Changing of the Guard--Time to Sell my guitar?

Noirie. · Post by **Noirie.** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:58 pm

taylornutt wrote:
Jaguar HH - Mustang Option
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Post by **dots** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:01 pm

taylornutt wrote:
dots wrote:if you're going hh jag, consider the hh jag special, the all black w/ chrome pickups job. awesome tones, lots of upgrade options, and not bad on the pricing. only thing is if you're a trem user, that might not be an option for you.
I have played the Japanese HH Black and its not for me. The Fender Dragster pickups are not a tone I like. I put some dragsters in my old Sunburst Jagmaster and I ended up selling because I was not into them. They are quality, but I will stick with the Classic Player HH.

fair enough. truth be told, i don't really like the dragster tone myself. i dropped gfs humbucker spaced p90's in there, and the thing SINGS.

MMPicker · Post by **MMPicker** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:17 pm

If you sell the PRS there will be an obvious "humbucker hole" to fill.

I personally might try to fill the "humbucker hole" based on optimizing neck specs to my preference.
The Classic Player HH could make sense to fill it if one prefers the neck specs (scale length, frets, radius) of your Classic Vibe Duo-Sonic over the neck specs of your Jazzmaster, or anything else for that matter. If that's not my favorite combination of neck specs I might get something else.

I haven't played a Classic Vibe Duo-Sonic, on one level the choice vs. Mustang might depend on if you are a big tremelo user.
In theory they should, or can be made to, cover similar sonic ground. The neck specs are different though. The Mustang radius & frets are like your Jazzmaster, not the Duo-Sonic. You might have a preference, I know I do.

If you prefer the short scale, 9.5" radius and bigger frets, you might consider getting the single coil Jaguar and selling the Jazzmaster. On the other hand if you prefer the Jazzmaster neck specs, then maybe the Telecaster would be the right choice. But then maybe don't get the CP Jaguar HH either, get a different humbucker guitar whose neck you'd prefer playing on. I'm thinking.

Mityushikha · Post by **Mityushikha** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 10:08 pm

I would go for Jag HH-baja, you'd pretty have a good few bases covered then in terms of pickups and sounds. I'd definitely sell the PRS if it were mine, I don't have any remorse for selling my first (but cheap) guitar.

MattK · Post by **MattK** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 3:19 am

Wouldn't you get more fun with a MIJ / CIJ "standard" Jag plus a Tele with a neck humbucker? I have that combination and they complement each other well. A Classic Player Jag would be rather similar to the Jagmaster I reckon.
If you have a "humbucker hole" then drop one in the bridge position on the Duo - would fix the awkward bridge pickup position on that as well.

Post by **Mike** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 10:39 am

dots wrote:
taylornutt wrote:
dots wrote:if you're going hh jag, consider the hh jag special, the all black w/ chrome pickups job. awesome tones, lots of upgrade options, and not bad on the pricing. only thing is if you're a trem user, that might not be an option for you.
I have played the Japanese HH Black and its not for me. The Fender Dragster pickups are not a tone I like. I put some dragsters in my old Sunburst Jagmaster and I ended up selling because I was not into them. They are quality, but I will stick with the Classic Player HH.
fair enough. truth be told, i don't really like the dragster tone myself. i dropped gfs humbucker spaced p90's in there, and the thing SINGS.

I believe it's also a flatter 12" radius than the 7.25" CIJ and 9.5" CP radiuses?

I don't think you can go wrong with any of those options to be honest, they're all damn fine guitars.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 3:15 pm

Mike wrote:
dots wrote:
taylornutt wrote: I have played the Japanese HH Black and its not for me. The Fender Dragster pickups are not a tone I like. I put some dragsters in my old Sunburst Jagmaster and I ended up selling because I was not into them. They are quality, but I will stick with the Classic Player HH.
fair enough. truth be told, i don't really like the dragster tone myself. i dropped gfs humbucker spaced p90's in there, and the thing SINGS.
I believe it's also a flatter 12" radius than the 7.25" CIJ and 9.5" CP radiuses?

I don't think you can go wrong with any of those options to be honest, they're all damn fine guitars.

Can you explain to me what the radius is exactly? radius of what? Curvature of the neck?

Gavin · Post by **Gavin** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 3:19 pm

The radius is the curvature of the fretboard. If you imagine a big log of whatever radius, then the fret board would be as curved as the side of the log. If you get me.

Post by **Mike** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 3:20 pm

The radius is the curvature of the fretboard itself. A large number like 12" means it's pretty flat. 7.25" is the Fender Vintage radius and is more curvy.

There are advantages and disadvantages. Modern players like to bend large and a flatter radius means this is possible high up the neck with less chance of notes "fretting out" or choking.
They're also supposed to be "quicker" necks, but whatever.

The vintage curvier radius is more comfortable for many.

