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Hey everyone,
I just got around to looking at this string. I thought it fair to mention
that I have two Fender Japan guitars. I got them last year right before the
WTC disaster. They're this incredible metallic deep blue color, and I LOVE
them. I got a jag AND a jazzmaster. A friend of mine went on a trip to Japan
and went into a guitar shop there and KABANG! there were these jag and
jazz'z and 'stangs in crazy colors he'd never seen before. Being a smooth
talker, he kind of built a quick friendship in one of the clerks and
well...Fender Japan DOES export now, they just don't know it yet.
As for the guitars...
I have mixed emotions. They're beautiful and play GREAT. The
craftsmanship is incredible, but...
For starters, they still come with those suck-ass threaded bridge
saddles. BUH-BYE! replaced both with mustang bridges.
The pickups on the Jazzmaster HAD to GO! They WERE strat pickups!
$130 bucks later, I was two Seymour Duncan Vintage Jazzmaster pickups closer
to good tone.
The Jaguar sounded KILLER right out of the case, but when I took the
pickguard off to inspect the wiring and switch componentry, one of the
screws had a very poor alignment job and was barely into the wood of the
guitar. I would say right now my jag is my favorite guitar. I go through
phases, so I'm sure next month the Jazzmaster will be king...but for now...
-Dano
>From: "ohsyrus" <>
>Reply-To:
>To:
>Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: Jaguars and Jazzmasters
>Date: Mon, 03 Jun 2002 14:57:14 -0000
>
>I want to extend my appreciation to all who responding to my request
>for advice and I thought you might be curious as to the outcome.
>
>The Jag I had a chance to play, so I know pretty much what it is
>(although without the proper strings), however, I've never had the
>privilege to try out a JM. So that's what I ordered, sight unseen,
>from one of these web outfits with a 30 day happy, happy, joy, joy
>policy. I wanted to get both, frankly, but SWMBO said, what, do you
>have 4 arms? The argument that swayed me the most came from Ivan's
>list of 3rd wave JM players. I love everyone on that list.
>
>So now, final question--how do the Seymour Duncan JM pups compare
>with the AV stock pups? Any advantage to SD's souped up versions like
>the "hot" JM, or the 1/4 lb JM? Opinions?
>
>thanx!
>
>
>--- In SurfGuitar101@y..., "Brian Neal" <bneal@z...> wrote:
> > I don't know much about MBV or Sonic Youth (didn't these guys put
>pickups
> > BEHIND the bridge?), but Mr. Cobain had humbuckers in his Jag.
>Davie Allan
> > (King Fuzz) gets massive amounts of grunge from his Jazzmaster (it
>sounds
> > like a Harley Davidson!), but he too, I think, has humbuckers in
>his guitar.
> >
> > The Japanese Jazzmasters from the mid-80's to early 90's supposedly
>have
> > strat like pickups in them underneath the wide pickup cover. A lot
>of people
> > seem to replace them. Over at The Fender Forum, there is news that
>Fender
> > Japan is making Jaguars and Jazzmasters again, this time with much
>better
> > components and maybe even better pickups (everyone is wondering
>about this
> > since the first Japanese reissues were pretty poor). They offer
>lots of
> > color choices and even some non-standard options like a hard tail
>bridge and
> > humbuckers. They are not importing them to the US though, although
>some
> > dealers in Europe are individually scooping some up. There are also
>a few
> > people who are buying directly from Fender Japan.
> >
> > Davie Allan and The Arrows:
> > Fender Forum:
> >
> > BN
>
>
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Hey Dano,
So did you play the Jazzmaster pickups to see if you would like them, or did
you replace them out of principle because they were narrow Strat pickups?
Thanks for chiming in on this one. Lots of people are wondering about these
guitars as they are cheaper than the AV reissues, albeit you have to
possibly go through customs, etc. (except in your case..ha-ha).
Deep metallic blue? I wonder if that is the Japanese version of Lake Placid
Blue?
Thanks,
BN
> -----Original Message-----
> From: -=Dan Ware=- [mailto:]
> Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 10:38 AM
> To:
> Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Show up a little later next time Dano...Jaguars
> and Jazzmasters
>
>
> Hey everyone,
>
> I just got around to looking at this string. I thought it fair
> to mention
> that I have two Fender Japan guitars. I got them last year right
> before the
> WTC disaster. They're this incredible metallic deep blue color,
> and I LOVE
> them. I got a jag AND a jazzmaster. A friend of mine went on a
> trip to Japan
> and went into a guitar shop there and KABANG! there were these jag and
> jazz'z and 'stangs in crazy colors he'd never seen before. Being a smooth
> talker, he kind of built a quick friendship in one of the clerks and
> well...Fender Japan DOES export now, they just don't know it yet.
