NGD (No Ghosts Day): Haint Blue '73 Jazzmaster
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 8:14 am
I had mostly given up on Jazzmasters. I'd prefer a BilT or Novo over the reissues, and the older ones are mostly out of reach. I've been playing Jags lately with my band. But I had kept in mind a birth-year Jazzmaster as a potentially affordable option. OSGer edwardskim picked up this refretted and refinned player's grade '73 as a really nice bargain a couple of months ago and then sold it to someone who decided he preferred Teles. So it ended up with me.
Overall, I like it a lot, and the things that I might change are all reasonable projects. It plays really well with the new frets. The neck is comfortable, though oddly it seems to be thickest near the headstock. Sonic Blue isn't my favorite color, but it's growing on me, and a refin can be refinned (if I could find a color that looks good with an unfinished headstock and B&B—maybe Sherwood Green or Firemist SIlver). The PV65 pickups are much better than I remember from when I tried out a TVLJM. I still might swap in a JM-V/JM-T set, but these are good. The bridge works well for now, and I'm pretty certain I found a pair of Staytrem conversion thimbles in my parts drawer, so it might be an easy swap.
Overall, I like it a lot, and the things that I might change are all reasonable projects. It plays really well with the new frets. The neck is comfortable, though oddly it seems to be thickest near the headstock. Sonic Blue isn't my favorite color, but it's growing on me, and a refin can be refinned (if I could find a color that looks good with an unfinished headstock and B&B—maybe Sherwood Green or Firemist SIlver). The PV65 pickups are much better than I remember from when I tried out a TVLJM. I still might swap in a JM-V/JM-T set, but these are good. The bridge works well for now, and I'm pretty certain I found a pair of Staytrem conversion thimbles in my parts drawer, so it might be an easy swap.