ShortScale.org

i have been drooling over this jazzmaster so much lately that ive started to get some big ideas:



firstly, i want to get a burst jagmaster and put a black pickguard on it. i don't have any offset guitars or shortscales, so it seems like a cheap fix.

however, i love those white JM pickups on the black guard, and ive always wanted access to those sounds, so im wondering if the swimming pool route on jagms is big enough to accommodate without routing. anybody?

also, i think somebody was saying that new jagms have conversion necks, on a normal scale body. is this true? if so, does that mean i could theoretically put a JM or strat neck on there later if i decide i dont like the short scale?

anyhow, thanks for the help.

william wrote:however, i love those white JM pickups on the black guard, and ive always wanted access to those sounds, so im wondering if the swimming pool route on jagms is big enough to accommodate without routing. anybody?

i doubt it, i think you would have to route it more.

hurb, dots and i went to guitar center yesterday. i am currently debating a jagmaster, a jazzmaster, and a jaguar.

first i played the jagmaster:

-great concept. an affordable offset design.

-terrible tort pickguard...looked synthetic and lame

-would not tune AT ALL. i tried for about a good solid 4 minutes or so to get the thing to tune up. i'd get it in tune, play some power chords on the lower strings, and it would sound good. then i'd play the higher strings in chords...OUT OF TUNE.

-pickups: nowhere near hot enough for my liking.

-neck felt *OKAY*


I played the Jag and Jazzmaster (at hurb's BRILLIANT suggestion) and now my dilemma is simply whether i want a jag or a jazzmaster. i've changed my mind 15 times in the last 24 hours. but either way, for me, the jagmaster is a guitar i'd buy used for cheaper than they what they go for new, because i know i'd be upgrading the trem, tuners and PUPS.

william wrote:i have been drooling over this jazzmaster so much lately that ive started to get some big ideas:



firstly, i want to get a burst jagmaster and put a black pickguard on it. i don't have any offset guitars or shortscales, so it seems like a cheap fix.

however, i love those white JM pickups on the black guard, and ive always wanted access to those sounds, so im wondering if the swimming pool route on jagms is big enough to accommodate without routing. anybody?

also, i think somebody was saying that new jagms have conversion necks, on a normal scale body. is this true? if so, does that mean i could theoretically put a JM or strat neck on there later if i decide i dont like the short scale?

anyhow, thanks for the help.

You'll have to route out the swimming pool routes to fit the pickup covers.

Shadow and I and now NICKD have owned a Jagmaster turned into a Jazzmaster via AUG. He put the jazzy trem on it, but you don't have to. You could easily have someone route the humbucker holes in the pg to fit jazzy pups, then put the guard on the body, make a tracing of the cutout onto the body where you'd need to route.

More Cowbell wrote:
You'll have to route out the swimming pool routes to fit the pickup covers.

Shadow and I and now NICKD have owned a Jagmaster turned into a Jazzmaster via AUG. He put the jazzy trem on it, but you don't have to. You could easily have someone route the humbucker holes in the pg to fit jazzy pups, then put the guard on the body, make a tracing of the cutout onto the body where you'd need to route.

right on. thanks for the first hand experience advice (shortened to FHEA from now on. COIN'D.)

as far as not getting it to tune up, im sure if you got it home, put an extra spring on the trem, intonated it, got new strings and broke them in, it would tune fine.

i know the tort is terrible, looks like HP bubblejet jpeg scanned from a photo of tort taken on a sony mavica in 98. but id change it to BWB like the ONE.

also the pickups would be changed, so no problems there.


thanks for the input guys.

I always thought this was a black on burst but now from this vid it looks like it might be tort after all? You can always squint, i guess.

[youtube][/youtube]

St. Jimmy wrote:hurb, dots and i went to guitar center yesterday. i am currently debating a jagmaster, a jazzmaster, and a jaguar.

first i played the jagmaster:

-great concept. an affordable offset design.

