Crafted in America Project.

[Doorslams]

Here's the quick Story:
I heard CIJ's were just as good minus the Pickups so I ordered a JM66B from Japan. I paid $1100 after Shipping. It was HORRIBLE! I hated it, the craftsmanship the hardware the electronics, the paint, everything. I liked the block inlays but the guitar felt and sounded like a toy-r-us guitar. I have owned a LOT of guitars and nice and I spend a lot of time and money looking for nice guitars so maybe I'm overly picky but this this was Garbage. I decided to buy an AVRI JM and swap the necks and Install white witch hats and Curtis Novaks (Just to see if they REALLY made a difference) I can only have 1 guitar until I move then I can go crazy but that will be about a year of paying off ton's of debt so I needed this thing to be amazing.

I bought a Mint AVRI SeaFoam Green JM off Ebay for $1250 plus $30 Shipping (Kinda Pricey but it was the ONLY on on ebay for 2 weeks that wasn't brand new)

The AVRI was great, everything was solid sounded good played good everything was Shielded, Bridge cover, nice case, Trem worked great and stayed in tune perfectly.

I put on the CIJ neck (needed a shim) but it worked well, aside from the really bad Craftsmanship of the CIJ stuff (Fret's were really ruff on the sides not smooth like the AVRI, Glossy finish, the "tint" was sprayed OVER the binding so that you couldn't even see the binding, the nut was cut really bad making the action higher. After an hour or 2 of sanding down the gloss and getting the tint off the binding and sanding deeper Nut Slots it was actually playable, not Great but way better than stock. By the way the tuners ARE the same on the CIJ and AVRI, they BOTH say Japan on the back of each tuner?!

Ok so now everything was on and playable. Sounded and played really good, Could Curtis Novaks actually make a difference?

I bought a Vintage Neck and a Tele Bridge, The Neck pickup is AMAZING! I really didn't think they could possibly make a noticeable difference but wow! I really don't think I will be able to play stock pickups again. As for the tele....It was suppose to be a"no modification" drop in replacement but I actually Stripped the wood trying to get the pickup low enough and I just couldn't do it. I took all the foam out and cut tiny slices, cut them in half and put really thin squares of foam in the 4 corners of the pickup pocket (basically AROUND the brass plate on the bottom of the pickup) It is now JUST low enough. As for the sound, I wasn't sure at first, sounded good but it WAS a bridge pickup so it was really bright, then I kicked in the Rat pedal, WOW! Sounds GREAT distorted! This is not officially the BEST sounding guitar I've ever owned! I had to put Flats on it after the pickup swap because I was out of Strings and the JM came with 5 sets of Flats so that may have something to do with the sound but WOW, now I have to use Flats all the time.

As for the witch hats they are TOO white because the AVRI stuff is all aged so I bought some CIJ WHITE ass pickup covers to match, we'll see how that goes when they get here but I think they will make the Pickguard look shitty. Anyways here it is as of now. I have pictures of me taking it apart that I will post later but I'm at work so all I have is what I took on my Cell phone.

[Carbohydrates]

Sorry the CIJ stuff didn't work out for you but that neck looks fantastic on the body. Blocks and binding is just unbeatable. Nice work!

[-2N3904-]

hearing that about a CIJ makes me think wtf is going on because my CIJ build quality is just as good if not better than AV build quality. also every CIJ ive seen is of equally quality to mine. they are a flawless build,not a thing to be picked about em.

i am talking build quality and not electronics btw.

[theworkoffire]

Glad to hear you've got it sorted how you want it - good work. Have you sold the other parts off separately or are you putting them together into an UnwantedMaster?

You might want to edit this bit:

...This is not officially the BEST sounding guitar I've ever owned!...

[shikantaza]

Same here, my CIJ is just incredible. Better than the AVRI I played.   Maybe they are changing things at the factory or something. :-\ It wouldn't surprise me. Sorry that happened to you, but it sounds like you are happy now!

