memiller
08-08-2011, 03:15 AM
No pics yet, and it was actually a couple of days ago that I got it. Haven't stopped playing long enough to be arsed to take pics. File it under "Why didn't I do this sooner?" Wanted a Jazzmaster for years, owing to all of my favorite guitar tones being made with them, but never pulled the trigger. Even with this cheapie import I see how wrong I've been. The past few days I've played more than I have in a very long time, and I have the sore fingers to prove it.
Construction quality is about as good as it gets for an Indonesian guitar. The nut needs work to eliminate string binding (though I think switching over to 9's like I usually use will take care of that), the concentric pots feel a bit shady, and the switch likes to jump straight from bridge to neck without stopping in the middle position. Two of these are free fixes (for me), one's about twenty bucks. The body is three pieces on mine, but I've seen five piece bodies. I honestly don't think the number of body pieces makes much difference on tone. I mention this for the people that care about such things. Frets are fairly well dressed, with a somewhat tall and narrow profile. Neck shape is a nicely sized D
Good stuff? Well... a lot. The bridge isn't as bad as it looks. Yes, it's designed purely for cost cutting. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's very simple, but feels solid. On any other guitar I might not like it but on this one it just adds to the quirky charm. The Duncan Designed pickups are surprisingly good. Having extensive experience with other models I was prepared for serious disappointment that never reared its head. They're shockingly good pickups. Unlike most Duncan Designed you could slap an SD logo on it and nobody would tell the difference.
This guitar just convinces me to stop buying everything else and just proceed down the Jazzmaster path forever. Now I just need to get an Orange and my tone quest is over...
:beer
Construction quality is about as good as it gets for an Indonesian guitar. The nut needs work to eliminate string binding (though I think switching over to 9's like I usually use will take care of that), the concentric pots feel a bit shady, and the switch likes to jump straight from bridge to neck without stopping in the middle position. Two of these are free fixes (for me), one's about twenty bucks. The body is three pieces on mine, but I've seen five piece bodies. I honestly don't think the number of body pieces makes much difference on tone. I mention this for the people that care about such things. Frets are fairly well dressed, with a somewhat tall and narrow profile. Neck shape is a nicely sized D
Good stuff? Well... a lot. The bridge isn't as bad as it looks. Yes, it's designed purely for cost cutting. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's very simple, but feels solid. On any other guitar I might not like it but on this one it just adds to the quirky charm. The Duncan Designed pickups are surprisingly good. Having extensive experience with other models I was prepared for serious disappointment that never reared its head. They're shockingly good pickups. Unlike most Duncan Designed you could slap an SD logo on it and nobody would tell the difference.
This guitar just convinces me to stop buying everything else and just proceed down the Jazzmaster path forever. Now I just need to get an Orange and my tone quest is over...
:beer