[eastside]

I have the natural ash model. I am very impressed at the quality for the price. Mine has a really nice maple cap neck with jumbo frets that plays fast and easily. Hefty but not a boatneck. The neck also has a skunk stripe that I suspect may be a decal.

As is the bridge pickup is a lot weaker than the neck, and it appears the pu springs aren't long enough to adjust the pickup high enough to equal the neck output. The neck pu sounds really good and so do the neck and bridge together, its just that the bridge alone sounds kind of tinny.

The jazzmaster type bridge and tremolo works and sounds just like they should. Setups on these are a lot different than say, a Strat or Tele, but there is a lot of information on the web on how to do proper setups. And remember there is a lot less sustain but that is part of the jazzmaster/jaguar/mustang sound.

I did replace the threaded bridge saddles with the mustang saddles offered by Warmoth. This is a common upgrade on JMs, and I like them much better than the originals. This upgrade, and a good setup, solved almost all of any buzzing problems.

Finally my particular guitar is HEAVY. I have no way of weighing it but comparatively speaking, it is much heavier than any of my guitars. I would imagine, the alder ones that you linked to are lighter.

This is a really good guitar, and I enjoy playing it. Is it better than my EJ Strat or my '52RI? No. I like it's different shape, the neck and two of the pu settings. And I enjoy looking at it when I'm not playing it.


Hope this helps

Greg