[Doorslams]

Yeah I didn't get it either, you can probably imagine opening a JM66B and having it be total crap (obviously not TOTAL crap but compared to the other guitars I've owned) I'm going to post some pics of the CIJ I sold, the trem was actually crooked to where the B string rubbed against the trem bar holder thing! I took pictures of that and the whole "get it out the door as fast as possible" neck, this was really bad assembly line type work, not detailed like the AVRI, I've also had 6 other AVRI's 2 strats, 1 tele, 1 jag, and 2 Jazzer's BEFORE this one and they were all of the highest quality. I owned a Mexican Tele that wasn't bad......when they FIRST came out. I had an 80's MIJ that was Awesome and one that was blaa, both of those used, the only other guitar I actual ordered from Japan was a rosewood tele (the fake-ass ones before everybody new the were painted black on the sides) it was total garbage. You all are getting NEW CIJ stuff and its good? I could see if you were buying it used and somebody already did some stuff to it to make it better but new? Maybe I'm just REALLY picky but I play my friends cheap gretsch and deArmond's and don't have any real problems with them. I could see maybe people played a bad avri and compared that to a CIJ but has anybody played a GOOD AVRI and compared the 2? I'm just curious, because a LOT of you like the CIJ's.

[shikantaza]

My CIJ is a 96', just for the record. The thing with me is that I believe in just having 1 guitar and then playing the shit out of it! Also, I always loved a well worn Fender. Just something incredibly American Tool or something about it. So, whether it be a CIJ or an AVRI, find one you enjoy playing and then,

[JazzBlaster]

hearing that about a CIJ makes me think wtf is going on because my CIJ build quality is just as good if not better than AV build quality. also every CIJ ive seen is of equally quality to mine. they are a flawless build,not a thing to be picked about em.

i am talking build quality and not electronics btw.

+1 once again 

[ohm-men]

I also Like MIJ/CIJ, they are cheap and easy to mod (especially when bought used)
I played a few AVRI's and although really nice guitars, I just could not pay the amounth for them. (Mind I'm European and a new AVRIOff-waist is ridiculesly expensive here)
A used MIJ/CIJ fetches arround 500€ here (I bought cheaper as well) Although recently prices seam to gone up (again)

But I like the AVRI's more for their craftmanship and completeness.But no way I'll ever spent €1850 on a guitar.....
But for me a good MIJ/CIJ takes a lot of work to fit my taste....Although I got two very nice MIJ/CIJ Jazzmasters now...

[JazzBlaster]

I origialy hated my MIJ after owning a couple vintage JM I figured out what parts I wanted to change. Like Ohm said AVRI are expensive and if you plan on moding them anyways than CIJ/MIJ is the way to go. I would think for what you paid parting these two guitars together you probably could have found a vintage refin for that price. Does look nice tho.

[arkivel]

I find the MIJ Fenders to be overrated. In an era where most parts are CNC machined and heavily automated, I find it very hard to believe that there could be any major difference in quality between the two plants. At one point the MIJ build quality was better than MIA, but production methods and tolerances have changed in the last couple decades and as a result quality control has improved dramatically on the MIA stuff.

[JazzBlaster]

Well, in 1994 it was the only new JM you could get. I think some of us older guys have grown used to them over the years cause that's all we had. Now you have CIJ/MIJ, MIM, and AVRI. From 78-99 MIJ was the only made. Also for a long time all you could get was Seymour Duncan or vintage pups. We really have it good these days with so many choices. A short 10 years ago and this was not the case.

David

[fuzzking]

most interesting here i find you swapped the AVRI for a CIJ. to each his won, but it doesn't make sense to me.
i remember an earlier post where someone complained about the quality of the b&b necks.

i had a cij jag and jm, the jm was pretty okay, build-wise (standard neck, no b&b). the jag was horrid.
i played (never owned) AVRIs that were definitely better than CIJs (and worth the extra money),
but then again i played MIM strats that smoked AVRIs (considering the bang for buck factor).
i had a CIJ 62 custom tele that looked, played and felt as good as any custom shop tele i tried.

my guess is that there are real good ones from all factories, but quality control is not consistent and it's
always dangerous to just order a guitar on the internet.

[Doorslams]

Well the ARVI neck is WAY better, it's thinner, smoother and just quality made, the CIJ is rough all along the sides, the tint was oversprayed over the binding, the nut was not only plastic (I think, as opposed to bone on the AVRI I think) but wasn't cut right, don't get me wrong the AVRI neck is better but the whole point of this project was to get a B&B AVRI. So basically I will have to take the neck to somebody and probably spend another $150 to get it up to where the AVRI neck is. I was pretty worried when I started that I would end up spending a ton of money and having a guitar that I wasn't really happy with, but even though the neck kinda sucks the rest makes up for it. It's good enough to hold off getting the neck right until I finish selling the rest of the parts (AVRI pickups, neck, case)

[northern_dirt]

I don't think id ever buy an AVRI..
Id go vintage or Japanese..

Not to fond of non vintage,
as far as Im concerned a really decent guitar hasn;t been made in the last 35 years..
So there is no way id pay over $1000 for something new...