@@caspay21 that’s very interesting. I’ve always attributed the magic to the pickups alone, but it makes sense that the rest of the circuit is making a contribution.
I'm mostly a Strat player, but I love my Jazzmaster and the rhythm circuit. In fact, I play leads using that circuit when I want that deep, rich sound it provides. Now I see Fender turning out Jazzers without the rhythm circuit. I regard them as pretenders. Great playing as usual!
Fender makes variations on all models. Dual humbucker Strats and single humbucker Teles, Jags with out the strangle, etc. Some players are simply visually, vs sonically, oriented and want their new guitar to have the look without any regard for the unique tones the original designs provide.
@@sagittated The operative word being _Players_ series, but even then there's variations in almost every line. The _Vintera,_ American Performer, Professional, Ultra lines all offer the original configuration.
I love this! My '66 Jazzmaster has been my friend for 30 years now... and there is nothing else quite like it. If takes pedals like no other guitar - it comes alive. So glad Chris has a new love in his life!
❤😅😂 YEAH! DANISH PETE! What a "WELL TEMPERED CLAVIER!",- PETE gives a whole new meaning to the historical English phrase, "Danelaw",- what a happy Warrior!
I got a Squire 40th Anniversary a year ago. It’s terrific. The rhythm circuit does things to an octave pedal which cannot be frankly discussed in a public forum.
Maestro: I haven’t watched any further than the opening bit of playing. That’s the most scalding grease I have been subjected to in many moons. THANK you! I will now proceed to the program.
This video popped in my feed right after I did a lesson with my Squier 40th anniversary Jazzmaster in my lap, so I had to watch. I did not get the pretty desert sand one. I got the institutional hospital surf green, so I refinished mine with wallpaper and swapped the pickups to Lindy Fralin Jazzmasters and had it put back together by an expert, and dang, I love that thing. Now I just have to learn to play like Chris does. Should take a few more lessons. ✌️
I ignored it for the same reason! 😂 I regret it big time now. Also regret never trying a tele till last year 🤦♂️ Thank you for the video! Love your guitar playing!
I got into Jazzmasters for surf rock…. They’re obviously great for that genre. But I have recently discovered they are also absolutely superb for 80’s pop… the sparkly pickups work brilliantly with chorus, flanger, phaser. Such killer dynamics.
Gosh Chris... I think the outro made the speaker grill a bit melty. Smashing good video performance! NO critic here, fan all the way. I'm on my way to lesson number two today for guitar at tender 70 after playing by ear alone for 66 years. You are inspiring Sir! All the best sincerely, Sam H. just another Yank across the pond who will never stop loving guitar!
For a few years in the late '50s-early '60s the Jazzmaster (and later the Jaguar) was THE ONE to have for mainstream rock and roll/ surf/R&B. I was amazed to see how fast the British Invasion made Fender offsets look like yesterday's news, and while they found favor with the alt-rockers later on, they're still regarded as something of a niche instrument. My '07 AVRI is one of my favorite easiest-playing great-sounding guitars, but since I play country, Telecaster visuals go over better with that rather conservative crowd and I haven't taken the Jazzmaster to work very much at all. Too bad.
I've ignored them because I don't find the sound to be what I'm looking for. Some kind of weird Tele/Strat in between/mix and I prefer just to use both. For P-90s, I know it's weird, but the best guitar I've played was a set neck Tele with a Tun-O-matic bridge. Rock Machine! That said, this is probably the best Jazzmaster tones I've heard, but not for me. To each their own with happiness, just not a sound I love, but the body geometry is KILLER. Love the shape. Fender has done some spectacular work over the years.
The last few 40th Aniversary Squier Jazzmasters on Thomann went for £259, delivered. I got one of the SeaFoam Green ones, I’d been trying to raise the original £400 for over a year, desperately watching it come into and out of stock. It is totally brilliant, far better than my slender abilities, without a doubt my personal lifetime best bargain.
Got into Jazzmasters recently too, my J Mascis is my daily driver for worship gigs. It kind of became a partsmaster, gutted the rhythm circuit, put in EMG JMasters, put in a rolling bridge from Wilkinson, tusq nut, rolling string tree and locking tuners.
my go to guitar now is Jazzmaster, its my 3weeks using it every Saturday and sunday. im a telecaster player. but jazzmaster surprise me these 2023 . now my tele and strat is store in the house but in live situation jazzmaster i pick for now. haha i love the neck pickup on rhythm, even bridge pickup and i love to stack Ts9 to a distortion. its very friendly guitar to pedals
Chris, your videos are very informative and your playing always inspirational. My playing (phrasing) has improved greatly since discovering your channel. I was in quite a rut until you came along. I actually still am in a rut and may always be but, it certainly isn't as deep as it was. I can see a bit of light now.
