J Mascis JM weight and tone comparison?

[Pauls1e]

So just picked up the Squier JMJM after playing my brothers and wanting something different sounding than my am pro Ii JM. I got the guitar and it sounds incredibly different than my brothers. It sounds very warm and has tons of sustain with and a very balanced tone, but still leaning heavy into mids and bass. My brothers on the other hand, sounds similar in a sense, but has a much more pronounced treble tone to it. Almost kind of plucky or pointy sunding. I know no two guitars are a like and a lot can affect tone, but was surprised how different they sounded in regard to treble tones.

Mine weighs 8.6lbs and his is much less and weighs 7.5lbs. other than that both are stock. Could this one pound really make it sound that different? How does yours sound and would you say it's heavier or lighter?

[soul1]

I don't think weight alone can explain these differences in tone between same models. There are several factors at play, the quality and density of the wood, some bodies are more resonant than others (regardless of weight). Also, the neck plays a big role in the tone of the guitar as well. Sometimes you get a really nice sounding neck coupled it a nice resonant body and the guitar sounds amazing.

I've heard heavier guitars that sounded trebly, and lighter guitars that had good bass response (and vice versa). So it's difficult to say what it is exactly that is causing the different tone.

[timtam]

There is no good evidence that the solid body contributes anything significant to the tone of a solid body electric. All measurements on real guitars show that very little vibration reaches the body (even though we can sometimes feel it, because our skin mechanoreceptors are very sensitive). Opposite to acoustic guitars, bridge admittance is near-zero in solid body electrics. The thin flexible neck's resonant modal frequencies can however have a subtractive effect on string vibrations at those frequencies. Electric guitars are subtractive - you don't want a resonant body, as that would indicate losses from the strings. Some guitarists mistake guitars that really seem to "resonate" as body resonance. Resonant guitars are actually those where vibrations remain almost entirely in the strings. You can't contravene the Conservation of Energy Law - if the strings excite any structure to vibrate, that indicates energy transfer from the strings to that structure. Those vibrations are lost from the strings, so no longer seen by the pickups. Luckily that occurs to a very limited extent in solid body electrics, otherwise sustain would be very poor (from the moment the string is struck). There are some additional possible sites of frequency losses that have been measured on real guitars (many not widely know).
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/su ... 1.348.6822
https://www.gitec-forum-eng.de/2019/08/ ... s-on-line/

The first question when two guitars differ sonically by that much is do they have the same pickups. If they were not bought new, chances are they don't. A quick measurement of the DCR at the output jack with a multimeter will often tell you if they are different. The passive electronics could also have been changed (eg pot values) in a tone-affecting way. Even if new, production variations in the pickups, especially with Asian-sourced guitars like Squiers (eg use of different factories for different generations of the same model) could explain a sonic difference. Some set up factors, such as the height of the pickups, are also important.

[pawnzito]

Same guitars with same electronics My first thought is pickup heights. If theyre the same I’d turn to the electronics and see if there were any different parts used.

[tune_link]

I had a JMJM once and it was heavier with regard to weight to a degree that I found it uncomfortable and it was extremely trebly to my ears. But I would default to what timtam said above with regard to hearing differences. I don't know if they both still have the anodized guard but Mike Adams did a Youtube video on the differences in guitars using the anodized guards vs normal plastic/tort/etc and you can hear the treble frequencies in a more pronounced way when he switches to the anodized guard on the same guitar after having had a tort guard on it.

[Larsongs]

I have an AV65 JM & a JMJM. I don’t notice one being heavier than the other…

The AV65 Pickups sound great.. So do the Duncan’s in the JMJM…

[bipedal2]

I've never weighed my Squier JMJM so I can't offer info there, but I will second the earlier comments about the potential impact of overall pickup height. Also pay attention to the distances from pickup to string on the low E vs high E sides. It'd be interesting to see how this compares between the two guitars.

I have the bass sides of both pickups lowered significantly compared to the treble sides on my Sq JMJM (2013-ish, I think) to dial back the guitar's low-to-mid "oomph" and give it more tonal balance and clarity, especially when using dirtier tones.

[alexpigment]

There are two different factories that have made the JMJM. I haven't seen a comparison of the pickups in each (i.e. do they share the same model numbers?), but it would not be a total surprise to me if the pickups are actually different. One thing I always notice is that the truss rod plug at the headstock is a reddish wood on the ones made in the newer factory (2019-present), compared to a dark brown truss rod plug on the older ones (2018 and earlier). I believe the older ones will have a CGS serial number, whereas the newer ones will have a CY serial number. Are you able to find out if the serial numbers show the same letters at the beginning or not?

[Arthon]

I had a JMJM for a while. It weight a ton. Alot more then my other two JM. More then my Les Paul. The main reason I sold it. So yeah, their weight can vary.

[SignoftheDragon]

I've had the privilege of owning several Charvel Surfcaster 12-strings, (I think I've owned a total of 10 so far, though my current tally is just 2) so I've seen how different guitars with the same specs can have slightly different tonal character.

My 'blind-as-I-could-make-it-for-science-and-crap' test was conducted with four test Surf12s, and then I've kind of informally ran the same paces over the intervening times as new ones have come and gone.

They were all made in the same factory, from the same templates, used the same pickups & wiring, etc. Set up to the same specs by the same tech.

The only differences were year of manufacture (across a possible 6 or 7 year active production span at the factory,) paint color, and body wood. Solid color guitars were made of basswood, while translucent colors were mahogany with a maple cap.

Tested through the same amp rig, same cables, blah blah blah.

I/we found a few slight measurable differences, and could feel some others, but didn't have the science to measure & document properly.


TL;DR: The factors that I found MOST affected the tone/voice of these nearly identical guitars were:

1) Neck thickness/carve profile - most and measurable-est difference. (Almost definitely a factor)
2) Body wood/guitar weight - Measurably different. (Almost definitely a factor, though less so than the neck carve)
3) Age of the guitar - Slightly different, possibly a factor.
4) 'Rad-ness' of the paint color (or other undefinable 'mojo' difference, etc) - Slight differences, but not likely a measurable factor.