Squier 40th anniversary Jazzmaster (impressions on p. 8)

[GilmourD]

Hate how thick they are! But they look great

I love chonky necks. I've got a luscious TMO-FAT on my Tex Mex Tele Special. It's an inch thick from nut to heel.

[DrippyReverbTremolo]

Hate how thick they are! But they look great

I love chonky necks. I've got a luscious TMO-FAT on my Tex Mex Tele Special. It's an inch thick from nut to heel.

Damn. Here's me thinking my 22mm @1st fret is chunky.

[BlueMelody]

Quick question for those who got to play both:
Are these the exact same beefy necks as were on the FSR 70s JM with the matching headstock Squier did last year?
And how do they compare to the Fender AVII JM necks?

I'm not sure if they're the same as the FSR or how they compare to the AVII but the 40th laurel board Blocks & Binding necks are chonkers. I bought one of the necks on Reverb and just had to get a second one.

The maple board 40th necks are a slimmer profile.

Interesting, I’ve owned two of the 40th JM’s w/ the maple boards and they were both def. on the chunky side.

[GilmourD]

Quick question for those who got to play both:
Are these the exact same beefy necks as were on the FSR 70s JM with the matching headstock Squier did last year?
And how do they compare to the Fender AVII JM necks?

I'm not sure if they're the same as the FSR or how they compare to the AVII but the 40th laurel board Blocks & Binding necks are chonkers. I bought one of the necks on Reverb and just had to get a second one.

The maple board 40th necks are a slimmer profile.

Interesting, I’ve owned two of the 40th JM’s w/ the maple boards and they were both def. on the chunky side.

The few I've gotten to play feel just about like the CV60s Strat necks... So, I guess it depends on what you find chunky.

[BlueMelody]

I'm not sure if they're the same as the FSR or how they compare to the AVII but the 40th laurel board Blocks & Binding necks are chonkers. I bought one of the necks on Reverb and just had to get a second one.

The maple board 40th necks are a slimmer profile.

Interesting, I’ve owned two of the 40th JM’s w/ the maple boards and they were both def. on the chunky side.

The few I've gotten to play feel just about like the CV60s Strat necks... So, I guess it depends on what you find chunky.

Definitely anything but 60’s necks, I have R8’s and other guitars with very large necks and trust me, the 40th CV JM’s w/ maple necks I’ve owned were CHUNKY. I still have one in fact and I will take measurements soon and post here with findings.

[GilmourD]

Interesting, I’ve owned two of the 40th JM’s w/ the maple boards and they were both def. on the chunky side.

The few I've gotten to play feel just about like the CV60s Strat necks... So, I guess it depends on what you find chunky.

Definitely anything but 60’s necks, I have R8’s and other guitars with very large necks and trust me, the 40th CV JM’s w/ maple necks I’ve owned were CHUNKY. I still have one in fact and I will take measurements soon and post here with findings.

I was specifically talking about the current Classic Vibe '60s necks. The MIC ones were thinner than the MII ones, but I wouldn't consider that or the maple board 40th necks as chunky as the B&B 40th necks.

[BlueMelody]

The few I've gotten to play feel just about like the CV60s Strat necks... So, I guess it depends on what you find chunky.

Definitely anything but 60’s necks, I have R8’s and other guitars with very large necks and trust me, the 40th CV JM’s w/ maple necks I’ve owned were CHUNKY. I still have one in fact and I will take measurements soon and post here with findings.

I was specifically talking about the current Classic Vibe '60s necks. The MIC ones were thinner than the MII ones, but I wouldn't consider that or the maple board 40th necks as chunky as the B&B 40th necks.

I haven’t tried any of the others so I wouldn’t know. But regardless I’ll get my calipers out soon and measure the one I held onto.

[Juan1]

I'm resurrecting the zombie to provide my measurements of the neck on my new-in-box blue 40th. It has the bound, Indian Laurel fretboard. Note that the headstock tapers into the neck at the first fret, so a measurement taken near the nut will be larger than a measurement taken near the 1st fret. My measurements were taken at the mid-point of the frets:

Fret 1 (neck depth, not fretboard width): .89"
Fret 2: .85"
Fret 12: .91"

The shape is a modern C shape, so it doesn't feel as big as a D shape where the neck remains pretty thick above and below the radius' center point.

I thought I'd throw in my impressions of this guitar.

Who this guitar is terrible for: vintage Jazzmaster fiends. Sorry, but the 40th has a different neck radius, different wood, too light a weight, too thick a neck depth, none of the high quality electronics and metal of Fender, an angled neck pocket, a bridge that keeps the strings in place, and a ~$600 price tag (new).

Who this guitar is OK for: Set it and forget it players. I'm not a fan of the pickups and the tone pot crackles. Out of the box the vibrato is noisy. Also, people complain about the set up, though the Reverb vendor I purchased through sent me a guitar with polished frets, and a good set up. Shout out to Guitars Etc. If you fall into this category, maybe get a Classic Vibe, and spend the extra dough on a set up and a $10 "Vibrato Spring kit for Jazzmaster" so you can replace the spring retainer with a tapered unit.

Who this guitar is great for: A tinkerer who wants a Jazzmaster with light weight, and a thicker neck. Mine weight in the high 6's. Did I re-polish the frets to make sure they were perfect? Yes. Did I take apart the vibrato and sharpen the knife edge, replace the tension spring retainer with an angled spring retainer, and do the "hammer trick"? Yep, and the trem is perfect now. Are fancy pots and new pickups in the mail? Yes. Do I need to spend big money on a better bridge, a fancy trem, or to upgrade from a plastic to a bone nut? Nope.

So why get a 40th Anniversary over a Classic Vibe? The neck. The CV has a thin neck, and a narrow fretboard (42mm). If you prefer a deeper neck with an average width fretboard (42.8mm), the 40th anniversary is where it's at. I also considered the Seafoam Green with the all-maple neck since that wood is my usual preference, but the neck is reportedly slightly less deep than the bound version.

[MrJagsquire]

Thanks for the detailed write up: I've been considering if I should look for a CV Jazzmaster; I was looking at a Player II model, but in truth I don't think it'll get played a huge amount, so a Squier seems more appropriate than spending over double.

However, I don't like thin necks so the 40th sounds like it would suit me better if I can find a decent used one anywhere now. In hindsight should have bought the 40th Jazzmaster and skipped buying the Strat version since I have two other Strats anyway. Ideally would like to replace the LPB Strat with the Jazzmaster in the same colour scheme, though at this point I might have to take whatever I can find.

I wouldn't say my 40th Strat has a fat neck, but my main Strat has an Allparts FAT neck which is 1" deep, so anything else tends to feel a bit thin in comparison.

[thevolumecontrol]

I have a desert sand vintage edition Jazzmaster. I gotta say- it is absolutely awesome for the dollars spent. The pickups can be a little noisy at volume but I lean hard into fuzz tones. Neck feels pretty good, though my preference has veered to fatter necks.