NGD: 2017 MIJ 60s Traditional Jazzmaster

[garyfanclub]

Here it is...



Loving it so far! Long time Jag guy, and I think I’ve been in denial with regard to how cramped that neck can be, especially up high. Otherwise, super familiar format, basically feels like a big Jag (duh!).

First impression is that the fit and finish are excellent - the guitar feels very solid, the finish, while poly, is impeccable. No issues with the fretboard either, great dark color, and no sharp frets. Feels very intentionally and professionally built. Light weight too, probably about 8 lbs.

Favorite thing so far is the neck - wow, feels perfect. I’m a bit of a purist, and if it’s an offset it’s got to be vintage frets and 7.5, and these are very well executed here - shape is closer to a D shape, and is extremely quick and playable. As noted above, fretboard is in excellent shape.

Sonically, the guitar just chimes acoustically - it’s what got me when I first picked up. Super super resonant, and light to boot. Despite the poly, this JM just rings like a champ. Love it!

Plugged in, sounds alright, maybe a little brighter than I’d hoped, but not awful. I use the rhythm switch quite a bit to vary where I sit in the mix, and the brightness is actually an advantage here - bridge pickup, not so much... If anything, I’d like more woodiness and midrange, but response and attack is fine on these.

Reading the posts here, I was thinking these pickups would sound like total unusable trash (thinking Cort Strat 80s pawnshop guitar, what you played in your high school guitar class) but it’s not nearly that bad. Great? No. Enjoyable enough for me to play at home through my Microcube with headphones on? Definitely

Needless to say AV65 pickups are on the way, but bottom line is you could eeek by with these if you had to.

Found a Johnny Marr bridge on Reverb, so that’s on its way too. Learned my lesson with the old school bridge about ten years ago, hah!

So now the big question - how’s it compare to....etc.

Haven’t played an AV65 in years, but this is about on par or maybe a pinch nicer than the MIM lacquers I’ve tried. Fit and finish feels much more solid, and the neck feels (despite poly) less sticky and plasticy. Also, I like surf green, but the MIM 60s look a bit cartoonish, which ruled those out for me.

Can’t comment on the electronics quality, sounded like JM when I played one?

Alright now for the Q and A:
- Tort? Mint?
- Witch Hats (was thinking some aluminum knobs would look cool with the white pickguard)
- replace the electronics w 500k pots and premium everything? Probably not necessary, right?
-

[pikmin]

From what I understood and read , the newer pickups on CIJ Jazzmaster are better .
If it’s like the ones on the 2018 60s traditional CIJ ( Blue Flower and pink paisly) , it sounds like these have better pickups ...

[Haustnótt]

Learned my lesson with the old school bridge about ten years ago, hah!

You'll find that the stock bridge is less of a problem on a Jazzmaster than a Jaguar, if you use the same string gauge. If you use something like 12–50 on a Jazzmaster, there are no problems with a properly set up stock bridge of good quality. For the same amount of downward pressure on a Jaguar, you must use 13–56 or thereabouts. I find that flatwounds sit better than roundwounds on the stock bridge, and in my opinion they sound a lot better too. I strongly recommend Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Swing 12–50. Brighter and less stiff than many flatwounds, and they last forever. A bit pricey, but the longevity more than makes up for that.

- replace the electronics w 500k pots and premium everything? Probably not necessary, right?

Changing to 500K pots reduces the resonant spike in the treble considerably, so your Jazzmaster will sound quite a bit darker. But they will also give you are more even taper on the tone control.

I think the best thing you can do for your Jazzmaster, if the electronics are okay, is shielding it. Aluminium or copper under the pickguard and in the control cavity, connected to ground, will create a Faraday cage, greatly reducing EMI noise. This does nothing to reduce single-coil hum, but gets rid of that continuous buzz almost completely.