OffsetGuitars.com

Hi everyone

I believe i'm in the right place to get some good advice on the guitar that i'm looking at getting soon. Basically, I love the Jazzmaster and Jaguar body shapes, in particular the Jazzmaster, so have my eyes firmly set on one. However i'm not sure if it can do what i'd like and came on this forum to see if it helps me make my decision.

I want to play everything from clean post-rock stuff up to (and mainly) dirty heavy grunge type sounds (Alice in Chains, Nirvana, 7 Year Bitch) and wondered if either of the guitars can cut it, and if so which model in particular.

I've got a budget of around £800 and it's only really for use at home and some home recording. I've looked at the Vintage Modified versions which look great and at an amazing price, but I figure that I may as well spend more as it's a lifelong investment.

Any advice would be really appreciated as I want to make sure I get it right.

Thanks so much in advance.

Daniel

It really depends on what you want from the guitar! Gotta consider the scale first. Jags have a shorter scale than the JM, which may or may not be important to you! I suggest going to your local Fender dealer and trying both out, and see what fits you best! Plug them in while your there too! Jazzmasters are warmer, while Jags have a bit more crunch. Both are fantastic, and are absolute work horses!

As for models, I definitely say go Japanese, unless you can find an AVRI for a good price (I don't know what Fenders sell for where you are). You can get some good deals on used 62 AVRIs, it just takes some patience You can almost always find a good Japanese used somewhere though. You will be much happier in the long run if you go with a Japanese/AVRI over a Mexican (in my opinion). You won't need to upgrade later down the road.

There is no right answer here though. It is all about what you want and like! Everything here is opinions.

Goodluck on the hunt, and keep us in the loop

Thanks a lot for the reply. Unfortunately the AVRIs seem to be out of my price range so i'll be looking at something a bit more modest!

In your experience can you get a pretty dirty heavy sound (not metal) from a Jazzmaster? and if so would it be better to get hotter / humbucker pickups or would the stock single coils do?

Thanks again

You can definitely get plenty of dirt from Jazzmasters. They handle fuzz/distortion fantastically and the standard pickups should work more than okay for the to get the type of music you listed in your first post.

I am a lover of fuzz and other dirt machines and my Jazzmaster takes them perfectly. Alot of fuzz fans swear by Jazzmasters (Dinosaur Jr). Humbuckers is a personal choice though. That could be what you want. I have no idea though. I don't really play humbuckers to tell you one way or another. Both Jaguars and Jazzmasters take dirt awesome though with single coils.

That's great, thanks a lot. It's making me start to feel a lot more secure about shelling out my cash!

I would suggest that you take a closer listen to the guitars int he bands you like. JM are very versatile but no one can tell you what sound it is in your head from here.

when in doubt, follow your ears

I have both so I feel like this is about unbiased as it gets.

I have a squier Jmascis Jazzmaster and a VM Jag.

Right now I play the Jaguar more because my bandmate also uses a JMJM and I didnt want to use the exact same guitar. {side note: he put duncan antiquity IIs in his and sweet baby jesus does it sound incredible.} The jag took a while to get used to... im not the biggest dude but i guess my hands are big enough that the neck felt insanely small at first.

from an feel perspective - the jazzmaster feels longer and there is definitely more string tension... If you are heavy handed when you play then you will like it more... if you are a bit lighter on it and plan on doing bends and stuff like that you may like the Jag more.

From a tone perspective i cant really help you.... I have two really different pickups in my two and to be honest i am not good enough to tell a huge difference anyway!!

Thanks all for the advice. At the moment i'm leaning towards the Squier J Mascis JM and spending the other money i'd have on other stuff. Everything i've heard and read about this guitar sounds great, in particular the pickups and Adjust-a-matic bridge, so for £300 it seems too good to miss!

Although i'll probably change my mind 50 times again!

A Jazzmaster sounds wonderful with distortion, but it's going to be different from a lot of other guitars, so keep that in mind. Basically, the Jazzmaster and Jaguar tailpiece adds a lot of harmonics to the sound, and distortion exaggerates harmonics anyway, so the two go hand in hand. It's a great sound.

But it is not the tight, compressed distortion that you would get with an SG or something. If you think about a band you like that uses distortion and gets a heavy sound, chances are good they aren't using a Jazzmaster. So be aware that while a Jazzmaster has a great sound distorted, it's probably not the sound you are hearing on your favorite band's songs. You'll have to make your sound your own, there are worse things.

Larry Mal wrote: You'll have to make your sound your own, there are worse things.

Nice!

Then I just go and see this!

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/JazzM60LSG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Beautiful colour, but would this have the balls of the JMJM?!?

DanielK78 wrote:Then I just go and see this!

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/JazzM60LSG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Beautiful colour, but would this have the balls of the JMJM?!?

That thing is sexual.... As for getting dirty the JMJM's stock pickups are supposedly closer to P90s and the surf green one has traditional jazzmaster pickups.... two different tones....