Guitars... what you've got / what you want

GASP!
https://www.fender.com/en-US/squier-electric-guitars/jazzmaster/limited-edition-paranormal-jazzmaster-xii/0377052546.html

the guitarist in my band has one he uses on a couple songs, sounds fantastic and he says it stays in tune or pretty well. really cool guitar

I have a blue one - the neck is frankly amazing, the tuners are a little hinky and the pickups are too hot - but it’s a great guitar. Beautiful build and finish.

The green Squier paranormal HH bass in that color looks pretty sweet if you want to color coordinate.

https://www.fender.com/en-US/squier-electric-basses/other/paranormal-rascal-bass-hh/0377105546.html

looks so nice in that color!

Yeah I went down a wormhole of researching that after clicking the first link yesterday. Not sure it's reaaaally what I need in a bass, but...hmm

if i wanted to buy a telecaster in 2024 that was not insanely expensive, which one should i buy?

Player Series Teles are on sale direct right now:
https://www.fender.com/en-US/electric-guitars/telecaster/player-telecaster/0145212550.html
only a couple colors left they seem to be selling out quick

I joined the club

https://flic.kr/p/2q2rzZu

Strat-tacular! Love those flower patterns

interesting switch location, is there anything unusual in the electronics?

I've always wanted a paisley guitar, I bought a custom paisley Telecaster body off EBay to turn into a partscaster with a rosewood neck but it arrived as a complete disaster, the guy shipped it with no padding except for a little rough wadded kraft paper so it arrived scratched everywhere and with flakes of the clearcoat peeling off.

I believe the pickups are Jaguar pickups. The neck is very, very heavy maple— roasted and apparently cut in the “other” way, with the grain (or against the grain?) its a fat neck but that’s what I’m used to. It played immediately like what I’m used to (acoustics, my ES-350)

It has no noise. Andy (my tech friend who built it) put an aluminum plate under the pickups. The tone knob is wired up so it’s out of the chain when at 10, and only engages when you move down to 9. It’s a very beautiful sounding and easy to play guitar.

I just had some store credit and I said to the clerk Simone “what strat should I try today?” and she immediately handed me this one and I bought it on the spot

Thinking of picking up a 7-string baritone (mainly to play more doom/osdm), but it seems only ESP makes these things, and they all come in all-black-on-black only. Any other options I’m missing?

A friend of mine has the ESP LTD M7-HT and seems to love it tho, it’s just so boring looking.

fgti maybe it’s flatsawn rather than quartersawn? The latter has the grain perpendicular to the fretboard but flatsawn is parallel - and so flexes, reacting more responsively to turning the truss rod. People hype quartersawn because it’s more rigid but the neck was designed for flatsawn to be smoothly adjusted.

I think it’s the other way around, that flat sawn is more common, and this neck is quarter sawn. I’ll ask my guy today

Looking for a cheap-ass bass guitar to learn on and practice in private so I don’t have to worry about being embarrassed. Should I bite the bullet and get a Glarry or go hunting on Craigslist?

I'm pretty impressed by the Sterling Music Man Stingray basses, I think something by them or a Yamaha would be what I would advise for someone to check out starting out.

Ibanez make really decent basses for under $250 brand new, the Soundgear/SR series including the Gios and Mikros. I'll never have a memory for their model numbers, but the Mikros are short scale and the Gios are the most entry-level model. They also have Talman basses which are funky. I bet you could find a handful of these on craigslist at any time. They're nice!

Squier Classic Vibe series are great and plentiful on Craigslist, the Ibanez stuff is good but I hate how they look

Visiting my partner's family, her mom broke out "grandma's mandolin" for me to mess around with - giving it some light rehab and enjoying the learning curve.
https://i.imgur.com/M5gfoyX.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/q6pWXNe.jpeg

the Squier stuff can be just fine and I'd rather have the classic looks too. IME, many of the Squier basses I've picked up have severe neck bows and messed up action, and the electronics can be glitchy. Not the case (IME!) with the Ibanez stuff, and they would be cheaper used. I don't know the OPs guitar experience, but if they don't know a screwy neck when they see one, they may either try to learn on a fucked up neck, or be on the hook for a couple hundred dollars in repair fees (making a craigslist bass essentially trash).

has anyone played/own a 50s or early 60s musicmaster? The ones that only came sand colored with metal pickguards (50s), and generally maple fretboards but rosewood (I believe actually brazillian rosewood) in 1960.