>
> As for the guitars...
>
> I have mixed emotions. They're beautiful and play GREAT. The
> craftsmanship is incredible, but...
>
> For starters, they still come with those suck-ass threaded bridge
> saddles. BUH-BYE! replaced both with mustang bridges.
>
> The pickups on the Jazzmaster HAD to GO! They WERE strat pickups!
> $130 bucks later, I was two Seymour Duncan Vintage Jazzmaster
> pickups closer
> to good tone.
>
> The Jaguar sounded KILLER right out of the case, but when I took the
> pickguard off to inspect the wiring and switch componentry, one of the
> screws had a very poor alignment job and was barely into the wood of the
> guitar. I would say right now my jag is my favorite guitar. I go through
> phases, so I'm sure next month the Jazzmaster will be king...but
> for now...
>
> -Dano
>
Brian,
It IS their version of it. At least on the invoice, the ONE thing in
english is the item line, and they're tagging it with "LPB".
As for gear selection goes, I'm kind of a "go with what works" kind of
guy. I started the jazzmaster out with the stock strat-style pickups, and
then later (about 2 months), after I felt familiar with the sound, I ordered
the SD Vintage Jazzmaster pickups, and soldered them in to see what the
difference was. To my ears, the main difference was suddenly my blackface
showman sounded like someone just injected it with 'roids. The power gain
was just incredible, and what I REALLY like was that I could back the
pickups WAY down from the strings.
If the original pickups sounded that nice, I would have kept them, but
they didn't.
I've actually found that I really like the playability of both my Fenders
when I keep the distance between the strings and the pickup tops a distance
equal to the thickness of a number 2 pencil . I've read that a lot of people
tend to raise the pickups too close to the strings, and the magnets actually
pull on the strings, which causes the length of sustain to drop off
considerably. As long as you don't panic when you see that distance between
pickups and strings, and trust your ears, I think you'll appreciate the
improvement. Overall, I LOVE the guitars and I think when all was said and
done I got a jazzmaster, a jaguar, and matching black cases with silver
hardware for just under $1500.00.
-Dano
>From: "Brian Neal" <>
>Reply-To:
>To: <>
>Subject: RE: [SurfGuitar101] Show up a little later next time
>Dano...Jaguars and Jazzmasters
>Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 17:13:39 -0500
>
>Hey Dano,
>
>So did you play the Jazzmaster pickups to see if you would like them, or
>did
>you replace them out of principle because they were narrow Strat pickups?
>
>Thanks for chiming in on this one. Lots of people are wondering about these
>guitars as they are cheaper than the AV reissues, albeit you have to
>possibly go through customs, etc. (except in your case..ha-ha).
>
>Deep metallic blue? I wonder if that is the Japanese version of Lake Placid
>Blue?
>
>Thanks,
>
>BN
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: -=Dan Ware=- [mailto:]
> > Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 10:38 AM
> > To:
> > Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Show up a little later next time Dano...Jaguars
> > and Jazzmasters
> >
> >
> > Hey everyone,
> >
> > I just got around to looking at this string. I thought it fair
> > to mention
> > that I have two Fender Japan guitars. I got them last year right
> > before the
> > WTC disaster. They're this incredible metallic deep blue color,
> > and I LOVE
> > them. I got a jag AND a jazzmaster. A friend of mine went on a
> > trip to Japan
> > and went into a guitar shop there and KABANG! there were these jag and
> > jazz'z and 'stangs in crazy colors he'd never seen before. Being a
>smooth
> > talker, he kind of built a quick friendship in one of the clerks and
> > well...Fender Japan DOES export now, they just don't know it yet.
> >
> > As for the guitars...
> >
> > I have mixed emotions. They're beautiful and play GREAT. The
> > craftsmanship is incredible, but...
> >
> > For starters, they still come with those suck-ass threaded bridge
> > saddles. BUH-BYE! replaced both with mustang bridges.
> >
> > The pickups on the Jazzmaster HAD to GO! They WERE strat pickups!
> > $130 bucks later, I was two Seymour Duncan Vintage Jazzmaster
> > pickups closer
> > to good tone.
> >
> > The Jaguar sounded KILLER right out of the case, but when I took the
> > pickguard off to inspect the wiring and switch componentry, one of the
> > screws had a very poor alignment job and was barely into the wood of the
> > guitar. I would say right now my jag is my favorite guitar. I go through
> > phases, so I'm sure next month the Jazzmaster will be king...but
> > for now...
> >
> > -Dano
> >
>
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