is one of the coolest looking guitars around. Unique without looking wacky, which is something that appeals to me. Sleek and shapely, classic but stil original. Basic black is not the most exciting colour, but I do like the combo with the tort guard and aged white plastic. Would have loved to have been able to get Shoreline gold or Mint Green or something, but I wanted this model with these specs and couldn't afford (didn't actually want) an AVRI. Some nice grain in the neck, vintage tint, looks cool enough to me. Edit: Forgot to mention it has a very nice slab of rosewood for the fretboard. Some really nice looking grains running through it.
Playability: Really happy here. Haven't set it up to my own preferences yet, but the set up was fantastic straight out of the box. I think DI (Fender distributors in NZ) did a bit of a set up for me and they did a very nice job. The neck is perfect. The only thing I didn't like about the neck on my American Std Strat was that it was a little too wide. I prefer the narrower vintage style nut width and this guitar has that. Neck is 'just thick enough'. I could handle a little more chunkiness, but I don't require it. It's at the slimmer end of my preferred range, but within it, if you know what I mean. I prefer 22 frets, but I've never seen a JM with 22 frets so had to settle for 21. Didn't want a Jag as I prefer the traditional Fender scale length. 9.5" radius, which is my favourite, and medium jumbo frets which work for me too. Would prefer a satin neck, but can live with the gloss.
One of the things I love about a Strat is the comfort. It just 'feels right'. I remembered the JM as having a similar feel, but I remembered that the offset body made the neck seem longer and the lower frets feel 'further away'. Thankfully this is much less of an issue than I remembered, the guitar is just as comfortable as a Strat to play. Only downer in the plability stakes is the wammy bar. It's kinda long and clumsy. I found when I first put it in the bar was way too close to the body, meaning you really had very little downward movement before your hand was punching the pickguard. I bit of bending fixed that, but I still definitely prefer a Strat Trem. Will have to play with the set up a bit here and see if I can improve it. Edit: Have since learned howto set up the trem properly, and I actually think this system is rather ingenious. Love how you can lock the trem in place if you break a string. That Leo, always thinking!
Build quality: Haven't taken it apart yet to check the wiring and sheilding, but everything seems good at first look.
Edit: The fretwork is really nice. Well finished ends and the frets are very nicely polished. Pretty impressive for a Mexican made guitar.
Sounds: This is where the you know what hits the you know what. While Jazzmaster pickups are often mistaken for P90's, traditionally they're actually just flatter, wider single coils. The pickups in the Classic Player version though are, for all intents and purposes, P90's. They have magnets on the bottom and adjustable steel pole pieces rather than magnetic ones. And they sound like P90's too. They're marketed as high output single coils, but they're big and dark and fat, not very single coily. For me this is both good and bad. I like the clarity of the single coil sound but have been finding it too thin for live use. These pickups aren't as 'pretty' sounding as a regular Jazzmaster, but they should hopefully work better with my rig for live stuff.
The switch on the upper horn brings in a 'rhythm circuit' which was originally intended as a warmer 'jazz' sound. However most people (including me) find it completely unuseable, it's just really muddy. To be honest I'm surprised they kept it on the Classic Player verision, which is meant to be a modern update of the original design. I have some mods planned for these. I plan on turning the two roller knobs into Reverend style 'bass contour' (bass roll off) controls, one for each pickup. I'm hoping this will give me the option of a slighlty more traditional jazzmaster sound should I want that. I'm thinking I'll just use the switch to switch these BCC controls in and out, meaning I could quickly access the thinner sound settings on the fly. The other option for the switch is series parralel for the middle position, which could be interesting.
Haven't noticed any eccessive noise yet - not from the pickups anyway. I plan to check the sheilding and improve it if necessary. Middle position is humcancelling, and this position is much more useable to me than 2 and 4 on the Strat, so I'm hoping that with that and my Smart Gate I can work around the noise issues. Mechanically, there's a few pings and mild rattle sounds from the bridge occasionally, but I have a roller bridge all ready to go which should fix that. Edit: I've read where people complain that the change in tremolo position on this model takes away from the 'overtones' you get from the strings behind the bridge. Well playing version this unplugged I certainly do notice those extra harmonics pinging away behind the bridge. I definitely wouldn't want anymore of them, they're kind of annoying!
So overall, has this guitar given me instant anxiety relief and made me forget about the Strat I let go of to get it? Truth is, no, not yet. I still have that 'have I done the right thing?' feeling unfortunately. I don't think I'm really going to fully know how I feel about the JM until I've done a few mods and played it out a bit. But certainly it's a qualitiy gat, and it'll be fun to experiment with it for a while. Who knows, maybe it'll become a keeper.
Congratulations if you managed to read all of that.
