Last week I received my Vintera Mod Jazzmaster in Surfgreen - I haven't seen a ton about this guitar (I know it isn't everyone's cup of tea due to things such as the placement of the trem as well as the type of bridge!) so I thought I'd make a post.
It's really fun to play. That's the main thing: It sounds good to me.
I have a Squier J Mascis and was looking for something similar that sounds brighter. The pickups in the Vintera Mod are spec'd as "Hot" - so theoretically it'll sound different than the Pure Vintage pickups, etc. I don't know, I haven't played a JM with standard pickups in ~12 years or so.
I really like the satin neck, and I'm a fan of the tinted headstock as well.
For me personally, the bridge & trem placement aren't an issue.
Anyway: When I opened the box, the color kind of horrified me (although it has now grown on me). It's hard to get a photo of the actual color (some of my photos here look like sonic blue or even daphne blue), and as I ordered from online, I had to kind of guess. And (my opinion!!) the tort pickguard does the Surf Green no favors:
And here is a look inside for anyone who may be interested:
So - I started looking into where to order a new pickguard from.
I found this post: http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... 4&start=30 which was great and helpful. However, I kind of wanted to see for myself about the colors of the pickguard, and as stratosphere is so dang cheap, I ordered all of them that I was interested in:
Parchment / Cream / Mint Green
Yes, the Mint Green is very green.
The Mint Green guard on my AVRI Jaguar is actually much closer to the "cream" color here.
Anyway, I went with cream, which I am seriously happy with. I also replaced the tip of the trem arm with an 'aged' tip (WHY do they ship them with white tips when all of the other plastic is aged??). I also went over the PF fretboard a few times with lemon oil.
More info on the STRATosphere pickguard:
I had to use a dremel and a craft knife to create the slot that the Vintera Mod bridge sits in. It took me awhile, but I would imagine almost anyone else could do it faster, haha.
The holes lined up perfectly other than the bridge situation. It's hard to tell, but here is the stock PG and the Stratosphere PG stacked up looking down:
I mean, that's perfect, right?
Another view of them stacked:
And the backs - Stratosphere on the left, stock on the right (I imagine I may have my guitar apart again soon to add some shielding!)
Anyway - I was having a hard choosing between the Vintera and the Vintera Mod. I like the Vintera Mod a lot, but I'm also sure that the Vintera is a hit, so I couldn't really go wrong.
Anyway - thanks for looking!
