Vista Sunburst Jagmaster: alder or basswood?

smora · Post by **smora** » Wed May 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Sorry if this has been covered before. I tried searching and couldn't find the answer.

I know with the MIJ/CIJ Jaguars that a lot of the solid-colored ones are basswood, the exception being that sunburst Jags were always alder. Does the same apply to the Vista Jagmasters?

Here's a thread at offsetguitars that shows some tiny pics of a stripped sunburst Vista JM. There's also a post in that thread stating that 'burst JM's are alder. Can anyone here confirm?

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Wed May 06, 2009 11:27 pm

Alot of shit was going down at that factory around the time of the Japanese market crash
there were definitely some consistency issues going on.
Per example, my Vista Jagmaster had a V033**** serial but was stamped Crafted In Japan.
Mine was definitely NOT basswood but I wouldn't be surprised to hear some Vista models are.

smora · Post by **smora** » Wed May 06, 2009 11:58 pm

What gave it away that it wasn't basswood? Was it the grain? Weight? I have alder and basswood guitars, and, acoustically at least, the alder guitars are louder and have more bass and overtones.This seems to hold true for the Vista JM's I've got here, one blue and one burst, though I've yet to set them up identically. The whole Vista series was advertised as basswood, but I guess if they singled one color out as being alder it might make the sales uneven. Anyone else?

My burst Jagmaster is also CIJ with a V0 serial. I wonder then if it was built at Tokai or FujiGen. Any Fender Japan aficionados want to tackle that?

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Thu May 07, 2009 12:19 am

definitely grain but also density.
My Jagmaster was beat to shit but the body was not badly pockmarked and the finish did not kick off in huge chunks like it does on basswood bodies.
Not that alder is significantly denser, but it does seem to take a beating better than basswood.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Thu May 07, 2009 12:24 am

who the hell knows. Mine is an A serial vista crafted in etc with the bullet style truss. It's suinburst and the wood is hevily figured (I iknow cos i just routed it so it ain't veneer). No difinitive answer here.

Post sponsored by beer.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Thu May 07, 2009 1:48 am

basswood is a good guitar wood. it only gets a bad rap because cheap guitars use it. It's almost completely identical to poplar which is what vintage mustangs are made out of. the MIJ mustang re-issues are made out of basswood. it's supposedly a little warmer than alder, I think any thinness experienced in the acoustic resonance is more due to the guitar construction (like swimming pool style pickup routing).

http://www.warmoth.com/Bass/Options/Woo ... tions.aspx

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Thu May 07, 2009 1:55 am

Basswood is without a doubt an excellent tonewood.
It just doesn't hold up well to being knocked around. Kinda like pine.