After you have gotten know the Jazzmaster, take the time to explore the Jaguar and the Mustang, as they both have their own kind of voice. Check Mark Ribbot (Tom Waits) for a good Jaguar sound. And RU-vidr Eric Haugen for the Mustang.
I got my first jazzmaster because I had a Les Paul, SG, and ES-335, but only had strats and a telecaster from Fender. My OCD drove me to balance things out. The first time I played one, A Squire Classic Vibe, I was blown away at not just the sound, but how comfortable it is to play. Quickly became a fan of the offset body and now I have 3 with two more builds in the work and a G & L Fallout that was Leo's next generation of offset guitars after Fender.
Thanks for another epic video, Chris! I just love you're playing and your jams are my favorite part of every video. Always makes me pick up one of my guitars and play! Cheers!
Nice (exceptional) playing as usual Also nice to see your custom builder using a Mastery bridge - but then again, it is the best choice. I have a mid-90s Fender (Made in Japan) Jazzmaster that was really nice, to a point. The point being when the string popped off the saddles. Then I put a Mastery bridge on it. Just bought a Fender Gold Foil Jazzmaster, which has the Mustang style bridge on it, as well as a Bigsby, but without the "strangle circuit" extra switching I think your Squier 40th Aniiversary Jazzmaster has that Mustang bridge, too? All I can say is that if you hit or bent those strings as hard on my '95 MIJ Jazzmaster (with it's non-mastery bridge )as you do in the opening guitar wizardry, you'd have been swearing at the strings popping out of the slots, and wondering how to fix that...
Ought to add, the '95 MIJ Jazzmaster has a really strange neck profile. It's very, very shallow, skinny - but quite nice. Definitely different from every other guitar I've ever owned.... You definitely could pick that guitar out of the bunch just by wrapping your hand around the neck....
You’re right. Simply one of the best trem systems ever created. It’s so modest that it’s rarely overpowering and always sounds smooth. Also with chords as Kevin Shields figured with his glide guitar technique. Fantastic instrument
Chris could make a cigar box guitar sound amazing. My first guitar was an off set (teisco)… I had some jazz masters and jaguars but sold them all as it wasn’t really my style. I’m a simple tele guy.
The Jazzmaster- design vibrato system is truly one of the most stable systems out there when represented by high- quality parts i.e. Mastery/ Descendant. The bridge can be fantastic stock, but the Mastery upgrade truly turns a Jazzmaster into another level up IMO. Just a fantastic design that has aged like wine.
I have a mid 90s Made in Japan Jazmaster (and a Jaguar) - and the bridges on those were not good You either had to put extremely heavy strings on, or not hit or bend them - as they would pop out of the slots. Putting Mastery bridges on both fixed those problems. The Jazzmaster, which was a Limited Edition, is a really nice play - but has a almost Ibanez like (skinny) neck profile, but with a 9.5in fret board radius (I think) The Jaguar has an earth fault I need to trace, despite having actual mm thick copper plates in all the cavities....
I feel the same way- I got my first in 2015.... it's really the best of everything. I love the trem system, love the pickups, the feel, the rhythm circuit.... I wish I would have got one 30 years ago. Great vid, and playing.
I had one. It works a lot better on paper than in real life. The rhythm circuit is a great idea. When just jamming you don't really use it. Maybe for multi layer studio recordings it's wonderful. The trem stinks. The pickups are their own thing so YMMV on those.
Fabulous looking and sounding partscaster there, Chris. Great to hear Golden Era getting a shout out, been following Scott's work since his SC Customs days and he does some mighty fine work.
As a recent convert to Jazzmasters and offsets, welcome to the club. My biggest problem is nobody makes an offset that has the features I want so am forced to build my own. The Fender custom shop won't even make them. In the last couple of years I think I've built 3 and picked up 3 more to mod. All of these years of collecting Teles and Strats seems like collecting Enron stock now.
Lovely guitars - nice to hear how versatile they are. I may get one someday - it’s on my list for sure. Thanks Chris - great video as per usual. Happy New Year to you. 👍
You are correct in stating that the Jazzmaster missed its original intended market - Jazz players. However, before its adoption by the alternative / indie scene, it was widely adopted by surf rock guitarists from the early/mid sixties onwards.
