ShortScale.org

Robbie (portugalwillie) and I stopped into Big Dude's Music City, in westport, and were checking out the vintage modified series.

first things first:

• the jaguar neck is pretty beefy and, it's not a typical shortscale neck profile. not really too comfortable, but about like a medium tele neck with rosewood board.
• the fiesta red is a bloody mary orange/red, but pretty nice to look at.
• the blonde/maple jazzmaster is gorgeous. fucking really lovely looking.
• neither pickguard is cut under the bridge, so you could easily put a TOM or mustang bridge cups in and not have it look dorky as fuck!

THE SHOCKER:

the strat jack doesn't look bad.

THE LOSER:

the fucking bridge is whack. it's almost exactly like the dano ones, without the base mounting screw notch in the tail piece part (if that makes any sense).

didn't plug either in, but i didn't need to. i'd love to spend a few minutes with the jazzmaster plugged in, but the jaguar's looks were enough to turn me off.

also picked up a classic vibe tele in sunburst/rw, which wasn't really a big deal because it only reinforced my love, and the inherent necessity to own it.

if the saddles have height adjustment screws... why dont they use that instead of raising and lowering the whole fucking bridge?

Is that bridge floating? Can you get a trem effect by pushing on it?

endsjustifymeans wrote:Is that bridge floating? Can you get a trem effect by pushing on it?

No, the tall posts are fixed, and the third is the anchor.

endsjustifymeans wrote:Is that bridge floating? Can you get a trem effect by pushing on it?

if it were, theyd just slap a trem bar on it.

i think that would have been better than this pos

from here.

so, I'm still trying to decide between this guitar and a classic vibe telecaster . . .


if I were to get a jazzy, I would but my bigsby on it.

portugalwillie wrote:so, I'm still trying to decide between this guitar and a classic vibe telecaster . . .


if I were to get a jazzy, I would but my bigsby on it.

Same here basically.

I could be happy with the CV Tele Custom or 50s stock... maybe put a black guard on the Custom.
I feel like I could be happy with the Jazzmaster stock, but after a few months I'd probably start wanting to put a TOM of some sort or a Jazzmaster trem.

Seriously can't understand the animosity to these bridges.

You want Squier Jazzmasters and Jaguars, yeah? Okay then, they're going to cut corners and save money somewhere along the way. So they've used a different bridge.

It's one of the most unobtrusive bridges ever used on a Fender, you dickholes. It is secured by only three fucking screws. Three fucking screws. What you do is get a screwdriver, unscrew those screws and then the bridge will detach and you're left with just three small holes. If you don't like the bridge this makes it stupidly easy for anybody WITH HANDS to replace the bridge with something more "appropriate", either a TOM setup, a proper Jaguar bridge and trem or even a hardtail toploading strat bridge.

In terms of actual operation, it works fine. These bridges have been used on Danelectros in one form or another for fucking years.

The jazz trem and chrome knobs make the strat jack look a little less ridiculous. It is, of course, still ridiculous and given that the bridge is so easily replaceable it's the major of these.

Also, notice how the Mustang bridge on there has the saddles with the awkward gaps and his low E is fairly close to the edge of the fretboard but in a playable place while the high E is too near the edge. Maybe a different bridge would make that better. It would probably actually be better to have a jag/jazz bridge.

My local GC has one of the butterscotch jazzys in stock and a $30 off a purchase deal going this weekend. Probably going to go buy it this morning.

I'll give you all the rundown if I do.

Yea obviously they are going to cut corners, and the bridge on a jazzmaster would be one of the main places that they would cut corners, but it would make more sense for them to have put the same bridge they have on the duo-sonics on there, and I bet people would be a lot less opposed to that bridge than this weird floating thing. It might work on a danelectro, but when I played the jaguar at guitar center, it just didn't even feel at all like a fender or squier guitar should. I really didn't like the bridge at all. With the angle at which it is raised off the body, it was uncomfortable for my fast picking style. I kept hitting my hand on it, and when I would palm mute I couldn't have my arm in a comfortable position rested on the body. The duo sonic bridge would have fixed both of those problems for me, and it would have made more sense for them to have used that since it's currently in use so they have tons of them, rather than making these new bridges that are only on these models. Yes it is an easy switch to put a new one on, but it would have been just as easy for them to have put a bridge that most of us would have been fine with on it in the factory.

Plus seeing how it's not just us on this message board that are complaining about those bridges, if the Squier Jaguars/Jazzmasters survive for a few years, I wouldn't be surprised if they announce a bridge change.

