please help restore my excitement

aleos

Hi everyone, my first day on the forum, cool!

I've been frothing to buy a new American Vintage JazzMaster, and I am almost ready to drop the cash, then today just browsing I ran into a review that said:

"Ease of Use:

This is not a virtuoso guitar. The bridge is really problematic if you use lighweight strings. With 011s the bridge still sounds a little buzzy and it's virtually impossible to use 010s unless you put a buzzstop, making this axe sound like and ordinary Fender solidbody. Problems can be solved by using 012s and a professional setup. Don't expect a very low action also.

Overall:

Again, it is not for everyone. If you can't play with 011s (minimum) forget it! Go Tele or Strato. If you like to have a big sustain guitar, go elsewhere (Gibson SG with P90s???). This is for a guy who wishes to have the non standard sound and feel of a Jazzmaster. "

Now usually I don't get swayed by personals opinion floating around the internet, but for some reason this guy made some point that rattled me.

Not a virtuoso guitar? I am a free-jazz art rock player who, while I wouldn't dare call myself a virtuoso, sometimes finds himself at a session playing very difficult stuff. What does that mean. Nels Cline is a virtuoso and he uses a JazzMaster. Albeit, an older one.

And I like light strings, I can't use 9's on a jazzmaster? I don't want 12's, and I like a low action, damn!

Thanks to anyone who can help restore my excitement.

JaguarOW

go play one, thatll get you very excited 😁

aleos

I have played one, and I loved it. But the music store is not the place to judge instruments. The problems the review above mentions seem like things that would bother me over time. ie, strings jumping out. Not being able to put light strings on.

and not a virtuostic guitar. I don't even know what that means.

Fran

Once the bridge is set up it is a great guitar. That guy is stating the obvious, of course a SG with a P90 will have more sustain and we know Teles and Strats are familiar 'standard' territory (Yawn!).

I used 10s on my Jazzmaster with no problems and the buzz stop was only needed when i fitted a high output humbucker. You can use 9s as well. In fact you can do what you want, there are no rules.

Personally, i think you should maybe try out a Japanese model and see how it goes for a while before blowing a load of cash on an AVRI model. But, either way, you should get most your money back because they are still popular.

aleos

thanks man, I have played a few in my time, and I know I love the feel and tone.

That guy just made me nervous that there were some long term effects which I may begin to dislike.

I don't have anywhere to try one now except the store, and it feels fine, I might lower the action a little. I guess better look into this whole bridge issue.

thx again.

Robbmonster

I say 'if in doubt, keep looking'.

Go to harmony-central and read more and more reviews.

Go to a music store and spend a lot of time with a Jazzmaster (the ones hanging on the wall have usually been set up to some degree), and keep your eyes and ears open for the problems you are worried about.

I think the Jazzmaster was initially designed for Jazz (hence the name 😉 ), so I would think it would be a genre the guitar would be quite comfortable with.

j2b4osan

Maybe it's just my experience. But I find that there are far more bad examples of jazzys than good ones in the stores. I've been looking and playing them all over NY for like 3yrs now and not untill 2 days ago did I find a nice one. So maybe that guy just got a dud. Play and look at them everywhere till you find one that's perfect for you. It's the only way in my opinion. Good luck!

lazyjedeye

JM"s are wonderful, versitile guitars. Though I am not a fan of the stock bringe. Retrofitting it with a tune-o-matic or even dropping a mustang bridge improves the guitars performance vastly in my opinion.

aleos

All my impressions are of the guitar are fine, what I'm curious about are some perspectives that could only be had by owning one for a length of time.

I guess it's really that "virtuostic..." comment that guy mentioned. I really like an acrobatic guitar, I do unorthodox chords with big stretches, I like slurs, and I play fast from time to time. I'm trying to figure what the reviewer meant with that comment.

It's sort of like buying a pair of studio monitors. You try to find a pair that doesn't cause aural fatigue. You can never actually know this yourself until you own a pair. So read up about them. That's similar to my inquiries about the jazzmaster, trying to find the gripes in the long term.

but it's called the bloody jazzmaster so obviously I can play jazz on it right? haha

thanks all.

GeorgeF

The guy who wrote that probably isn't a virtuoso so how would he know 😆 - don't bother listening to that sort of claptrap. And what is a virtuoso guitar ? Those awful Parker Fly and Ibanez Jem's come to mind, and guitar's with things like Floyd Rose's and active pickups.

SOLID players like J. Mascis and Tom Verlaine exclusively use Jazzmasters, and Sonic Youth have slung them to make some pretty groundbreaking and innovative music. I know I've plugged this video before but check out Tom Verlaine on a Jazzy... There's a definite jazz discipline to how he's approaching the solo at about 4 minutes in...

In short you've got a really good guitar but its potential might not be immediate. Don't like the bridge? Swap it for a Mustang or roller bridge - they simply slot in and out. Don't like the 7.25" fretboard radius? Unscrew it and put a strat neck on - they come in all sorts of flavours with compound or flat radius (might be better suited for jazz music) for about

jellybelly

aleos said: I have played one, and I loved it. But the music store is not the place to judge instruments.

On the contrary, the music store is EXACTLY the place to judge an instrument, not harmony-central reviews, coz things like this happen i.e. some guy gets one thinking it'll play like a strat and doesn't, then blames the guitar. If it sounds like it works, and it feels like it works, then it works, no matter what some guy said on harmony central!

If you're worried that it might not be practical from a modern players perspective, then check out the Classic Player model: a little more than a japanese model but with a modern 9.5" radius, hotter pickups and a gibson-style bridge. No issues. Or if you want an american model, the thin skin guitars have cool nitro finishes and the same modern neck radius as the classic player guitars.

tragictravisty

aleos said: All my impressions are of the guitar are fine, what I'm curious about are some perspectives that could only be had by owning one for a length of time.
I guess it's really that "virtuostic..." comment that guy mentioned. I really like an acrobatic guitar, I do unorthodox chords with big stretches, I like slurs, and I play fast from time to time. I'm trying to figure what the reviewer meant with that comment.
It's sort of like buying a pair of studio monitors. You try to find a pair that doesn't cause aural fatigue. You can never actually know this yourself until you own a pair. So read up about them. That's similar to my inquiries about the jazzmaster, trying to find the gripes in the long term.
but it's called the bloody jazzmaster so obviously I can play jazz on it right? haha
thanks all.

fast slurs and strange voicings won't give you a problem at all. his idea of a virtuosoic guitar might be 2 emgs a floyd, and a scalloped fretboard with a 10-20" compound radius. this isn't anything like that, but that doesn't mean its not a virtuosoic guitar.

Cymastar

I've heard that Enzyte, Cialis, and Viagra help restore excitement...

Ask a doctor.

irish_punk13

ok that guy that wrote that review was wrong in every aspect.

1. no two players are alike the guy ho wrote it might feel a guitar for virtuosos is a ibanez RG with a scalloped fret board a floyd rose and so on and so forth.

the guitar that you can be a virtuoso on is the one for you ive played on sg style guitars, les pauls, strats, and teles but the one that feels best to me is a jagmaster.

2.yes he was right that its a guitar made for jazz which isnt known for flashy guitar work but alot of bands have used em (mostly alternative) so it all depends on you.

also you can pop a tune-o-matic on there and you can use light gauge like you want.