On top of this you have Profile, which is the shape of the back of the neck, the part that fits in your palm. This is normally given a letter designation close to the way the cross section would look, like D, C and U etc.

Neck Profiles:

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 4:06 pm

Mike wrote:The radius is the curvature of the fretboard itself. A large number like 12" means it's pretty flat. 7.25" is the Fender Vintage radius and is more curvy.

There are advantages and disadvantages. Modern players like to bend large and a flatter radius means this is possible high up the neck with less chance of notes "fretting out" or choking.
They're also supposed to be "quicker" necks, but whatever.

The vintage curvier radius is more comfortable for many.

On top of this you have Profile, which is the shape of the back of the neck, the part that fits in your palm. This is normally given a letter designation close to the way the cross section would look, like D, C and U etc.

Neck Profiles:

The CP Jags have a 9.5" C neck. I guess that means it flatter than vintage, but not completely and the C shape is more rounded.

Thanks for info. That helps clear it up for me.

Post by **Mike** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 4:27 pm

No worries. The best thing to do is to play a bunch of guitars and also look up on them afterwards or beforehand and remember the specs. Then soon enough you'll learn what works for you personally.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 4:53 pm

I have definitely decided I am going to sell the PRS.

I plugged it in last night. Sounded amazing as always. Incredible Tone!

But as the great blues song states: "The thrill is gone....."

It just doesn't excite me. Bottom line.

So I will start the process of selling it. If you are interested let me know and I can post photos or info.

In the meantime, keep the ideas coming. I plan to go play some guitars this weekend. Hope I can find both CP Jags to play against each other.

I have played them both separately, but not together.

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 4:56 pm

taylornutt wrote: It just doesn't excite me.

I think that's just the sad truth for PRS. Solid instrument, great tone... but fuck all for sex appeal.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:01 pm

I think I was a Fender guy all along and just didn't know at the time.

Mo Law-ka · Post by **Mo Law-ka** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:06 pm

i think the baja-jag combination would be the best.
however, the point of the "humbucker hole" is a valid one. perhaps exchanging the single-coil jag with a HH one would be good.

jcyphe · Post by **jcyphe** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:08 pm

Do they make the Jazzmaster with two humbuckers in this new Mexico line?

Also I remember reading at the time the Jazzmaster pickups would actually be more like Gibson p90s. Is this true? I admit I didn't pay much attention at the time to the news of these.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:29 pm

jcyphe wrote:Do they make the Jazzmaster with two humbuckers in this new Mexico line?

Also I remember reading at the time the Jazzmaster pickups would actually be more like Gibson p90s. Is this true? I admit I didn't pay much attention at the time to the news of these.

They don't make a humbucker Jazzmaster in the classic Player, but they did release the new Sonic Youth Jazzmasters:

http://www.fender.com/sonicyouth/guitars.php

It has Tele Deluxe humbuggies, and no rhythm circuit.

They have a Jazzmaster Classic Player, but it has hotter Jazzmaster pickups. (not sure how much hotter)

P-90s and Jazzmaster pickups are very similiar. Jazzmaster pups are just wider.

I built a custom Jagmaster (25.5") with Jazzmaster pups (see above).

Mo Law-ka · Post by **Mo Law-ka** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:33 pm

P-90s and Jazzmaster pickups are very similiar. Jazzmaster pups are just wider.

no. they're not.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:44 pm

They are similar if you look under the hood. They don't sound the same. P-90s have more warm mids and bite. P-90 is closer to the humbucker sound than Jazzmaster pups.

The wider Jazzmaster pup sounds thinner for sure, probably because it is wider. Both great pups though.

I was not trying to imply they were the same, just similiar construction if you look at the bare pickups.

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:57 pm

Mo Rawka wrote:i think the baja-jag combination would be the best.
however, the point of the "humbucker hole" is a valid one. perhaps exchanging the single-coil jag with a HH one would be good.

The first cp Jag I played was the white HH. But I recently played the Candy Apple Red Single Jag Cp. I really want to play them together if possible.

I will definitely get the Jag first. I would probably buy the HH if I had to do it right now. I have seen two mint used ones for under $600.

One mod I would like to do to the Jag CP HH is replace the kill switch with the out-of-phase switch.

If I can afford it, the second guitar will be the tougher choice.

Both the Baja and the Mustang have the out-of-phase switching (which I like). The Baja intrigues me with its series/parallel options. But I am finding the Baja to be harder to find where as the Mustang every where. Mike did some amazing guitar demos of both guitars, so I really have a good feeling for their sounds. The mustang pups and vibrato are cool, but the maple fretboard on the Baja is cool also. Tough call.

I could just get two Jag CP (Single and HH), but I want to be as versatile as I can with my guitar choices. I don't often get the opportunity like this so I want to make it count.