They are short scale, 3" shorter than a strat neck. Hardtail bridge, no body countours, and only a mustang like neck pickup.

I feel really drawn to them. They are honest to god Pre-CBS, Fullerton made guitars that can be had for about 2 grand. They sound good on youtube! I wonder how they would mix (in recordings) with normal scale guitars.

I had one of the short-short-scale 90s Duo Sonics and loved the vibe of it. Hated the twig neck. I’d try it in hand first if possible.

The Fender Player II series looks nice - rosewood's back, love the birch green color on some of them. They fucked up the Mustang though - no dual switches for out of phase shenanigans, just a Jazzmaster style toggle.

i was just coming to comment on that ... i guess that's why the player series guitars were on sale a couple of weeks ago. i want the tele in transparent cherry, though the mocha and birch green are nice too

kinda weird that some finishes are available now, while some aren't available until october and will be $100 more

fgti - that is a gorgeous guitar congrats

for some reason i cant see that image

Click "open in new tab", it's a Flickr link and they've ad-locked it I guess

oh thanks! gorgeous

So last week Guitar Center had their classic vibes on sale and I finally bought a Jazzmaster after wanting one for approximately one million years. Came today. Anyone know where to source plastics for Squiers? A lot of the ebay listings say they don't fit Squier models. Picked up a mint green pickguard by Musiclily on Amazon and several of the reviews said they fit classic vibe models really well, but I wanna swap out the trem arm tip and the switch cap plastics as well. Will made-in-Japan specs fit a Squier?

I think so - and if not they will be close enough to make it work. Congrats! those Classic Vibes are superb.

In general the CV models are the same specs/dimensions as the US models. Even the newer MIJ stuff is the same, I believe.

JF i swapped out all the knobs and pick up covers on mine with cheap Amazon stuff and it was fine. Also did the classic shim the neck and raise the bridge to get a better break angle so the trem worked properly, but this meant I also had to raise the height of the pick ups, so I got some foam strips for that (the stuff you use for sticking round door frames to stop draughts, you just stick it underneath the pick ups so they pop out further). All really straightforward stuff though, even for an idiot like me.

(will just add my usual caveat that the trem and bridge were designed to work with heavier gauge strings and a wound G - really ought to be 12s but I use 11s on my JMs)

Thanks dudes!

congrats JF! someday i'll get jazzmaster

That's awesome, I love Jazzmasters. Congrats on your purchase JF!

Getting my Kinman P90 installed on my Japanese ES-350 clone ended up being an ordeal. The 350 is BIG, the body is the same depth as an acoustic, and the strings are high off the body; thus we needed a tall enclosure for the pickup and several shims to get it up to string-world.

My tech ended up having to awl new holes in a plastic enclosure. One of the things about those Kinman and Lollar pickups is that they position the magnets closer-than-normal on the neck pickups. So most enclosures don't fit. (I tried the metal enclosure that Kinman provided, but immediately noticed a big difference. Plastic is better). We eventually figured it out. I goddam love the sound of my guitar! Wish I was any good at playing it. Every time I hear my guitarist buddy even play a single lick I wanna throw myself in the trash, I'm so bad at my job

This is the model I own, FYI. Mine is blonde but it's the same. I love this company I love their guitars

https://www.walkin.co.jp/230232291034-2/

Thanks matttkkkk for the tip on the set of strings with a wound G. Just added to my Amazon order at the last minute :)

my collaborator has a CV Jazzmaster and I play it all the time. It's a fantastic guitar for the money. I hate when people say that actually, so shame on me. But comparing to American made ones, it's hard to justify the extra thousand or two, lol. But I'm not a Jazzmaster super fan so I'm sure there's nuance that is lost on me. If it were mine I'd upgrade the pickups but they're not bad at all- especially in the middle position.