-terrible tort pickguard...looked synthetic and lame

-would not tune AT ALL. i tried for about a good solid 4 minutes or so to get the thing to tune up. i'd get it in tune, play some power chords on the lower strings, and it would sound good. then i'd play the higher strings in chords...OUT OF TUNE.

-pickups: nowhere near hot enough for my liking.

-neck felt *OKAY*


I played the Jag and Jazzmaster (at hurb's BRILLIANT suggestion) and now my dilemma is simply whether i want a jag or a jazzmaster. i've changed my mind 15 times in the last 24 hours. but either way, for me, the jagmaster is a guitar i'd buy used for cheaper than they what they go for new, because i know i'd be upgrading the trem, tuners and PUPS.

i love the neck of it, it's pretty much my favorite neck. the pickups are shit, especially the bridge sound is absolute garbage. i kept my neck pickup but i replaced the bridge. i have never played any squier that has its original tremelo that stays in tune. once you take it out and fix the bridge, it is fine. i agree the tort is awful but i left mine in.

paul_ wrote:I always thought this was a black on burst but now from this vid it looks like it might be tort after all? You can always squint, i guess.

[youtube][/youtube]

i think i will just pretend that it is black on burst.

ive never seen that video, thanks for posting it. television is maybe the ultimate awesome guitar band. they played them all, as they say.

my favorites are tom verlaines jagelectro



and richard lloyd's telecaster with no guard and two bridge pickups, which i cant find a picture of right now.

but they also played travis beans, dan armstrong lucites, danos.

You could just cut the pickguard for jazzmaster covers and hide your buckers under it.




The Jagmaster II neck is probably my favorite electric guitar neck. Currently it's bolted on my Strat for major Jaguar-wannabe tones!

if you get a one ply black pickguard you wouldn't even have to bevel around anything. ust bore out the pickup holes and be done with it

robroe wrote:if you get a one ply black pickguard you wouldn't even have to bevel around anything. ust bore out the pickup holes and be done with it

the pickguard bevel im less worried about than the body routing. i kinda need it to be BWB anyway to complete the look, i think.

I've done a soft bevel with sandpaper and patience - it's not a big deal.

I think it's just a really dark, good tort in the vid. Black certainly looks great, though.

The whole project would be pretty straight forward - GO FOR IT!

DuoSonicBoy wrote:I've done a soft bevel with sandpaper and patience - it's not a big deal.

I think it's just a really dark, good tort in the vid. Black certainly looks great, though.

The whole project would be pretty straight forward - GO FOR IT!

thanks for the motivational words! i think i will when i have a bit of money again.

nobody has mentioned anything about the scale and neck swapability yet. anyone?

william wrote:i have been drooling over this jazzmaster so much lately that ive started to get some big ideas:



firstly, i want to get a burst jagmaster and put a black pickguard on it. i don't have any offset guitars or shortscales, so it seems like a cheap fix.

however, i love those white JM pickups on the black guard, and ive always wanted access to those sounds, so im wondering if the swimming pool route on jagms is big enough to accommodate without routing. anybody?

also, i think somebody was saying that new jagms have conversion necks, on a normal scale body. is this true? if so, does that mean i could theoretically put a JM or strat neck on there later if i decide i dont like the short scale?

anyhow, thanks for the help.

I seriously had the same idea as you a couple of years ago. I really wanted that Jag/jazz shape but i couldnt afford one so i decided to get a Jagmaster and modify it a bit. Mate , to be honest, they sound like utter crap. And this is after i put seymour duncan 59's in it. The pickups kept falling into the body of the guitar. Which is likely due to poor craftsmanship. But at the end of the day, i regretted buying it. Its sitting in my corner in a gig bag and i can;t foresee a day when i'll want to bring it out again. I have a Jazzmaster that im picking up in a couple of weeks. That is definately worth saving for. Only band i have ever seen using a Jagmaster were Midnight Juggernauts... before they had an album out. sounds and looks poor. You'll see it after a while.

To paraphrase Rich Fulcher, put your money down, Dont be a clown..... You'll regret it.

If you are talking about the newer jagmasters, i agree, but the vista series jagmasters are special.