Squier VM Jazzmaster flawless finishes or keep trying ?!

[Larsongs]

I bought & exchanged 3 VMJM's as I mentioned earlier.

Each one with defects in workmanship and/or parts. Each one was worse than the one before. In retrospect I should have kept the first one as it played & sounded good. It could have been repaired by a Tech for not too much money. But my thinking was why should I have to do that on a new Guitar?

I ultimately gave up on VMJM's & returned them all. Just not a great Guitar IMO. Theyre fine if you're into rebuilding & modding but Fenders QC on them leaves much to be desired.

If you got a good Player that's the best you can hope for with those Guitars IMO. Live with the warts or spend a little to get it repaired & touched up. It's still a cheap alternative.

But for me, I'm waiting for a new Olympic White Fender AV65 Jazzmaster.

Keep Rockin'

[spacecadet]

Thanks all for the responses, gives a good impression of the level of quality (or lack) out there. Sounds like going for a quest for the perfect one might not be too feasible ... I thought to have understood the level of quality has gone up, not ? (this one is from 2016) - or has it actaully gone down ? I thought to have read of different versions/periodes of VM guitars...

Quality has gone up, but when you are paying a couple hundred bucks for a guitar, there are going to be compromises. In the 80's, a guitar that cost a few hundred bucks would have usually been absolute garbage all the way around. (I had one.) Now we're complaining about tiny finish flaws. So yeah, quality has gone up.

There have been similar threads here over the past few months, and the point I always make is that while quality has gone up, expectations have gone up even more. The people who are happy with these guitars are mostly people who understand what they're paying for and aren't going to sweat lower-end parts or a construction flaw or two. And over the past decade or so, a lot of people have posted in various places about how happy they are with newer cheap guitars (I've done so myself). And I think that's maybe had an unintended cumulative effect of raising expectations across the board to probably unrealistic levels.

But the increase in quality is relative to the past, when cheap guitars would have been absolute shit. Now they are playable, they sound good, they feel good, and they look basically like the real thing. But they're still cheaply made and they're likely to have imperfections that wouldn't be tolerated in a more expensive guitar, but that Squier (or whoever) just pushes out the door in order to keep yields up. That's one reason they can sell guitars cheaply to begin with.

[Larsongs]

With all due respect the Indonesian VMJM's if the quality is better it must've been really bad before.

Everyone buying them needs to be forwarned of what they are. Inexpensive lesser quality Guitars that usually require Repair and/or Mods to make them good Guitars. Not necessarily a bad thing if that's what you're looking for. But they should come with a disclosure.

Compared to other Makers like Epiphone, Gretsch Electromatics, Squier CV's & other Companies that offer Guitars in the near price range the VMJM's are really sub par. Especially considering what it costs in Parts & Labor to turn a VMJM into a good Guitar.

Go play a CV Tele, Epi Dot or a Gretsch G5435T. Which need no Mods. The QC difference can be immediately seen & felt.

While cheap Guitars in the 60's were poor quality that's ancient history. We're talking about what can be had now.

IMO Fender Squier needs to step it up in the QC Dep't. on the VMJM's. Of which I experienced 3 which all had defects, poor Finishes, malfunctioning Parts etc. They owe it to their Customers. Can't speak for the VM Jags.

[MotorBongo]

Hi,

Thanks again for the responses!

Totally valid points you all make. I would have been comfortable enough with the present guitar if poking-out-but-indeed-not-overwhelmingly-big-finish-flaws had been over all those VM guitars out there.
I well realize these guitars are still a decent amount of guitar for the money, finish flaws and all (as long as they can be made playable).
I don't want to be overasking & be realistic with expectations.
(And the hidden agenda on this one is that it's to become the JM on which to try some stuff (other wiring etc), while keeping another grab-&-go JM available in directly playing condition.)

Just knowing though that the store had 6 more in stock made me post here and ask you, so for me to get an impression what the chances are to get a 'better' one from that remaining stock.

Meanwhile I've made the arrangement that I bought another one of those remaining 6, compare, and keep the best one. The other one goes back for a refund.

Perhaps the expectations have become a bit unrealistic because of the workmanship I experienced on the Sq Mascis JM. For EU100 more than a VM, the one I bought years ago was a truly flawless one. My expectations of what a EU400 guitar could be (400 the price back then; now over 500), will indeed have re-calibrated by that (China-made!) instrument.

H#ck, I've seen way more expensive guitars like Ricks that made one humble w.r.t. the amount attention to detail & the level of workmanship, and not least the sound - but on times these still managed to have a pretty alarming finish-flaw-from-factory here & there.

So way cheaper guitars having some flaws as well is just realistic.

But it doesn't hurt to try, right ? So let's see what that upcoming Sq VM JM CAR will be when compared to the one causing this thread.
I keep you posted.

Bye/Thanks

[Mechanical Birds]

I honestly think it makes it better

I wish it were easier to get marks like that to pop up in these types of finishes

[MotorBongo]

I honestly think it makes it better

I wish it were easier to get marks like that to pop up in these types of finishes

?

