Yo forum. Today I scored my first JM for a hundo and I'm pretty stoked. It's a squier but it's been upgraded with a real Fender vibrato and bridge and the pickups are apparently some hand wound ones. It does need some love, though, as the rhythm circuit doesn't work and the jack is intermittent.

So I'm going to have it apart for a cleaning and mild rework and when it goes back together I'll be replacing the 9s or maybe 10s that are on it now. My question is this: flatwound 12s or flatwound 13s? I want to keep it pretty much authentic to how these things were back when. So stock bridge and all that. I'm just wondering if the communal wisdom on these things would prefer one set to the other and why.

Thanks!

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Last edited: Apr 10, 2019 17:51:57

Nice score! I'd be stoked, too, if I picked up a Squier JM with a real Fender whammy and bridge for a hundo. Congrats. I have flatwound 11s on mine, so I would probably vote for the 12s.

-Tim
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Redfeather wrote:

My question is this: flatwound 12s or flatwound 13s? I want to keep it pretty much authentic to how these things were back when. So stock bridge and all that. I'm just wondering if the communal wisdom on these things would prefer one set to the other and why.

My opinion is by no means in the expert category of others here but I have always liked 12's on my JM and 13's on both my Jags. That way I get approximately the same picking resistance and feel on both due to their difference in scale length. Both guitars benefit from heavy strings to put sufficient pressure on the stock bridge to help keep rattle to a minimum - as long as the bridge saddles (barrels) are properly adjusted so that both height adjustment screws are resting with equal pressure against the "floor" of the bridge plate, with the barrels level.

Back when I was young and played loud and hard I used 14's on my JM, so you have lots of room to move from 12's.

Congratulations and wishing you many happy years of playing, sounds like you scored righteously!!!!!

Member in good standing, Mentone Beach Syncopation Reverberation Association

Last edited: Apr 08, 2019 20:02:51

Well, I got it worked over and strung up with flatwound 12s. It does play like butter, owing to pretty low action, and that's good. But I do kind of wish I had gone with 13s. No worries, though. I'll just swap up when these ones wear out in 30 years.

Also, damn! Jazzmasters are really bright! Even with flatwounds. When I had it apart I found that the pickups are Bullocks and maybe that's a contributing factor as well.

Finally, I have to say that while I'm enjoying the JM "thing", I'm certainly nowhere near being converted from Strats. The JM feels super long and kind of awkward in comparison. But the sound is way different and the smooth and subtle vibrato is VERY nice. Also, rakes behind the bridge are kinda fun.

Ok now what's this? What's all this rattling going on with the bridge? A little Misirlou and now it's all rattly?

Is one hour really how long it takes to discover the "charm" of Jazzmasters that everyone's always complaining about? I was really hoping to keep this thing stock for the authentic Fender experience but if this is how bad the experience is gonna be, I'm decking the bridge and swapping in my leftover Kahler roller saddles. Christ, Leo. Is Autumn in New York truly the limit of the Jazzmaster's hardware?

And Tqi... uhhhhh, ahem. I thought you knew... I bought a Gomez Surfer off a forum member a while back... And I feel guilty every time you post in your build thread. Which hasn't been much lately but it looks like the guilt is about to resume! Which I'm happy for, actually. Home stretch, buddy!

There’s a lot of inherent brightness in a jm. It’s the bridge, the extra string length behind it, the pickups and electronics.
There are plenty of ways to throw money at it, and some of them very worthy, but start with the time knob, and mess around with that more than you might on any other guitar.

SilverFlash wrote:

This link: http://www.squier-talk.com/threads/adjusting-a-jazzmaster-type-bridge.78986/ has some good tips.

Thanks, SilverFlash, for the pointer to this helpful explainer!

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 14:48:50

I was afraid someone was gonna say that. I added a couple shots for you.

Does the bridge height look normal? I lowered it a bunch from how it was when I got it and had to shim the neck on the high end to regain string action. I like my strings to be as low at the bridge as possible because I find it much more comfortable to play surf guitar that way.

I'm still considering a roller saddle swap and lowering the bridge all the way to the pickguard. In fact, I'm even considering cutting a hole in the pickguard to allow the bridge to sit right on the guitar body.

This would make the string break angle damn near zero, I know, but with roller saddles that shouldn't be a problem.

Just looking at the bridge height, I'd shim the neck to increase break angle and raise the bridge posts. At the very least, I'd raise the bridge, and lower the saddles.