Got a 62 AVRI Thin Skin, tone seems darkish/dullish

[jyrkki]

Hey guys! I got a 2008 62' AVRI Thin Skin Jazzmaster, which is my first JM short of a Squier JMJM. It's full stock (even had the certificate and sticker and such ) with a fresh pair of strings. And I've got a few questions:

1) It might just be me, since I've been a strat player most of my life, but I was expecting it to have more chime, dynamics in the bridge/middle position. Feels sort of darkish, dullish. Is that normal or does anyone have any idea how to make it a little brighter? Would post soundclips, but I don't have the gear at the moment. Might try working around it soon.
2) Is higher action something I have to learn to live with? I mean it's not TOO high, but I've always played with relatively low action on my strat. And the JM came with the description that it's "set up for low action". I can manage with the action but I would prefer to have it a bit lower.

I have a set of Lollars lying around which I ordered for the JMJM. I thought that maybe I'd stick the stock AVRIs into the JMJM and the Lollars into the Thin Skin. How would that affect the brightness/darkness issue? I've also got a Staytrem bridge waiting to be put in, right now I'm testing the original bridge. I expected it to be wonkier, I really don't have any real complaints about it yet

Thx for any feedback.

[Francer]

I have an AV65, so not quite the same as you, I've certainly never found it lacking brightness in standard trim. You could try tinkering with pickup height and see if that changes anything. Otherwise, has someone switched out the pots? I don't know for sure what standard AVRI62 pots should be, I'd guess at 1M, if you have lower values in there, it will darken the tone.

As for the action, given the guitar has the same scale length as your Strat and your JMJM, you should be able to achieve a similar action (in theory, at least). Maybe get a luthier to give it a look over, and take your Strat along for reference.

[jyrkki]

Yeah, I haven't had the time yet to give it a setup myself. Since this has been like a dream guitar for me and I had really huge expectations, I got real worried real fast

I'll try giving it a setup myself. I don't think the pots have been changed, that's what the dealer said atleast. I might post clips if I get the chance to demonstrate any differences with setups. I guess I've calmed down for now and will try tinkering with it a bit. Thanks for the reply

[Larry Mal]

If there's anything a Jazzmaster has, it's high end. I'd really be sure to dial in the setup, especially the height of the pickups, before writing it off as "dark" and replacing the pickups.

[jyrkki]

If there's anything a Jazzmaster has, it's high end. I'd really be sure to dial in the setup, especially the height of the pickups, before writing it off as "dark" and replacing the pickups.

Yeah, that's why it really struck me as odd, since I've heard/read so much about their top end and people replacing pots etc.

[Jaguar018]

Dumb question, but have you tried to fiddle with the switch on the horn of the guitar?

[spacecadet]

2) Is higher action something I have to learn to live with? I mean it's not TOO high, but I've always played with relatively low action on my strat. And the JM came with the description that it's "set up for low action". I can manage with the action but I would prefer to have it a bit lower.

So lower it. Action on Jazzmasters is fully adjustable.

If your bridge is fully lowered already, just add a neck shim. This will require you to unbolt the neck, but that *is* probably something you should learn to deal with. My AVRI needed another shim from the factory. There's no shame in it; Jazzmasters were made to be shimmed. (The AV65's finally changed this, but yours is not one of those.)

As for your tone, check the relationship between pickup height and string height. It sounds like your bridge might be too high and your pickups too low.

Basically everything on a Jazzmaster can be adjusted to taste.