How "thick" is a J Mascis Jazzmaster neck, really?

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Always-Ben
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How "thick" is a J Mascis Jazzmaster neck, really?

Post by Always-Ben » Sat May 15, 2021 5:34 pm

I'm asking because "thick" is such a relative word. Thick for me is having at least .85" at the 1st fret and at least .95" at the 12th.

So those who have them...what do they measure out at?

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Re: How "thick" is a J Mascis Jazzmaster neck, really?

Post by BlueMelody » Sat May 15, 2021 8:14 pm

Mine is .83-.94, but it feels a little bit larger despite the measurements.

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Re: How "thick" is a J Mascis Jazzmaster neck, really?

Post by Wucan » Sat May 15, 2021 10:58 pm

BlueMelody wrote:
Sat May 15, 2021 8:14 pm
Mine is .83-.94, but it feels a little bit larger despite the measurements.
Probably because it's also a bit wider at the nut than the average Jazzmaster, 1.675"/42.5mm.

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Re: How "thick" is a J Mascis Jazzmaster neck, really?

Post by jvin248 » Sun May 16, 2021 3:15 am

.

You can't go completely off width and depth measurements to figure out a thick vs thin neck. The carve is more important.

Squier Strats have width and depth measurements within half a mm of MIA/MIM Fender Strats... but the carve starts at the leading edge of the fretboard and cut back so the sides are acute angles to the fretboard while on MIA/MIM Fender Strats the carve doesn't start until behind the fretboard glue line (or equivalent if one piece). I have found more super-cheap clone Strats with chunkier neck carves than Squiers. I pretty much stopped messing with Squiers for my own playing (I'll still buy and flip Squiers) because of the skinny carve.

Because the ergonomics of a Jazzmaster are quite different than a Strat ... I found putting a too skinny Squier Strat neck on a JM body because I had the parts and figured I'd swap the neck later, the neck felt chunkier on the Jazzmaster. So it's quite possible the whole 'chunkier' thing comes down to players used to owning Squier Strats buy a JMJM and it feels 'a lot beefier!' just due to the Jazzmaster's natural ergonomic changes of where the neck is located relative to the thigh cutout or strap pins puts the neck further to the left than a Strat or even a Tele.

.

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Re: How "thick" is a J Mascis Jazzmaster neck, really?

Post by Always-Ben » Sun May 16, 2021 2:12 pm

BlueMelody wrote:
Sat May 15, 2021 8:14 pm
Mine is .83-.94, but it feels a little bit larger despite the measurements.
Cool! Thanks. Is yours 2019 or later, or pre-2019?

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Re: How "thick" is a J Mascis Jazzmaster neck, really?

Post by BlueMelody » Sun May 16, 2021 8:11 pm

Always-Ben wrote:
Sun May 16, 2021 2:12 pm
BlueMelody wrote:
Sat May 15, 2021 8:14 pm
Mine is .83-.94, but it feels a little bit larger despite the measurements.
Cool! Thanks. Is yours 2019 or later, or pre-2019?
It’s a 2014.

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Re: How "thick" is a J Mascis Jazzmaster neck, really?

Post by BlueMelody » Sun May 16, 2021 8:13 pm

Wucan wrote:
Sat May 15, 2021 10:58 pm
BlueMelody wrote:
Sat May 15, 2021 8:14 pm
Mine is .83-.94, but it feels a little bit larger despite the measurements.
Probably because it's also a bit wider at the nut than the average Jazzmaster, 1.675"/42.5mm.
No, it’s the carve that gives that impression...at least to me. Supposedly J. wanted it modeled off the Rory Gallagher sig. Strat’s neck.

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Re: How "thick" is a J Mascis Jazzmaster neck, really?

Post by Debaser » Wed May 19, 2021 5:49 am

jvin248 wrote:
Sun May 16, 2021 3:15 am
.

You can't go completely off width and depth measurements to figure out a thick vs thin neck. The carve is more important.

Squier Strats have width and depth measurements within half a mm of MIA/MIM Fender Strats... but the carve starts at the leading edge of the fretboard and cut back so the sides are acute angles to the fretboard while on MIA/MIM Fender Strats the carve doesn't start until behind the fretboard glue line (or equivalent if one piece). I have found more super-cheap clone Strats with chunkier neck carves than Squiers. I pretty much stopped messing with Squiers for my own playing (I'll still buy and flip Squiers) because of the skinny carve.

Because the ergonomics of a Jazzmaster are quite different than a Strat ... I found putting a too skinny Squier Strat neck on a JM body because I had the parts and figured I'd swap the neck later, the neck felt chunkier on the Jazzmaster. So it's quite possible the whole 'chunkier' thing comes down to players used to owning Squier Strats buy a JMJM and it feels 'a lot beefier!' just due to the Jazzmaster's natural ergonomic changes of where the neck is located relative to the thigh cutout or strap pins puts the neck further to the left than a Strat or even a Tele.

.
Agreed about 'carve', but thick is thick. Anything below 0.95" is slim to me, exception for hard "v" profiles, which are not appealing in terms of comfort, IME. Squiers also vary model to model. I had an awesome VM Mustang which was a nice full "C", an nearly an inch thick at the 12th fret.
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Re: How "thick" is a J Mascis Jazzmaster neck, really?

Post by Debaser » Wed May 19, 2021 6:11 am

I had a JMJM and Deluxe neck, transplants for my VMJM, both with rosewood FBs. Neither are what I would call 'chunky'. It was then that I realized most offset players want thin necks and the feel of the JMJM is what probably some people might call 'thick'. Just off the top of my head, the '17 JMJM neck was about 0.83" to 0.93", or something like that. The wider nut was great, wasn't a fan of the giant frets-- eventually sold them off because it was not a 'chunky' neck, so no real 'upgrade' from my stock '13 VMJM neck (C profile, 0.84 to 0.93").

If I could have it my way, I'd have a full C or U profile, about ~0.95" to 1.00" on a Jazzmaster. I had that on a MIJ Offset Tele, and my Thin Skin AV65 is really nice, almost chunky with a full C profile, 0.86" to 0.96".
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