Got the Jazzmaster (Sorry, NTC)

[Kevin]

A few people have asked me (via email) what I think of the new Jazzmaster. Rather than answering several emails, I thought I'd do it here. Sorry that there's no tele content with this one....

OK...

It got here Friday, but I didn't get home from a business trip until 12:30 AM Saturday morning. Basically, I opened the box and looked at it when I got home, talked to my wife a bit, and then went to bed.

I played it for a bit Saturday morning before gutting it.

Fit and finish are excellent, and about what we've come to expect from CIJ guitars. No chips, no rough buffing around the neck pocket, etc... Frets were dressed well with no sprout.

Out of box setup felt nice to play, but the trem was not adjusted well. The collet that holds the arm was not tight, so the arm flopped around. That can be (and was) fixed with a pair of pliers.

The trem was not adjusted correctly, either. I've heard many times that the CIJ trem-lok doesn't actually function, but I was able to adjust my trem so that it does. It makes drop tuning a breeze.

The pickups were not long for this world, anyway, as I'd already received a set of Duncan Vintage Jazzmasters to replace them with. I did play a while before making the swap, though.

The sound of the stock pups is a Jazzmaster sound, but a bit on the bright side. I think a good deal of the sound comes from the bridge design, anyway. The pups were made of a hard plastic bobbin that looks like fiberboard, but isn't. They are thicker than regular JM pups and the windings are narrower. Resistance mesures 6.01K at the bridge and 5.98 at the neck -- very similar to strat pups.

The Duncans I replaced them with are made in the correct style with proper materials. Resistance was 8.73 for the bridge and 7.75 for the neck. These sound great -- warmer than the stock pups and unmistakeably Jazzmaster.

Electronics inside the guitar consisted of Asian pots and switches. I've already replaced the master volume and tone pots, as well as the jack. I had to drill out the holes a bit to do so. Later, I'll swap the roller pots and switches -- probably when I get a new guard.

The cavities in the body have shielding paint, rather than the copper shielding in vintage and AV Jazzmasters. The guard has foil tape, rather than a separate shield. The guitar is fairly quiet, but can hum depending on the angle of my body in relation to the amp.

The vibrato is a different beast than a strat trem, but is actually more useful (IMHO) for chordal work; it functions more like a Bigsby than a strat trem.

So far, I have about $600 in this thing. It's worth it because I like the JM sound and really appreciate the preset rhythm switch.

[SteveY]

Neat.
Tks for the review.

I've had a couple AV Jazzmasters, but failed to bond with either.
Almost sprung for an old MIJ Blonde/goldparts used one a couple of years ago. It had some vibe, but was crusty with corrosion. Vintaged?
;)

[zenit]

I have one of those Japanese LE blonde/gold jazzmasters. I put a pair of Duncan Vintage JM pickups there and it now sounds and feels great. I string it with heavy flatwound strings and play through fender reverb. nails the early ventures sound. the tremolo i think is vastly superior to the one on strat (not a big fan of those), and is close to the feel of bigsby. JM was my favorite fender for a while.

[David Rolling]

The CIJ Tremlock works fine. Neck pocket tighter than any other Fender I own. It's also my only rosewood board Fender - love the satin finish on the neck. With a Duncan vintage in the neck & a Duncan hot in the bridge, the hum-cancelling middle position (the switch has also been replaced) is my favorite. Lot o people also swap out the funky moveable roller bridge for a more standard (Jaguar) type bridge but I have no problems with mine. This guitar NEEDS to be strung with heavy gauge flatwounds to play & sound right. Mine's sunburst, revealing the body to be composed of FIVE pieces of basswood. I snapped mine up when the MIA were just coming out. Glad I did...