Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster

[A_saVANT]

It detracts from the tone I associate with a Jazzmaster. *shrug*

[Fran]

I'd argue that it makes up a large part of the characteristic of these guitars

I've always sat in this camp.
It is a main part of the distinct tone and if you change it you loose it. To me its like fitting a humbucker in the bridge of a Tele or the neck position of a Strat, why the fuck would you do that? These are the things that seperate these guitars from others.

[Pens]

Meanwhile I've always been of the thought that I want a guitar that looks a certain way, but I want it to sound like other guitars. There's nothing wrong with that.

[havershaw]

Hello!
Just happened across this forum while doing a search on this guitar, because I wanted to find out what folks thought of it.
I'm a producer/engineer in AZ, and my studio owns a lot of guitars. Jazzmasters are my favorite (I'm not a competent player, but they are my favorite guitar, in terms of sound and how they record).
I have three Jazzmasters - an original '66 (which is the most prized guitar we have), a Lee Ranaldo model, and the purple Fender J Mascis.
I did a session last week where the guys from Squier came in and filmed video demos for a bunch of new guitars. I engineered/mixed the audio.
One of them was this J Mascis guitar. I thought it was the coolest-sounding of the bunch, so I started looking online for folks' opinions, and so I found this forum.
After reading through all of the pages (OK, I skipped a lot of stuff about the Pixies), I realized I could add a few tidbits of info about this guitar.
The neck was redesigned from the Fender version because J didn't think the old one was what he had wanted. This one was made specifically for him, to his specifications.
The pickups were custom made for Squier. They have some kind of pickup guru working with their factory in China. J didn't think the pickups in the Fender version quite hit the nail on the head. These are a new design (based on old JM pickups of course) made specifically for this guitar. There is no other guitar that uses these pickups. The main Squier guy said he felt like they sounded more like P90s, which I agree with.
The metal scratchguard is another thing specific that J insisted on. Apparently he feels that the pickups sound different when they are completely surrounded by metal. I think one of his main JMs used to be a 59, so that's sort of where that comes from I think.
i thought it was one of the coolest guitars they had there. There was also a Telecaster Special, which had a single coil Tele pickup at the bridge, and a Jazzmaster pickup at the bridge that I thought sounded amazing too. That was my second favorite.
hope that was helpful. (it was certainly long-winded, if nothing else.)
nice forum!

[Pens]

Hey, thanks for the info! Can you give any other details about what makes the neck different on these?

[Fran]

Meanwhile I've always been of the thought that I want a guitar that looks a certain way, but I want it to sound like other guitars. There's nothing wrong with that.

Yeah i get that. On the whole, i like how Fenders look but prefer the sound of Gibsons. You can sometimes find a middle ground compromise but the fact they are constructed so differently alone means its not going to happen unless you upgrade and process the shit out of everything[/line6].

[laterallateral]

I did a session last week where the guys from Squier came in and filmed video demos for a bunch of new guitars. I engineered/mixed the audio.

Hey there! Thanks for the info. Any chance you might supply us with a link to these videos when they're up? (assuming you'll be notified.)

[ekwatts]

My Jag was pretty busted when I got it anyway, but that combined with a few design aspects that haven't exactly aged well has turned me off the idea of keeping Jags and Jazzes as close to vintage spec as possible. I don't think it's about noobs or anything, and I'll happily acknowledge that I'm pretty much siding with Guitarist-mag-reading Blooz lawyers here, but there are aspects of the Jaguar that simply don't work. The idea of having a rocking bridge, for instance, the distance between the trem and the bridge and also the lack of specific string slots on the bridge saddles. None of these are particularly new but it's not like companies are falling over themselves to install them on brand new guitars. Sticking the strat jacks on the other Squier offsets was a bad move because it looked fucking gash. But shifting the trem closer to the bridge solves what most other guitarists in the WHOLE FUCKING SCHOOL perceive to be a functional problem with the original design. If I want a guitar that plays in the key of PINGITY CLANG (thanks _paul) then I'd get a busted up, cheap as fuck Kay or Hondo with their silly bridges with adjustable string spacing and dumb trems that stay in tune as long as you don't look too hard at them. I'm not going to spend £600+ on something like that. And neither are most other guitarists.

It does seem strange to me that the few famous guitarists that regularly wield Jaguars and Jazzmasters tend to modify them in some way, then go on to be hero-worshipped by us, who then go on to complain bitterly about modifications made to Leo Fenders original design when a new model comes out.

[havershaw]

As far as the neck goes, I had to ask my studio manager, because he actually held it and played it (and again, I'm not a guitar player). The neck is a C-shape. Apparently, J is loving his Rory Gallagher Strat, and so the Squier guys copied the neck from that for this, so I'm guessing it's fairly similar to that.

