Thin line Jazzmasters?

[RocknRollShakeUp]

I've wanted one of these for a while, but the price makes my stomach hurt. haha
https://reverb.com/item/23690400-cohnwa ... -jm-guitar
If it's a good built, I'm sure it is worth every penny, though.

That looks really nice, but there are some questionable choices on the hardware. Non-AVRI trem, wide spacing adjustable bridge, F tuners. I guess a Buzz Stop is sacrilege in 2019, but I've never tried one to confirm whether the bad reputation is deserved. None of these are dealbreakers, but if you're already charging over $2000, seems like you should just use all higher end parts and charge $50 more for the guitar in my opinion.

Yeah I agree.

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Going the “partsmaster” route here.

There’s never been an official Fender Jazzmaster Thinline that I’m aware of; “close” boutique options like Bilt, Lincoln, or Jennings are variations on shapes but not close enough if you’re set on Jazz / Jag specific form factors and appointments. Warmoth bodies aren’t true semihollow and aren’t down with OPP (other people’s pickguards). Saylor bodies are affordable but will require elbow grease and finishing (and the bridge post holes are too small and slightly misplaced, requiring a drill press or patience and a sandpaper wrapped dowel to correct.)

Great info thanks!

So are there other makers that offer a properly done and otherwise to spec thinline JM body?

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Going the “partsmaster” route here.

There’s never been an official Fender Jazzmaster Thinline that I’m aware of

There has actually. It was an MIJ limited release that came in black or natural, double-bound body as well as a bound neck, no contours and without an f-hole. But they seem really rare.

For whatever reason I can't post pictures from my work computer but here's one in black and here's one in natural

How fookin’ cool! I want that black one.

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Only ever seen one MiJ jm hollowbody for sale in oz, and that was second hand.
Heard they were limited to Japan.

the jag thinlines were available everywhere

I’m going to keep my eye out on one of those MIJ’s!

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Only ever seen one MiJ jm hollowbody for sale in oz, and that was second hand.
Heard they were limited to Japan.

the jag thinlines were available everywhere

I’m going to keep my eye out on one of those MIJ’s!

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Only ever seen one MiJ jm hollowbody for sale in oz, and that was second hand.
Heard they were limited to Japan.

the jag thinlines were available everywhere

I think about a handful made it to Europe, or at least I seem to remember having the opportunity to buy one for much too much money. But it could just have been someone who privately imported it from Japan. No clue if any got to the US. Either way the OP is probably better of with a custom build or a parts guitar than trying to track one down, but they do exist.

I guess it’s looking like either a PartsMaster..or maybe a Bilt, but I can take my time with this, I’m not in a hurry!

[RocknRollShakeUp]

To me, a Bilt is not only like the coolest thing in the world of non-huge-corporation guitars, but also the best value, even though they recently raised their prices a little. For a Zaftig to be less than $3,000, to me, is insane. I think they’re like $2,300 new, same as an AV65 Jazzmaster but it’s wholly custom and every piece of it crafted and attached by hand... if yr trying to get something “cheap” then I’m sure you could get the stuff for $800-$1,000 and if yr proficient enough put it all together and if not, pay someone another ~$500 or whatever to paint it and assemble for you.

If I had the money though 10 times out of 10 I’m going with the Bilt.

Great points...I agree it seems like one gets killer value with the Bilts. I’m going to seriously consider them. They seem to be very serious and consistent and I haven’t heard of people getting burned by them as others have with some of the smaller operations.

Have you ever played one in person? I haven’t myself so if/when I go for it I may have to take a leap of faith unfortunately.

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Saylor guitars on eBay is where I got the body for my thin line JM build. It's gone now, but it was a damn good guitar. Nice and resonant for a jazzmaster. The body was really nice (although I wish it had contours) but overall it felt just as good quality as the other parts I put on there.



Thread if you're curious --> viewtopic.php?f=8&t=100185

Awesome JM!

Great to know and thank you for that link, I shall check it out !

[RocknRollShakeUp]

I want one of these. You can totally custom order one and they really aren't too expensive all things considered.

https://jenningsguitars.com/voyager-deluxe/

Oh wow, intriguing, thanks for making me hip to these.
I’ll be looking to see if they do a true JM vibrato.

[RocknRollShakeUp]

There has actually. It was an MIJ limited release that came in black or natural, double-bound body as well as a bound neck, no contours and without an f-hole. But they seem really rare.

Oh, those. No f-hole, no deal.