Either way, they are still a decent bang for the buck and ripe for modifying. If I buy the one today, I will probably mod it a bunch down the road. Not sure which is a better value...These at 299 or the CV's starting at 340-379, but that is maily because I am not as sure ont he fit and finish on these yet. The Cv's are great. Anyway, of to GC I go.

mickie08 wrote:Either way, they are still a decent bang for the buck and ripe for modifying. If I buy the one today, I will probably mod it a bunch down the road. Not sure which is a better value...These at 299 or the CV's starting at 340-379, but that is maily because I am not as sure ont he fit and finish on these yet. The Cv's are great. Anyway, of to GC I go.

If I find one of the jazzy's on craigslist I would pick one up to mod it too. If I happen to have the extra cash I would consider a new one, but I've just been too broke lately.

That bridge is appalling. WTF is going on? It looks terrible and its just a dirt trap underneath it.
The red finish is nice though.

Fran wrote: its just a dirt trap underneath it.

I'll concede this point, my Dano gets filthy underneath the bridge.

But like I say, these guitars are absolutely mod-ready. The more I look at them the more I feel like they are the spiritual successor to the 51, but with an even more niche market, which is pretty cool. The bridge, from a design standpoint, was obviously chosen to make it piss-simple for even the most retarded, cack-handed modder (putting my hand up here) to convert to a "proper" Jag/Jazz" bridge and trem setup. With that in mind, the real heinous design crime that is the strat jack socket makes sense in odd way because of a huge number of people start modding them into full Jaguars or Jazzmasters then the strat bridge makes it really easy to single them out as the Squiers from a distance.

That bridge is horrendous mate. We are talking about a company that made electric guitar what it is; elegance, body contours, numerous tremolo designs etc. Then they come out with this shit, its gash, would you do that to one of your guitars? I would'nt. It looks amateur.
Scratchplate under bridge lolz....

Fran wrote:That bridge is horrendous mate. We are talking about a company that made electric guitar what it is; elegance, body contours, numerous tremolo designs etc. Then they come out with this shit, its gash, would you do that to one of your guitars? I would'nt. It looks amateur.
Scratchplate under bridge lolz....

lulwut? The Jaguar and Jazzmaster have scratchplate under the bridge! In almost exactly the same place! That's the whole point! If you decide to go full Jag then you only have to widen the existing scratchplate holes for the height screws and the guard will still look like the real thing.

ekwatts wrote:The bridge, from a design standpoint, was obviously chosen to make it piss-simple for even the most retarded, cack-handed modder (putting my hand up here) to convert to a "proper" Jag/Jazz" bridge and trem setup.

Good luck with that.

portugalwillie wrote:so, I'm still trying to decide between this guitar and a classic vibe telecaster . . .


if I were to get a jazzy, I would but my bigsby on it.

I finally got to sit down and play these along with the CV teles and even a Jagmaster. Here's my impression. Keep in mind this is only my opinion.

The Jaguar and Jazzmaster are both made in Indonesia. It's been my experience that Indonesian made Squiers LOOK good, but usually feel pretty cheap. Things like sharp frets, uneven finish...ect. They also use some really light woods, that IMO make the guitar feel cheap. Unfortunately, these are no exception.

First I played a sunburst jag. The body finish was ok. There were knots in the wood, and some joint lines. The neck has a TON of finish on it. If you think MIJ necks are kinda plasticy, you will probably hate this. There was some uneven finish spots on the back bottom of the neck. The fretboard seemed dry and made of low quality wood. The whole guitar felt light, and pretty poorly made. The bridge was tilted all the way back, so I'm guessing that's how they come from the factory. I seem to remember the tuners feeling pretty cheap. Overall I was not impressed.

Next I played a butterscotch Jazzy. It felt much better than the Jag right away. If I HAD to get one or the other it would be this. The body finish seemed better, although I wish it was a little bit see-through. The neck also has a ton of finish on it, but the maple fretboard felt better. The pickguard is one ply, and looked horrible. Crudely cut with unsanded and uneven edges. Over all it was better than the Jag, but still not great.

There was a Chinese Jagmaster right there, so I picked it up. I was really surprised by how much better it felt than the first two. Its definitely heavier. I held it next to the Jag, and I swear everything about the Jagmaster felt better. If it was a true shortscale it would be a no brainer choice.

I also played the sunburst/rosewood and white/maple CV teles, and they are FAR superior to the jag and jazzy. I freaking LOVE the sunburst one.

I've modded a lot of guitars, and honestly I don't know if the jag and jazzy are really worth it. They both need some work for sure.

So take all that for what you will.