A couple years ago I had a Teisco bass shipped to my partner’s sister in Canada. We just visited so I brought it home at last.
https://i.postimg.cc/X7r5Z3r4/IMG-5463.jpg

oh wow that is rad

sick

It’s pretty good! They can feel a bit flimsy in places but I always coveted this colour, like a pearl battleship grey.

sweeet

i ordered one of the player II telecasters, i'm excited. i've been playing them at the guitar store and they look and sound great. iirc this will be the first electric guitar that i've owned new.

well, I made a decision. I've been wanting my forever bass for a long time. the dream of a 60s fender died a looong time ago, pricewise, and even the 70s ones now (which people used to say had questionable quality control) are upwards of 3000-4000. I did play a 70s p bass at a store that was great (amazing neck) but then my friend who works there said "hey have you stood up with that? we should get you a strap"...put it on an the thing was like a ton of bricks, my back just couldn't handle doing a show with it on.

so, i found a local guy here, Glory Guitars, he makes custom basses and guitars and they aren't a whole lot more expensive than the Ultra or Pro II Fenders.

I saw this and it was kind of everything I ever wanted, most importantly a Jazz body with a Lindy Fralin P bass pickup (I did look at the Mark Hoppus Fender but it feels overpriced for what it is and the dingus for some reason didn't want to include a tone knob which is a dealbreaker for me)

also it's got this other pickup, a TV Jones Thunderblade, the switch actually isn't a pickup selector, it just puts the Thunderblade in series with the P bass pickup. He calls it the "thump switch", kind of sounds like a "Gibson bass switch" to me, changes the whole character of it. All the parts, etc are absolutely top of the line and I could get everything down the the knobs exactly how I wanted.

the color I selected is an aged Olympic white (he ages the paint to get that great creamy yellow color). It's basically going to look like this but without the relicing stuff, just light aging.

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a382bbf90badeaa35897b35/1517946745622-O503Q9XOB4Q3GRK8H0Y1/IMG_0607.JPG

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a382bbf90badeaa35897b35/1517946790291-E28Q7P0PXV1JYIVJIUJE/IMG_0619.JPG

https://www.gloryguitars.com/cornerstone-bass-1

Body: Quality sourced alder for solid thump and punch, spec'd at 4 lbs. in your choice of finish

*Neck: Standard 34" Scale - Hard rock maple with an extra dark rosewood fretboard, or with a maple board in GG Dark Vintage Amber with a smooth hand rubbed Tru Oil finish, 10" radius for awesome versatility, .83" at the first fret with a comfortable vintage 1962 "C" carve and 6125 frets. The nut width is a vintage 1.625"

Nut: Hand-carved unbleached bone, fully radiused to perfectly match the fretboard

Pickups: Custom Glory Guitars Cornerstone Bass set: Custom-wound, Lindy Fralin "P" pickup in the neck... a little further up than standard for a fuller, warmer tone. The unique bridge pickup is a T.V. Jones Thunder Blade, custom wound for Glory Guitars

**Tuners: Vintage-style Schaller.

Bridge: Custom Hipshot aluminum A-Style Bass Bridge

Electronics: Exclusive, Glory Guitars "THUMP" circuit, Industrial 2-way "HI-LO" switch for P pickup only ("LO") or TV Jones ThunderBlade added in for SERIOUS PUNCH ("HI"), CTS pots, NOS Sprague "Vitamin Q" tone capacitor, Switchcraft jack, Gavitt 22 gauge cloth pushback wire, Cardas Audio silver solder

dude is really nice, seems to cater to the christian rock market or something based on the bands that endorse him lol but he's been cool and not weird

but it was wild like i literally found the bass i didn't even know i was dreaming of

just put down half in advance, should be mine around late November, really fucking excited

that is just gorgeous!