Oh damn I am doing this under time pressure and didn’t notice that there was no F hole!? ... yeah I’m into the F hole too.. I need F hole

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Saylor guitars on eBay is where I got the body for my thin line JM build. It's gone now, but it was a damn good guitar. Nice and resonant for a jazzmaster. The body was really nice (although I wish it had contours) but overall it felt just as good quality as the other parts I put on there.



Thread if you're curious --> viewtopic.php?f=8&t=100185

Man, that's sexy.

Yeah for real!

I’m starting to think that a thinline JM is going to become an obsession!

[adamrobertt]

I want one of these. You can totally custom order one and they really aren't too expensive all things considered.

https://jenningsguitars.com/voyager-deluxe/

Oh wow, intriguing, thanks for making me hip to these.
I’ll be looking to see if they do a true JM vibrato.

They do. They offer Mastery bridges and tremolos

[RocknRollShakeUp]

I want one of these. You can totally custom order one and they really aren't too expensive all things considered.

https://jenningsguitars.com/voyager-deluxe/

Oh wow, intriguing, thanks for making me hip to these.
I’ll be looking to see if they do a true JM vibrato.

They do. They offer Mastery bridges and tremolos

Nice!

[Mechanical Birds]

To me, a Bilt is not only like the coolest thing in the world of non-huge-corporation guitars, but also the best value, even though they recently raised their prices a little. For a Zaftig to be less than $3,000, to me, is insane. I think they’re like $2,300 new, same as an AV65 Jazzmaster but it’s wholly custom and every piece of it crafted and attached by hand... if yr trying to get something “cheap” then I’m sure you could get the stuff for $800-$1,000 and if yr proficient enough put it all together and if not, pay someone another ~$500 or whatever to paint it and assemble for you.

If I had the money though 10 times out of 10 I’m going with the Bilt.

Great points...I agree it seems like one gets killer value with the Bilts. I’m going to seriously consider them. They seem to be very serious and consistent and I haven’t heard of people getting burned by them as others have with some of the smaller operations.

Have you ever played one in person? I haven’t myself so if/when I go for it I may have to take a leap of faith unfortunately.

Unfortunately, no :/ they don’t really have dealers like all of their stuff is completely custom - like you can make damn sure that if you get something from them is going to have like unparalleled attention to detail at every stage. You’ll only have two people every touch your guitar until you receive it and that’s manifested into a zero lemon kind of existence. You can customize like, anything, I’m pretty sure - exact neck sizes in ever spot and fret wire and pickup config, whatever bridge, etc. etc. etc. some of those cost money if they’re upgrades specifically but if it’s just an altered stock spec like nut width or radius I think it’s included.

There are a small handful of stores who I guess you could call ‘dealers’ but even then, it’s just the shop ordering a handful of custom guitars where they specify everything, and then they maybe sell them for a slight markup. Chicago Music Wxchange is one such spot. There’s a guy with a reverb shop from Maryland that I happened to find out about a couple days before leaving WV to visit Washington DC for the first time who will have a few here and there, so I got all psyched at the thought of getting to try them out. I messaged him and found out it was strictly an online business and not only that, but that he would ONLY ship the guitars and didn’t want people coming to his house to try any of his inventory. I sort of understood because this guy had the inventory of like, what would be an amazing brick and mortar spot, so it’d make me anxious to let strangers know where the hundreds of guitars and amps and drums and keyboards and everything else he had were because people are shit and that opens you up to all sorts of potentially bad situations. Still, though, really wish I could have tried one of those guitars!

My posts are long, sorry, and though I haven’t played one, the only thing I’ve ever even remotely seen approach any kind of negativity was when Maggie got her Zaftig and someone before her had fucked the setup something awful to where she thought it was horrible. Then after she got it setup was like “oh no it’s an incredible guitar for sure.” I think she sold it anyway haha - brass tacks though, it’s not like a Nash or even Danocaster (definitely a cut above the former) thing where they’re getting precut parts and painting them to look cool for you - like these guys are straight up carving from scratch yr guitar and at every step of the process making sure that it’s as absolutely great as it can possibly be.

It’s weird being a fanboy for a thing you’ve never even seen in person, but the first time I ever saw one of their guitars I remember thinking like “THIS IS WHERE THE ELECTRIC GUITAR SHOULD HAVE GONE WHY DID THE 70s HAVE TO BE THE 70s”

To me they’re not only an insane value for the attention to detail and customization options, but they’re also the coolest looking thing that isn’t a LPB 66 Jaguar. Ugh I need to get one!

[Mechanical Birds]

I just checked out the Jennings things for the first time and I ain’t mad at it. Looks with anything are a subjective thing but for the money, again I’d plug BilT 10/10 between the two.