Debunked Jazzmaster Myths?

[Larry Mal]

"You can't bend on those."

[higgsblossom]

“The rhythm circuit is useless.”

This. I use it more often than I use the bridge PU position.

[marqueemoon]

“The rhythm circuit is useless.”

This. I use it more often than I use the bridge PU position.

I’m not a heavy user, but it’s neat for fuzzier sounds, or even just for its original purpose.

I played with a guy once who used to accidentally hit his rhythm switch a lot, but I don’t think this is a problem for most people.

[wooderson]

I don't think any of the four originals are a myth, necessarily. Matched radii are nice - some people might not notice, a lot of people do. The tonewood debate will probably never be settled one way or another. MIJ Jazzmasters still have the weird, differently made pickups.

I don't see it said here but when Jazzmasters come up on other guitar forums there are always a few "they're good for <X> only" opinions. I find that to be a myth across the board - with few exceptions (you have to have a Floyd Rose) any guitar can play any style of music if you're not trying to copy certain sounds for a cover/tribute band. Go play stoner metal on that Mustang, you wouldn't be the first; go play country on that Jazzmaster, Chris Stapleton seems to do pretty well.

[flysky578]

"Here we have a Squire Jagwar/Jagwire..."

"...the pu switches are really confusing"

Or in most Youtube comments..

"The shape is so uncomfortable I prefer Tele contours"

[higgsblossom]

“The rhythm circuit is useless.”

This. I use it more often than I use the bridge PU position.

I’m not a heavy user, but it’s neat for fuzzier sounds, or even just for its original purpose.

I'm using it a lot for fuzzy, dirty "garage" sounds. It's got a very special vibe and I like how easy it is to dial in a bit of madness on a Jazzmaster. Like if you turn the rhythm circuit all the way up, the lead circuit a bit down and with the flick of a switch you just cut through any mix and have a completely different voicing with the same guitar in your hands. That's probably the feature of Jags and Jazzmasters that attracts me the most.

[601210]

I don't see it said here but when Jazzmasters come up on other guitar forums there are always a few "they're good for <X> only" opinions. I find that to be a myth across the board - with few exceptions (you have to have a Floyd Rose) any guitar can play any style of music if you're not trying to copy certain sounds for a cover/tribute band. Go play stoner metal on that Mustang, you wouldn't be the first; go play country on that Jazzmaster, Chris Stapleton seems to do pretty well.

Ah yes, the good old "You can't have a Jaguar as your only guitar, because it won't cover all styles".

Granted, there's also the converse "You need a Jaguar/Jazzmaster if you want to play shoegaze."

"Here we have a Squire Jagwar/Jagwire..."

I can't judge, I've only learned well into my adult life that "Tele" is apparently supposed to be pronounced "Telly" and not "Tehleh".

[shadowplay]

"...are really cool guitars"

I was going to say that.

D

[Embenny]

"The sustain on them sucks."

Firstly, I have a couple of jags that sustain like a Les Paul because I chose parts/specs to make them that way. Secondly, I came to appreciate the slightly stronger attack/shorter sustain of jags and JMs as a strength rather than a weakness, because I really like the punch of a strong string attack through a dirty tone, and I'm not the kind of player who's playing the November Rain solo over and over.

I've noticed the two crutches that shitty bluesdad solos lean on to make up for their inability to improvise are to repeat the same short phrase over and over through chords changes, and to hold single notes for fucking forever (especially if they bent up a half or whole step to get there, occasionally letting the pitch back down a bit, only to go back up there - oh no they didn't!).

It makes sense to me, then, that the gear world (pro reviews, amateur reviews, forums, magazines, YouTube) seem to have this obsession with "near-infinite sustain". You don't need it for 99.999% of all music that has ever been written on a guitar.

And when you do need it for an actual musical purpose, as Offset pioneers like MBV, DY, Slowdive etc etc all proved - you can do it much more effectively with feedback or ebows than with brass bridges on Les Pauls.

[Larry Mal]

Yeah, I always used to read about sustain and how important it was and I just never could see it... I took my Japanese Jazzmaster and put on a Mastery bridge and such, and vintage type pickups, and good hardware, and now it's like a real grade A Jazzmaster and frankly I'm not sure that it sounds any "better" than it did and had I known I was going to buy an AVRI I would have left it alone.

It had this great sound, buzzy, harmonics popping out everywhere, quick attack, distorted great, no sustain so the sound was just clean and popping, the transient attack was wonderful... now it maybe sounds great as is, still, I kind of miss it the way it was.

I basically don't play solos anyway so sustain isn't something I care about. And since I play a lot of chords, the sustain can actually get in the way of clean chord changes to a degree.

Sometimes it's nice plugging a Les Paul in, but it's just another flavor ultimately.

[NewKId]

“blusedad solos” Ha ha!