Fender Gold Foil Jazzmaster 2023

[Wucan]

For those worried about inflation Fender prices aren't a good measurement stick for guitar prices in general. Fender themselves pump out MiM Charvels with much more expensive parts than their actual brand and charge several hundred dollars less. Bottom line is that the Fender brand nowadays is sold as a "luxury" regardless of their country of origin, build quality or parts used. You want to get your money's worth, you buy a Squier or from a different manufacturer altogether.

[andare]

Lots of hot takes here. Offset vibratos being better or easier to set up? Modern features being better? I think we all have different needs and tastes and different experiences.

The Stratocaster vibrato is amazing for me. It has a ton of range and I can choose how many springs to use plus I can adjust the claw so I can fine tune the tension and how much it floats. It does require teflon tape on the arm or a Callaham block with a plastic bushing but only if it starts to swing too much. I use a Classic Player Jazzmaster arm, which is too long for a Strat but it works for me because my natural picking spot is over the neck pickup. It allows me to be very precise and musical with the flutters and I can dive bomb it if I need to. The bridge doesn't rock and it is rock solid. A Strat works with all kinds of string gauges too.

My only experience with the offset vibrato is with the one in my 40th Anniversary Squier JM. I hammered the arm and it works fine. No clicking or scraping. However it's very hard to operate the lever and it has very little range. The bridge doesn't sink and it barely rocks with the vibrato. Maybe they fixed these issues this time around. This model has an angled neck pocket so it already has a good break angle over the saddles. With 9s it still buzzed a lot behind the bridge. I play 11s anyway and they are much better for the guitar and they suit my style but I can see how this would put off light gauge players.
It sounds amazing and it's refreshing after years with a Strat.

But no wonder most people play a Strat.

Apparently the Mustang vibrato is the best of both worlds but it's also hard to set up. Would love to try it.

There's room for everything!

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you when you say "it's very hard to operate the lever and it has very little range," but you can adjust both of those things with the spring tension screw, even on the unbranded version used on a Squier. They will never have as much upward travel as a Bigsby or as much downward travel as a Floyd but you can get roughly the range of a floating Strat, and with smoother, subtler articulation.

I mean it's physically hard to make the arm move even with the screw loosened. The spring is very strong.

[BoringPostcards]

Lots of hot takes here. Offset vibratos being better or easier to set up? Modern features being better? I think we all have different needs and tastes and different experiences.

The Stratocaster vibrato is amazing for me. It has a ton of range and I can choose how many springs to use plus I can adjust the claw so I can fine tune the tension and how much it floats. It does require teflon tape on the arm or a Callaham block with a plastic bushing but only if it starts to swing too much. I use a Classic Player Jazzmaster arm, which is too long for a Strat but it works for me because my natural picking spot is over the neck pickup. It allows me to be very precise and musical with the flutters and I can dive bomb it if I need to. The bridge doesn't rock and it is rock solid. A Strat works with all kinds of string gauges too.

My only experience with the offset vibrato is with the one in my 40th Anniversary Squier JM. I hammered the arm and it works fine. No clicking or scraping. However it's very hard to operate the lever and it has very little range. The bridge doesn't sink and it barely rocks with the vibrato. Maybe they fixed these issues this time around. This model has an angled neck pocket so it already has a good break angle over the saddles. With 9s it still buzzed a lot behind the bridge. I play 11s anyway and they are much better for the guitar and they suit my style but I can see how this would put off light gauge players.
It sounds amazing and it's refreshing after years with a Strat.

But no wonder most people play a Strat.

Apparently the Mustang vibrato is the best of both worlds but it's also hard to set up. Would love to try it.

There's room for everything!

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you when you say "it's very hard to operate the lever and it has very little range," but you can adjust both of those things with the spring tension screw, even on the unbranded version used on a Squier. They will never have as much upward travel as a Bigsby or as much downward travel as a Floyd but you can get roughly the range of a floating Strat, and with smoother, subtler articulation.

I mean it's physically hard to make the arm move even with the screw loosened. The spring is very strong.

It really shouldn’t be like that at all. It should be smooth and easy to operate. Those Squier units aren’t very good.

[andare]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you when you say "it's very hard to operate the lever and it has very little range," but you can adjust both of those things with the spring tension screw, even on the unbranded version used on a Squier. They will never have as much upward travel as a Bigsby or as much downward travel as a Floyd but you can get roughly the range of a floating Strat, and with smoother, subtler articulation.

I mean it's physically hard to make the arm move even with the screw loosened. The spring is very strong.

It really shouldn’t be like that at all. It should be smooth and easy to operate. Those Squier units aren’t very good.

Mine is very stable and sturdy but it's hard to push and it has very little range. If I get an AVRI is it as soft as a Strat vibrato to push?

[Embenny]

Honestly, I find jazzmaster vibratos softer to the touch and more controllable than strat vibratos.

But that's comparing a JM to a strat with a standard arm. I'm sure the extra arm length on yours makes the strat much easier to depress than usual (due to increased leverage).

[gishuk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3OllQGNpdc

Lemmo playing the new goldfoil tele, for hearing what these might sound like in a far better context than that earlier video!

