I went to the store looking for a cheap guitar to mod for fun, specifically a Bullet Strat or Mustang. Then I saw this one, started playing around with it and was very impressed. It was nicer than the Affinity Strats I played (3 of them) and the Bullet Mustang. Between the 12" radius, the flat relief and the low action, it plays very smooth. I restrung it with 10s through the top-load bridge (it also loads through the body) The Mustang was "nice for the money", and I do enjoy the short scale feel, but this Jazzmaster sounded great, where all the rest were OK. I went home to think about it, and couldn't stop thinking about the Jazzmaster. So I ended up going back to buy it before someone else did. You never know with these guitars, the next one I find might not be so good. The bridge pickup is very hot and crunchy, even has some twang to it, so you don't forget it's a Fender (Squier). The neck pickup is powerful too, but muddy. It might be good for someone else, but I'll likely swap it for something that's more clear and smooth (like a Fender Wide Range) I think the bridge pickup is a keeper (for now at least). The tuners aren't great and I don't like string trees, so the first thing I do will probably be to drop in some staggered locking tuners (which I already have). I'll probably end up swapping the pickguard too if I can find someone who makes them for this model (maybe brown tortoise shell or black pearloid) All in all, it's actually a very solid platform, I'm pleasantly surprised. The string ferrules came off with the old strings, I still have them, but I was figuring to use the strings top-load style anyways. Those and the tuners are the cheap spots, everything else including the frets seems to be well put together
