From olcomt–(at)–afayette.unocal.com Fri Dec 9 10:27:59 CST 1994
Article: 34171 of rec.music.makers.guitar
Path: geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!tivoli.tivoli.com!tadpole.com!news.dell.com!swrinde!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!news.service.uci.edu!unogate!olcomtl
From: olcomt–(at)–afayette.unocal.com (Mark Lynch 1)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: Re: Jazzmasters?
Date: 7 Dec 1994 14:21:03 GMT
Organization: Unocal Corporation, Lafayette, Louisiana
Lines: 44
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <3c4gcf$ss--(at)--nogate.unocal.com>
References: <3c04el$64--(at)--aco.cc.ncsu.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: laf2.lafayette

Having owned a Jmaster for many years, I find this recent surge in
interest and price to be…well, absurd. This has to be one of
the most phlegmatic guitars ever built. Fender’s version of the
Gizmotron! I bought my sunburst ’61 for $100 bucks + a case of beer,
and that’s exactly what it’s worth. The pickups are weak, lack that
Fender single coil tone and don’t measure up to the average H-bucker.
The roller knobs are truly superfluous, unless you like the sound
of hippo farts under three feet of mud. The whammy bar is the single
worst design ever created–a single spring the size of your index
finger stuffed in a box; you can’t dive it down, cause once you’ve
compressed the coils that’s it–your pressing against a solid chunk
of metal! Still, I love my guitar, especially the haggard finish
that is almost completely missing from the back, showing all that
yellow undercoat, the spider ‘tattoo’ that somebody burned into
the back, the name ‘shirley’ that some love-struck idiot carved
into the top (giving the guitar her current name), and mostly the
neck. I bought the guitar for the neck. It is the smoothest piece
of maple (all the finish is worn off) I have ever gripped, and the
dense old rosewood fingerboard is a thing of beauty, too (even those
understated clay dot markers). But the frets are annoying: too thin
and too low, which means you grab alot of fretboard when you play.
I don’t play it as much as I do my Les Paul anymore, but it does
have it’s niche: it’s a great open-chord rhythm guitar; very clean,
very clear sound (cause the PUs are so weak).

Last week I saw two Jazzmasters–a ’65 and a ’71?–for sale–(at)–a
guitar store in Murfreesborough, TN. They were both priced around
$1400. When I asked the saleman “WHY?!?!” He said it’s because
they are so fashionable now among grunge stylists who are trying
to look unfashionable. Go figure.

Stay tuned,

Mark

From npstewa–(at)–os.ncsu.edu Fri Dec 9 10:28:17 CST 1994
Article: 34186 of rec.music.makers.guitar
Path: geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!tivoli.tivoli.com!tadpole.com!uunet!newsfeed.pitt.edu!gatech!taco.cc.ncsu.edu!npstewar
From: npstewa–(at)–os.ncsu.edu (Nathan Phillip Stewart)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: Re: Jazzmasters?
Date: 7 Dec 1994 16:43:48 GMT
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Lines: 23
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <3c4oo4$oc--(at)--aco.cc.ncsu.edu>
References: <3c04el$64--(at)--aco.cc.ncsu.edu> <3c4gcf$ss--(at)--nogate.unocal.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: c00313-11pa.eos.ncsu.edu

In article <3c4gcf$ss--(at)--nogate.unocal.com> olcomt–(at)–afayette.unocal.com (Mark Lynch 1) writes:
>and that’s exactly what it’s worth. The pickups are weak, lack that
>Fender single coil tone and don’t measure up to the average H-bucker.
Actually, this is the thing that knocked me out. I don’t care for your
average humbucker – and it was different from strat style pu’s.

I didn’t notice the trem, because I don’t use them. A hardtail body with
a pair of JM pickups, 3-way toggle, volume and tone on my current neck is
my most probable route at this point.

>$1400. When I asked the saleman “WHY?!?!” He said it’s because
>they are so fashionable now among grunge stylists who are trying
>to look unfashionable. Go figure.

Darn, so close to finding the perfect guitar – to find out it’s hip among
the grungesters. I might still be content if I had only known in advance. 😉
My impression was – this is the perfect guitar for fingerstyle blues.
_______________________________________
| | Nathan Stewart
|Marshall | npstewa–(at)–os.ncsu.edu
|________________________ | Play skillfully to the
| |!!o Q Q Q Q Q Q :: | | Lord with a
|=======================================| *LOUD* noise. Psalm 33:3

 

Buy the Book!

I cleaned up my tab for Sonny Boy's Help Me and made it into a short book. There's a Kindle version for 99 cents, and if you buy the paperback you get the Kindle free.

Playing "Help-Me" In the Style of Sonny Boy Williamson II: A step by step, note for note analysis of some of Sonny Boy's Signature Riffs