Favorite Shortscale to Gig Right Now

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 5:57 pm

The guitar that goes everywhere with me in the #1 spot is the 65 Duo/66 Jaguar mutt guitar. With the Toronado bridge and added string thru body this hits all the marks for me. I popped some Entwhistle 65 pups in there and it just sings. Perfect weight and range of sounds too.

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 6:26 pm

I used to use a Cyclone II as a backup to my JM.
I loved the versatility of the individual on/off switches and found it to strike the right balance between comfortable design and ergonomic layout while still being a little on the heavy and complicated side, so as to keep me in check. I like a bit of fight in my guitars, this one had just enough.

I made the regrettable decision to sell it on and have since bought another JM for backup purposes but I'm pretty determined to get another one, some day.

I used to get a lot of compliments for a Vista Jagmaster I used to play out a few years ago, too. Every so often, I'd catch some passive flack from dickheads, over the brand name on the headstock but they'd almost always end up chewing on their socks after hearing it banshee shriek out of a cranked YBA-1. One of these dudes even straight up offered buying it off of me, after I let him use it for his set. That's another guitar I regret selling, sometimes.

irish_punk13 · Post by **irish_punk13** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 7:01 pm

Nick wrote:
irish_punk13 wrote:I don't gig, but if I did my main shortscale would be my blacktop jaguar. I've modded it with a trem from guitar fetish and it's amazing.

It holds tune very well. I only have to tune it once every week or two, and I use the trem quite a bit.
Wow, I've been curious about those trems for a while now but never had the guts to drill holes into even a cheap guitar for a trem that I never played before.

Good to know they're as good as they look.

If you end up putting one on a guitar I would recommend that you loosen the to screws that are on the top and the bottom (if you're playing and looking down at the guitar). When I first got it I couldn't get it to stay in tune, but when I loosened those screws that problem stopped.

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 8:08 pm

My Cobain is way too new to have been gigged, but I have a feeling it'll become my primary gigging short scale. I like to have one simple guitar for thrashing and one fancier guitar for finer playing. The Cobain fits in right in the middle, can handle either.

louis · Post by **louis** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 8:50 pm

gypsyseven wrote:
louis wrote:[youtube][/youtube]
WhatÂ´s up with the singers voice?
Does he got a cold?Or is he angry?

He did have a cold! but he was also slightly squiffy after a couple of pints.

Clam Slam · Post by **Clam Slam** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:02 pm

Nice axe Thomas, that neck looks the business on the Duo body.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:26 pm

Thomas wrote:The guitar that goes everywhere with me in the #1 spot is the 65 Duo/66 Jaguar mutt guitar. With the Toronado bridge and added string thru body this hits all the marks for me. I popped some Entwhistle 65 pups in there and it just sings. Perfect weight and range of sounds too.

► Show Spoiler

Oooo.. I love a no frills mutt Thomas, looks truly awesome. i'll bet it plays like butter too?

kim · Post by **kim** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:51 pm

teh kurdtz. but it is in premiere friday night. but imma make it teh workhorz.

///& im drunk

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 10:27 pm

Do you guys differentiate between guitars that are for home use and guitars that are for stage use?

I love guitars with lots of switches and lots of sounds and options for playing at home, recording, and rehearsal, but on stage, none of that matters and I want a guitar that won't fuck up. I distrust any guitar that has an off position (outside of a momentary kill switch) for a gig. A guitar with multiple off positions, like a stock Mustang, is especially unsuitable for me personally. I always struggle with the fact that I love Mustangs/Jags and their stock wiring config but I just don't find them to be extremely gig-worthy. The KC Mustang was actually a huge blessing for me because once I saw it, I realized I could mod it to be stage-worthy without having to sacrifice my other more frilly guitars.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:12 pm

on stage i play my jaguars

at home i usually play a tele or a blacktop jazzmaster

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Wed Feb 15, 2012 6:18 am

honeyiscool wrote:Do you guys differentiate between guitars that are for home use and guitars that are for stage use?

Its certainly become like that for me.
In the Punk band i find Esquires and other basic designs (like my stripped down Strat) work best. No nonsense comfortable stuff that will take knocks.
At home i want more tones and i mess around with pedals so its the Jag and a standard set up Strat. Or if im playing Metal ill get the Stagemaster and V's out.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Wed Feb 15, 2012 3:09 pm

Fran wrote: Oooo.. I love a no frills mutt Thomas, looks truly awesome. i'll bet it plays like butter too?

It took a bit of tinkering because the Toronado bridge doesn't have the height of a regular Duo so I ended up taking the shim out but it plays great now. With it being string through I don't have to worry about string tension/break angle over the bridge. Some folks might balk at me drilling out a '65 body but it's a mutt that's focused on playability, and this is a gem to play. I like to keep the action pretty low but keep the strings choke free on the higher frets. With the vintage radius it's a bit of a balancing act but once it's dialed in it's perfect.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Wed Feb 15, 2012 7:03 pm

The only shortscale I have is my '66 Classic Jaguar, and I gig it fairly regularly. I only play guitar on a couple songs in my band, and one song is better suited to my Jag, the other to my Aerodyne Tele... so it's a trade off whichever I choose to bring to the gig. In fact one song is best with the Jag's trem at the start, then the Aerodyne's power later on

honeyiscool wrote:Do you guys differentiate between guitars that are for home use and guitars that are for stage use?

Not really.
I do use the switches on the Jag on stage. One song, for example, I use both pickups in the lead for most of the song, smacking in the rhythm with the tone rolled back a bit to beef up the ending... we're going to cover Neil Young's Song-X, and like-wise, I'm using the rhythm circuit with the tone back a bit for the bulk of the song, and the lead bridge for solos. I don't quite get the same range of tonal difference on the Tele with a single flick of a switch.
I'm also not one to accidentally hit switches while playing. This is a design "flaw" that simply has never been an issue for me with the Jaguar and Mustang switching.

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Wed Feb 15, 2012 7:11 pm

honeyiscool wrote:Do you guys differentiate between guitars that are for home use and guitars that are for stage use?

In a pinch I can gig any guitar, but playing live I prefer simplicity, so the fewer controls the better.

My Musicmaster is perfect for that. If I need another pickup, the Supersonic and Cyclone are there.

BillClay · Post by **BillClay** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 6:19 am

Thomas wrote:
Fran wrote: Oooo.. I love a no frills mutt Thomas, looks truly awesome. i'll bet it plays like butter too?
It took a bit of tinkering because the Toronado bridge doesn't have the height of a regular Duo so I ended up taking the shim out but it plays great now. With it being string through I don't have to worry about string tension/break angle over the bridge. Some folks might balk at me drilling out a '65 body but it's a mutt that's focused on playability, and this is a gem to play. I like to keep the action pretty low but keep the strings choke free on the higher frets. With the vintage radius it's a bit of a balancing act but once it's dialed in it's perfect.

Off topic, but did are you saying you had to add a shim under the toro bridge to make it work?

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Thu Feb 16, 2012 9:14 pm

No I just had to raise the saddles up, almost to the limit. I usually shim my Fender guitars (in the neck pocket) to hit the set up sweet spot. With this I actually had to remove the shim to get it 100% perfect as the saddles wouldn't go as high as they would have needed to go to get enough clearance for the strings along the neck.

I think it's a vintage pocket depth vs modern bridge/ bridge plate issue. The last MusicMaster/duo 3 saddle bridge I had seemed much taller. The bridge plate def seemed thicker.

I think Miek had a similar issue with his Duo build from a coupla years ago.