The Bridge on the Jazzmaster/Jaguar/Bass VI is fine. You just need to set it up right.

The Japanese reissues were redesigned wrong... If you have one of these take all of the bridge assembly, tremolo, and Pickups remove them (with a screwdriver) and put them in a box under your bed... then buy the US reissue parts and install them... Quick, go NOW!

I couldn't agree more. A properly set-up Jazzmaster will be the most versitile guitar in any collection. They sound amazing clean and those big single coils scream like P90's when cranked......single coils all the way....don't use bumfuckers....canceling hum is morally wrong...fact
.....you need to spend a while getting the set-up perfected and what works on one JM doesn't always work on another.
I have had about 30 JM's over the last 15 years (no Japanese crap) in an attempt to find one that plays and sounds exactly how I want. I found the right one in Teaneck, NJ in 2002, a sunburst '61, nice and light, BIG neck and the best sounding JM pickups I have ever used.

I like Tele's though, they're reliable, unfussy like a cheese sandwich, whereas a Jazzmaster is full on 5 courses, swift and elegant.

Also, have you noticed how the Japanese Jazzmasters bodies are too thick, the bridge position is altered and as you've already mentioned the hardware is a joke.

Waffle over.

evolu wrote:I have had about 30 JM's over the last 15 years (no Japanese crap) in an attempt to find one that plays and sounds exactly how I want...

Not exactly a ringing endorsement. You're basically saying that 96% of American-made Jazzmasters aren't up to snuff.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement. You're basically saying that 96% of American-made Jazzmasters aren't up to snuff.

Nah......just picky.
I use 4 different effects pedals....but I have at least 3 of each one.

evolu wrote:....canceling hum is morally wrong...fact

Bless Me, Internet Putz, for I have sinned.

evolu wrote:

Not exactly a ringing endorsement. You're basically saying that 96% of American-made Jazzmasters aren't up to snuff.

Nah......just picky.
I use 4 different effects pedals....but I have at least 3 of each one.

You could say this about any guitar player and their favorite ax.

Les Paul guys are nuts... about weight and necks... all that shit.
Strat guys are pretty picky too.

My qualifications for a good guitar consists of 3 things.
1. It needs to work
2. It needs to stay in tune
3. It cannot be in the shape of a beer bottle

If someone took a bunch of walnuts and somehow got them into the shape of a working axe, then I'd play it.

a jazzmaster is a great noise/tabletop guitar. i replaced the bridge on mine with a gibson les paul type bridge. it's a mid nineties japanese reissue and sounds fucking great through my super reverb and even through my shitty marshall solid state. i really love that bright sound of a tele bridge pickup, and they're both great guitars, but the jm is more diverse if you ask me. i would go for whatever you can get your hands on. the only reason i use the jm is because my uncle gave it to me.

right: a very young Frank Zappa, playing a JM. Dunno who's playing the Tele.

evolu wrote:
....canceling hum is morally wrong...fact


Bless Me, Internet Putz, for I have sinned.

4 Hail Mary's standing on your head, burn the bumfuckers whilst washing washing yourself in the blood of a virgin goat....or something

well ill sell my jazzmaster if anyones is interested .