Arrived - American Special Jazzmaster

[Danley]

Trying not to guilt-trip myself about buying another guitar by remembering it's been about a year and a half since the last one - Definitely need to sell some stuff to make room (inspired me to list some of my pickups for sale - but I'll also probably put a few guitars up as well, locally.)

Comes with a nice ATA case, and most of the stuff to make it stock again (tort pickguard,) minus pickups - which I have lined-up for it As much as I want to try a Lace Red, I told the seller to keep it as part of the deal.

Motivation!

[Danley]

I expected slightly annoyed anger - I did not expect twelve hours of seething, polite, silent hatred

I know these are viewed as treasonous 'Jazzmasters for people who etc.' , but it ticks a lot of boxes for me (it's a US Jazzmaster with big frets in a durable urethane finish that isn't so uber-rare or valuable I'll worry about living with it.) Besides, I already have a lot of traditional offsets (and maybe no one is as much a purist as me in terms of the vintage bridge/vibrato) ; those guitars aren't going anywhere, but if I'm honest with myself I barely touch the vibrato bar anymore (even though it's always in 'just-in-case,') and a tone/volume is really enough for me. Didn't make sense to get another of the same thing.

On top of that, since one of the stock pickups (that everyone dislikes) is already gone I have license to stick whatever I want in there - well, whatever I can get away with when the wife isn't looking is the usual line

[BoringPostcards]

It’s nice. I haven’t played one from this series yet, so I have no opinion on it really. I prefer Vibratos on jazz masters, but it’s not a deal breaker if the guitar plays well and sounds good.

[Embenny]

I had one of these. My only complaint was that it was black and I threw a fit where I sold three black guitars because I couldn't stand having so many anymore. Stupid reason to part with a nice guitar, but sometimes you just have to find a reason to clear out extra stuff.

I didn't consider mine treasonous. It was a very nice guitar, just wasn't a fan of the stock pickups so I swapped them out and was happy as a clam after that. Looks like someone did that for you already, at least at the bridge.

One nice thing about them is that the JZHB pickups are SUPER deep, maybe as many as 4-5 regular JM bobbins stacked on top of each other, so you can drop absolutely any pickup under a JM cover and it'll fit the existing routing. They're a fantastic modding platform.

[ThePearDream]

That's a handsome burst on there. I agree that it'll be a nice mod platform.
Regardless of what exactly it is, happy incoming NGD!

[peterjh85]

Great guitars! I had one and added a vibramate and bigsby. Definitely check out Novak for pickup replacements. My recommendation are the JM90’s!

[X-Ray Spex]

I've always liked these, not keen on the TOM at all though. Should've gone strat hardtail bridge.

[Danley]

Funny, I had four black guitars - one of which got sold to make way for this one (an old Yamaha beater.) Will be my first vintage sunburst actually. I agree I would rather have a hardtail/string through than a Tune-O-Matic, but also don’t have a TOM guitar right now either.

[rumfoord]

Wow, I'm surprised how much I like the look of the Lace pickup. You'd think it'd send it even further down that "JMs for people who don't like JMs" road. But instead, it's easier for me to accept it on its own terms. Plus, it looks like a Radiohead mashup.

I'm sure it'll still look great (and play great!) with whatever pickups you put in!

[alexpigment]

Wow, I'm surprised how much I like the look of the Lace pickup. You'd think it'd send it even further down that "JMs for people who don't like JMs" road. But instead, it's easier for me to accept it on its own terms. Plus, it looks like a Radiohead mashup.

Yeah I had the same thought. The pickup mounted on that perfectly matching JM cover base looks really cool. And then I immediately snapped out of it when I remembered my last experience with Lace pickups Granted the ones I had were Lace Alumitones and they just sounded so robotic and lifeless. A really good hi-fi tone for lots of gain I suppose, but not very useful otherwise.

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Random idea for this guitar: do you think a Duesenberg Les Trem would fit on this? I've never tried one, but then again, I don't think I've owned a stopbar-equipped guitar in a long time.

[Danley]

Wow, I'm surprised how much I like the look of the Lace pickup. You'd think it'd send it even further down that "JMs for people who don't like JMs" road. But instead, it's easier for me to accept it on its own terms. Plus, it looks like a Radiohead mashup.