For a sort of modern take on the Jazzmaster but crosscut with some Gibson DNA, give a try of a Baum Wingman at some point. Beautiful and pristine playing modern guitar designs out of Aarhaus, made very well in Korea and Q.C'd in Denmark. I prefer the Bigsby trem on the Wingman to my Mustang. The pickups are a fatter sound than a JM too, and I also prefer having seperate full size large tone knobs for the pickups than those tiny fiddly rollers swhich aren't in a great location for quick live changes. Would like to pickup a Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster though, mainly for the pickups.
I picked up a Squier CV because I'm a huge Cure fanatic and overall 80s post punk / indie fan in general. It's an astonishingly good guitar for the price, but it is a project. Shim the neck, stop the bridge from rocking, etc. It's a lot. But it's worth it. I play it with 11 flats on it and it's a really cool machine.
Very Cool, Thankyou. Having never played an actual Jazzmaster, but being inspired by Elvis Costello, Robert Smith and other 'Offset' Players I purchased an Australian Company 'Artist Guitars' "Grungemaster" offset guitar. Such an amazing Guitar, minus the 'Rhythm Circuit' Switches it still as an Awesome sound unlike any of my other guitars. Amazing Guitar to play that inspires me to play at my best. All The Best. Cheers
Sounds killer! I really wish you'd do a review of the Squire Cabronita Thinline Telecaster. I has something like Jazzmaster pickups in it and I think sounds amazing! It's also affordable which is important to most of us here.
I absolutely adore my Mascis Squier. I've never played an "original" spec JM for more than a few minutes, the spacing of the vibrato is different on the Mascis as are the pickups slightly, but holy hell there's nothing about that guitar that I don't love. Amazing playing as usual Chris, thanks for dropping another vid on one of my favorite guitars!!
Not being dissuaded by a guitars reputation is what has recently led me to become a tele guy. I’m from a super country music mecca (Bakersfield) and I just thought of them as the country guitar. Come to find out they have what I want. The most from a Fender..maybe even from any guitar. I think I’ll have to try a Jazzmaster now though. I also, let that guitar stay in its reputational genre rather than actually giving one a try. I totally have the same opinion of strat terms as you.
1st time watching your vid/hearing your playing (extremely fluid, tasteful playing); I'm definitely of the indie/shoegaze/dreampop ilk and glad you mentioned several of the giants of (some of) my favorite music. Just for interest you might want to check out (if you are unaware) Adam Franklin (Swervedriver, Bolts of Melody, Toshack Highway), particularly any of the first 4 Swervedriver albums. Initially likened to early Dinosaur Jr., and really only adjacent to shoegaze/dreampop (I see him as more American guitar band influenced than the 1st wave of shoegaze artists). I've never owned a Jazzmaster (or Jaguar) but it's a nice reminder that it's something I should look into. And absolutely good on you for completely rocking blues w/ a Jazzmaster; fascinating history of missed marketing (albeit the genres that gave it new life didn't exist when it began). Ultimately it's not the guitar it's the player and you absolutely have the goods (and in this case might sway other blues aficionados to go with a less traditional "look" to rock their style. Happy new year, best of health and creativity to you.
Aha! I didn't actually although Arsenal (my team) played there not long before I was living there in the Europa League. If I'd been in Rennes then, I definitely would have tried to get tickets!
They too weedy.. Like the strat...they have a place but a lot of other guitars blow them out the water. Wicked playin tho as usual.. Your a beast my man
Love the opening progression. I hope to have a Jazzmaster someday. I tried one next to a Jag, fully expecting to like the Jaguar better with an easier scale length. But not at all.. that was my moment of awakening to the Jazzmaster. No need to explain, no one at the shop understood the controls.. I eventually set it down and reached for the simplicity of a Strat. But the JM is definitely on my radar now. (BTW. The short scale length works for me on a Mustang…. so the question now is which will be first, because I really feel comfortable on both the JM and Stang)
I too have ignored Jazzmasters over time. Just never got into them as a blues/rock/jazzer cat. I'm pretty much dedicated to Strats, Teles, Les Pauls and 335's. Will I try one at some point? Maybe, but at age 72 my eyes are now on hi-end archtops: a Gibson L5, Heritage Super Eagle or... a Benedetto! Big bucks for either the L5 or Benedetto's, for sure but one has to be focused at my point in life. Great playing as always. Cheers and Happy New Year! 🙂🙂
I was working at a guitar oriented music store in 2013 or 2014 when the Squire Mascis JM's came out. That was the first Squire guitar to really turn my head and take notice of the fact that things were changing for the better at Squire. Prior to the early/mid 2010's Squires had been really bad for years, which was a shame because I remember most of the Bullets from the 80's being way better than they had any right to be.