[sugarandopium]

I like the jazzmaster a lot.
I agree it would’ve been much cooler with the real vibrato but I don’t hate bigsbys.
Between the ebony board, red burst, mahogany body, jag switch plate, matching headstock, bridge which I assume will have the same saddles as the Ampro/tvl which impart a nice tone….

Then we have so many modding options with an exsisting 3 pickup route will give, with possibly no routing or just a touch of the dremel and routing bit (Firebird pickups, 3 jaguar pups, a thousand other possibilities)
There’s alot to like in this.

I’m a sucker for white blonde and ebony fretboards so I’m even more taken with the tele. Absolutely love it.

[Kihtaristi]

I've tried watching a bunch of video demos, and explanations of Gold Foil pickups, and I'm not any closer to figuring out what they are. It seems that the only thing they all have in common is the cover is a gold coloured grill. Which as far as I can tell has no tonal impact. One guy said they're basically a way for pickup companies to experiment.

Or do I have this wrong and there is indeed a particular Gold Foil tone that people would expect a guitar like this to have? And if so, any links to a guitar being demoed that has that?

So my understanding is that goldfoils were a pickup made with cheaper materials and construction. Instead of your usual alnico bar or strips of magnets they are made of rubberised magnets (the same type that fridge magnets use). Wire was then wrapped around this magnet and et voila you have a pickup. The gold foil was put on top of this and then the casing put on purely for aesthetic purposes. There are a few different types but this is generally what is meant when talking about gold foil pickups.
They are relatively low output and so I usually use them with an always on boost to make them a bit livelier.
A lot of production gold foils are just standard pickups with a gold foil aesthetic. This new Fender guitar has mini humbuckers that look like gold foils, completely different.

This video is what made me try some out for myself. Without going all buzz wordy to describe their sound I would say they are clear sounding with no scoop or boost across the frequency range. Good note separation.

https://youtu.be/l2E_HCaW1Js

Good desctiption. The gold foils I've tried have been quite full sounding, lows and highs both there and nice note separation. Not the best pickups for tight rhythm rock tones (or heavier) IMO.

Fender custom shop has used Gold Foils in some of their guitars built by Carlos Lopez, but I think those were Curtis Novak gold foil humbuckers (or based on those) that were little wider. No idea how these compare.

few clips on those:
https://youtu.be/V4upZvsk_rU
https://youtu.be/h3h1Z1PXquY

[Steadyriot.]

I would not be the least bit surprised if the pickups in these are the Roswell Gold Foil Mini Humbuckers.
The paranormal XII also had Roswell pickups IIRC, as are the Squier CV pickups.

If they are, that’d make them Firebird pickups. I bet they’ll sound pretty good.

[gutter rock]

Not for me. I think they missed the mark here by not making them Squiers as well. If you are gonna try to get the vibe of cheap mail order/off brand guitars, the Fender name and price tag makes no sense. It’s like if Ford reissued the Pinto under the Lincoln brand. To be fair I hate Bigsbys though.

[RT60]

Fender custom shop has used Gold Foils in some of their guitars built by Carlos Lopez, but I think those were Curtis Novak gold foil humbuckers (or based on those) that were little wider. No idea how these compare.

The Magico Tele from a couple years back had proper Teisco-style rubber-magnet gold foils that were made in-house by Fender to Ron Thorn's specs. I'm surprised they haven't popped up on anything else. They are very good.

Ron Thorn has used Lollar GFs on some of his masterbuilts as well.

[GreenKnee]

I've just had a wave of anger that Fender has called these the Gold Foil collection. If you're pushing the pickups so much why not just include actual gold foils!?

This is the Blue Guitar collection*

*Guitars are actually only available in red

[JSett]

I would not be the least bit surprised if the pickups in these are the Roswell Gold Foil Mini Humbuckers.
The paranormal XII also had Roswell pickups IIRC, as are the Squier CV pickups.

If they are, that’d make them Firebird pickups. I bet they’ll sound pretty good.

Are the Roswell ones even real Firebirds?

[Embenny]

I would not be the least bit surprised if the pickups in these are the Roswell Gold Foil Mini Humbuckers.
The paranormal XII also had Roswell pickups IIRC, as are the Squier CV pickups.

If they are, that’d make them Firebird pickups. I bet they’ll sound pretty good.

Are the Roswell ones even real Firebirds?

The diagram on their web site shows two bar magnets within the bobbins, so that would be true firebird construction.

Makes sense, the pickups sound very good in the demo, and noiseless. I adore firebird pickups, far more so than actual goldfoils.

The thing is, it's easy to put firebirds in a Fender, especially with the number of humbucker routs in their bodies, so you wouldn't need to get any of these models to do that.

[JSett]

I would not be the least bit surprised if the pickups in these are the Roswell Gold Foil Mini Humbuckers.
The paranormal XII also had Roswell pickups IIRC, as are the Squier CV pickups.

If they are, that’d make them Firebird pickups. I bet they’ll sound pretty good.

Are the Roswell ones even real Firebirds?

The diagram on their web site shows two bar magnets within the bobbins, so that would be true firebird construction.

Ahh, that's good to know. I didn't actually click the link, truth be told