As in, if the quality control of those finishes would be less, we'd have an additional colour (Shoreline Gold) to choose from ?!

[Mechanical Birds]

I just wish it were easier to get those deep/thick poly finishes to age a little bit

[MotorBongo]

Thanks, I understand now. Sounds like people have been trying to relic these but that's not too easy then.

[MotorBongo]

The second VM JM CAR has arrived. The store did a precheck on this one, complete with a small inspection report, a nice touch.

While I should be playing my 'better' guitars, like others also state they should do, there's sure some fun in toying around with these cheaper ones.

These two I'm gonna select from are only TWO serial-numbers apart, yet there are differences, obviously, but also surprisingly.

* Weight! Not a lot (3.6 vs 3.8 kg), but it's definitely noticable when you handle the guitar.
My impression is that the heavier one sounds fuller, but I'm not stating that in general heavier guitars do. But here it sounds like it.

* Neck pocket: the 2nd one has a neat alignment between body & neck, where the 1st has an pretty ugly bendy blob.
Pics of Bad & Good here:






* Finish: the 2nd is OK/flawless I'd say, haven't seen any bad spots yet

* Fretboard: 2nd has a noticable less dark brownish colour (Milk Chocolate), where the 1st is more towards Very Pure Chocolate.
But a proper lemon oil treatment will tackle this I assume ? (I don't like Milk Chocolate)

* Pickups R_DC: the 2nd one has higher values, the Bridge even towards 12 kOhm
(as an aside, for a 'Vintage Correct' guitar, I'm suprised the DC-resistance of these Duncan pickups is so much higher than real old ones
(8 kOhm-ish for both, with the Bridge only slightly higher), but that might be part of the Vintage Modified approach I figure)

* Amped comparison this evening

Bye

[MotorBongo]

* Neck pocket: the 2nd one has a neat alignment between body & neck, where the 1st has an pretty ugly bendy blob.
Pic of Bad here:

It occurred to me that the 'blob' could be of a misaligned neck (say the neck being pointing too much 'up', so in the direction of the low E), but comparing the two CARs, this doesn't seem to be the case.

[MotorBongo]

The second VM JM CAR has arrived.

* Amped comparison this evening

FWIW / For completing this thread:

I'm preferring feel over finish details. So I keep the one with the little poking out golden spot and the bit ugly blob @ the heel.

This first one is the most heavy of the two and feels like a decent chunk of guitar in my hands, will make for a decent backup guitar.

The other one, with the flawless finish, didn't play & sound bad at all, but felt noticably whimpy in comparison with the first one and a Sq JMJM.

Again, surprising how much variation between almost consecutive guitars. Amped, one had way more highs, requiring a significant treble cut.

After having selected, I finally put on a decent (thicker) set of strings on this one, which solved rattling & made it better sound like I'm used to.

Done! (almost... now the mod-phase will start )

[MotorBongo]

Hi,

Just curious to anyones eventual experiences w.r.t. differences in weight between different VM Jazzmaster guitars, anybody noticed as well ?
Perceived differences in sound ?

Bye/thanks

[burpgun]

I'll mention this just because it's a Squire thing, but I've got two of the short-scale Jaguar basses, and they are radically different in weight. Bought two years apart, a red one has significant heft and a black one feels light as a feather. Simply from a production stand point I don't understand how they could be do different. I'd guess similar things are going on in Jazzmaster land, but in this case, I've only got one of those Squires and lack a point of reference.

[MotorBongo]

I'll mention this just because it's a Squire thing, but I've got two of the short-scale Jaguar basses, and they are radically different in weight. Bought two years apart, a red one has significant heft and a black one feels light as a feather. Simply from a production stand point I don't understand how they could be do different. I'd guess similar things are going on in Jazzmaster land, but in this case, I've only got one of those Squires and lack a point of reference.

Thanks for the RE.

Could imagine that say a difference in batches of wood (or even a change to an altogether other kind of wood) could cause it for instruments bought/made years apart. The difference in weight here for the VM JM CAR was for two just being 2 serial nunbers apart, so a different batch of wood not impossible, but pretty unlikely I guess.

At least it won't be the dimensions - assume the bodies & necks are cut computer-controlled, otherwise these instruments couldn't be made at such prices.

Just curious, how do your Jaguar basses differ in sound ?

Bye

[burpgun]

Wish I could tell you something. In the case of these basses one has rounds and the other flats so they sound inherently quite different. I've generally owned heavy instruments and that's what feels correct to me, so I personally prefer the feel of the heavier Jaguar. Since we're talking Squire I'll note the build and finish on these instruments was great. My Squire Jazzmaster was fine on the paint job but had the most dreadful setup I've ever dealt with. Also has a poorly cut neck pocket. It doesn't affect playability but since it's likely routed by a machine that's a head scratcher.