I will definitely post a link the to the videos when they show up. I'm guessing it will be on the main Fender/Squier site. I believe that's what this was for.
There were a few other cool things - a bunch of what they kept calling "70s Strats" with the designations of HSS and SSS (for one humbucker, two single coil, or all single coil), and a weird Strat that had three lipstick pickups in it. I think there was a semi-hollowbody Strat looking thing too (although that might have been the triple lipstick pickup one, I can't recall - I just know it had an F-hole in it). There was also a Strat they called "VM 70s Strat w Maple Neck" that sounded pretty cool.

We did a bunch of Jaguar basses too - a passive one (I liked that best), then another one with one Jazz Bass pickup and one P-Bass pickup, then a short scale bass. I think there were four basses. There was one they called "Humbucker Bass" too - not like the Tele bass, but something else.

hopefully they'll tell me when the videos are up.
I've never owned a Squier, but I'll probably pick up the Telecaster Special and the new Mascis guitar. The guy who was in charge of the whole thing is (I think?) the head of product development, and he was a really cool, enthusiastic guy. I guess I was expecting some kind of corporate douchery. But he was the total opposite - seemed like a vintage guitar nerd who felt lucky to be able to create some new, unique and interesting guitars.

[Fran]

Thanks for all the info!
It would be interesting to know if Squier use aged magnets on them pickups. I briefly met J at a music festival a few years ago and he was adamant original vintage pickups or SD Antiquity's were the best for his sound.

[jcyphe]

There was also a Strat they called "VM 70s Strat w Maple Neck" that sounded pretty cool.

Was this a Fender or Squier?

[Bacchus]

We did a bunch of Jaguar basses too - a passive one (I liked that best), then another one with one Jazz Bass pickup and one P-Bass pickup, then a short scale bass. I think there were four basses. There was one they called "Humbucker Bass" too - not like the Tele bass, but something else.

Were any of the basses active?

[deaner33]

It does seem strange to me that the few famous guitarists that regularly wield Jaguars and Jazzmasters tend to modify them in some way, then go on to be hero-worshipped by us, who then go on to complain bitterly about modifications made to Leo Fenders original design when a new model comes out.

And will mod them anyway.

[stilwel]

Just got the email from Sweetwater that my JM-JM is shipping today!

[havershaw]

I'll see if I can find out more about the pickups. I think I have his email somewhere.

Everything was Squier that they demoed.

And yeah, the bass they called 'humbucker bass' was active, as well as one called the 'Jaguar PJ,' which is the one that had both Jazz and P pickups. That one was pretty cool...maybe a tiny bit bright for me.

I'm going to see if they'll let me post a few sound snippets...couldn't possibly hurt their business, right? I mean...if these things sound great, it could only spread positive word of mouth, right?

[Fran]

It does seem strange to me that the few famous guitarists that regularly wield Jaguars and Jazzmasters tend to modify them in some way, then go on to be hero-worshipped by us, who then go on to complain bitterly about modifications made to Leo Fenders original design when a new model comes out.

And will mod them anyway.

Exactly and in the case of CIJ models a good place to start is the electronics, never mind the bridge.
A lot of the new factory modifications make sense especially to players new to the model but there will always be players that liked the original set up on any popular guitar. No one is wrong or right, thats just how it is.
Personally i have nothing against the minor modifications but that does'nt mean i have to prefer them or agree they are an improvement.

[Pens]

It does seem strange to me that the few famous guitarists that regularly wield Jaguars and Jazzmasters tend to modify them in some way, then go on to be hero-worshipped by us, who then go on to complain bitterly about modifications made to Leo Fenders original design when a new model comes out.

And will mod them anyway.

Exactly and in the case of CIJ models a good place to start is the electronics, never mind the bridge.
A lot of the new factory modifications make sense especially to players new to the model but there will always be players that liked the original set up on any popular guitar. No one is wrong or right, thats just how it is.
Personally i have nothing against the minor modifications but that does'nt mean i have to prefer them or agree they are an improvement.

Except the stock Jag bridge is an abomination.

[Fran]

And will mod them anyway.

Exactly and in the case of CIJ models a good place to start is the electronics, never mind the bridge.
A lot of the new factory modifications make sense especially to players new to the model but there will always be players that liked the original set up on any popular guitar. No one is wrong or right, thats just how it is.
Personally i have nothing against the minor modifications but that does'nt mean i have to prefer them or agree they are an improvement.

Except the stock Jag bridge is an abomination.

Yeah, we get it, you dont like it

[hotrodperlmutter]

There was also a Strat they called "VM 70s Strat w Maple Neck" that sounded pretty cool.

Was this a Fender or Squier?

does fender have a Vintage Modified series?

[Pens]

There was also a Strat they called "VM 70s Strat w Maple Neck" that sounded pretty cool.

Was this a Fender or Squier?

does fender have a Vintage Modified series?

Havershaw said earlier it was Squier that came in to do the recording, so I'm going to guess it was Squier's VM series.