Yeah I had the same thought. The pickup mounted on that perfectly matching JM cover base looks really cool. And then I immediately snapped out of it when I remembered my last experience with Lace pickups Granted the ones I had were Lace Alumitones and they just sounded so robotic and lifeless. A really good hi-fi tone for lots of gain I suppose, but not very useful otherwise.

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Random idea for this guitar: do you think a Duesenberg Les Trem would fit on this? I've never tried one, but then again, I don't think I've owned a stopbar-equipped guitar in a long time.

I almost wish I included the Lace pickup as part of the deal - I actually like my Hot Gold Strat, and wanted to own a set of Reds (even if dually) since I played a friend's Strat Plus. I only played Alumitones for a brief moment - know a lot of metal people like them, they did seem to have a pretty wide harmonic range; I'd love to experiment with them more even if they're not something immediately 'my' sound. A lot of people have good things to say about the Duesenberg trem - I don't know how tempted I will be to ditch the Adjust-O-Matic when it arrives, but if anything I might try a TonePros and keep it hardtail.

[Tehz_]

I dig it. That humbucker makes it look really cool!

[Danley]

Pic post in a moment, but before I distract anyone with orgasms I'll get a few facts down:

-The stock neck pickup only gets about half the DCR it should, (~8k) and doesn't buck hum. I'm contemplating whether to talk to the seller about it, but reluctant because A- My plans were not to even use this pickup, and B- I practically got a steal on this guitar already, and knew it was in weird shape. Still, the neck pickup issue wasn't disclosed and (per my post in the WTB room) I did plan on getting the parts to return this guitar to stock if need-be
*I'm thinking due to the design of the pickup, the previous owner may have snagged a wind on the bottom coil; the top coil is inaccessible without prying the pickup cover off. Still on visual inspection the contact points look fine

EDIT: I got a response from the seller, who doesn't seem to want to do anything about it. I sort of feel like letting it slide but still contemplating if I should insist on some amt. of refund or whether/what sort of feedback I should leave. It could be the dude is just truly ignorant from the tone of his reply, for what that's worth - considering no one even wants the stock pickups on these, it makes me wonder how much a person might consider conning someone over a broken one. He said/she said. Whatev. Update - I pulled the pickup entirely and re-did the wiring; there must have been a short or something, because off the guitar the pickup measures full resistance and hum-cancels; the Duncans I stuck in also work fine. Guy now receives the benefit of the doubt.

-It plays great, sounds great, and the quality is right where it needs to be - better than my American Deluxe Strat of a few years prior. I still think US Fenders usually still beat-all, and the Specials are a great value (whether Strat, Jazzmaster or otherwise)

-If you plan on buying one and routing it for a stock Jazzmaster bridge/vib. , probably don't. The neck sticks up higher from the body to accommodate the Adjust-O-Matic, and even the pickups can barely be adjusted what most people would call 'close enough.' You'd have a ludicrous amount of break angle and a high bridge if you used a rocker and Jazzmaster vib. Not that I planned on doing this, but don't butcher these for that reason

PICS!!!

[Danley]

Here's half the value (prob.) of what I paid - ATA case that protected it well from the delivery squad:



Hello Ugly; yeah, I'm talking to you (broken/rough plexiglass, dirt)



The most important thing about wiring is making it as temporary as possible. Before putting my slated pickup set in (ok, I'm still trying to decide what to put in it) I kept the stock neck pickup (read issues with above.) I also installed a Squier bridge pickup 'just to get it running.' Update - now has an SD Hot set installed, but turns out the fault was in the wiring and not the original neck pickup. Keeping the Duncans



Heavens, isn't the tort orgasmic? I forgot- what adjectives do we use when describing tort? Orgasmic? What adverbs - Spit-firingly? Ok, this is my first tort guitar, and I honestly have no clue *what* makes for good tort like a lot of people, but I do like it brown, and this is brown:



"Have a seat in that chair, sir."



Vs. bastard VM



Update ~1 hour later - I REALLY like this guitar. It's comfortable, it plays great, it thumps - obviously the Squier pickup and half-functional neck pickup are sub-optimal, but I'm quite glad I have this guitar and look forward to messing with it further. It's 100 degrees and I sweat all over it twice over )after sweating on it over a hot soldering iron) but it fits like a glove.