cute mini jazzmaster!!

finest1

hi all,

i found this cute, not sure how it performs though

https://www.rimmersmusic.co.uk/squier-mini-jazzmaster-hh-maple-fingerboard-daphne-blue-p48202/s48689

Loobs

Shame about the shop name

dazzajl

Loobs said:

Shame about the shop name

I’m surprised they sell more than Hammonds 

Loobs

Don't get it 

grappagreen

@finest1 ;
I purchased the mini Strat recently as a bit of an experiment and to finally answer a question I've been asking: 'what must it be like to have long fingers'. I've got really small hands and to be honest it's been a revelation..

The guitars themselves are targeted at beginners and only £120 and hence I wasn't surprised to find a number of things that have needed sorting. I was actually amazed however that the frets were really level and with some tweaking the action is as good as all the normal stuff I use.

The biggest issues however relate the fact that it's a really short scale @ 22.75" and hence tuning and timbre issues. Sadly. measures to improve either of these make the other worse..

I'm pressing on and if I can get it all to work I'll eventually have a proper guitar made with these neck dims..

finest1

grappagreen said:

@finest1 ;
I purchased the mini Strat recently as a bit of an experiment and to finally answer a question I've been asking: 'what must it be like to have long fingers'. I've got really small hands and to be honest it's been a revelation..

The guitars themselves are targeted at beginners and only £120 and hence I wasn't surprised to find a number of things that have needed sorting. I was actually amazed however that the frets were really level and with some tweaking the action is as good as all the normal stuff I use.

The biggest issues however relate the fact that it's a really short scale @ 22.75" and hence tuning and timbre issues. Sadly. measures to improve either of these make the other worse..

I'm pressing on and if I can get it all to work I'll eventually have a proper guitar made with these neck dims..

thanks, maybe thats why there are mixed reviews, but good to know.  let us know how you get on

noisepolluter

dazzajl said:

Loobs said:

Shame about the shop name

I’m surprised they sell more than Hammonds 

Take it away, Skutters...!

ICBM

grappagreen said:

The biggest issues however relate the fact that it's a really short scale @ 22.75" and hence tuning and timbre issues. Sadly. measures to improve either of these make the other worse.

I’ve always found that putting 12s on this scale improves both at once.

I had a 22.5” scale Musicmaster I used with a band for a while - it sounded absolutely huge, like SRV’s Strat tone, but was as easy to play as a Strat with 10s and stayed in tune as well.

grappagreen

ICBM said:

grappagreen said:

The biggest issues however relate the fact that it's a really short scale @ 22.75" and hence tuning and timbre issues. Sadly. measures to improve either of these make the other worse.

I’ve always found that putting 12s on this scale improves both at once.

I had a 22.5” scale Musicmaster I used with a band for a while - it sounded absolutely huge, like SRV’s Strat tone, but was as easy to play as a Strat with 10s and stayed in tune as well.

Thanks @ICBM ;;

I've got 12's on it at the moment and it's better albeit the set I purchased had a 24 G which seemed way too heavy. The problem I've found is that as you increase thickness you seem to lose the brightness of the attack (unless you hit the strings really hard a la Josh Smith/SRV etc.) - sustain is also impacted. I'm playing with individual string gauges at the mo to see if I can find the goldilocks set. I'm also going to try some Pro Steels to see if they introduce some high end/harmonics. I've done some interesting reading on the physics of this and now understand why bass guitars have longer scale lengths and grand pianos are the shape they are  - Inharmonicity in stings is a phenomenon I was not aware of..

The tuning issues are simply related to the quality of the guitar and I'm slowly working through these problems. I'm having to dowel/re-drill the neck as the factory holes were oversized/packed and don't have enough tension/stability to stabilize the neck. I'm popping some staggered tuners (Schaller M6) and a bridge (Schaller 3d-6) to try and solve movement/rattle issues and hopefully allow removal of the string trees. The same issues as any cheap guitar I suppose but the short scale makes the impact much worse. I've done the easy stuff like opening out the nut, reducing the action/relief; small but incremental improvements on the tuning/stability front.

If this works well the next step will be to have a 7/8 Strat style body made and transplant the neck and decent components. 

I used the guitar at the last couple of band practices before the latest lock-down and it was great all things considered. Nobody actually noticed it was a mini guitar which amazed me and reconfirmed that nobody except guitarists give a monkeys about guitars!

toescantalk

A few years ago you could get really cheap 50s & 60s Duo Sonic and Musicmaster parts on the usual sites (they were 22.5 and 24 versions over the years) so might be worth a look out. I had fun stripping and spraying a body that was in a less than mint condition!

ThePrettyDamned

toescantalk said:

A few years ago you could get really cheap 50s & 60s Duo Sonic and Musicmaster parts on the usual sites (they were 22.5 and 24 versions over the years) so might be worth a look out. I had fun stripping and spraying a body that was in a less than mint condition!

A lot have been hoovered up by bedroom dealers and are often advertised at a quite significant markup... 

ICBM

grappagreen said:

I've got 12's on it at the moment and it's better albeit the set I purchased had a 24 G which seemed way too heavy. The problem I've found is that as you increase thickness you seem to lose the brightness of the attack (unless you hit the strings really hard a la Josh Smith/SRV etc.) - sustain is also impacted. I'm playing with individual string gauges at the mo to see if I can find the goldilocks set.

Yes, that will be too heavy if it’s a plain string - designed for down-tuners. I would go for about 12, 16, 20, 30w, 42w, 54w.

I used a 24, but wound - because I was playing 50s rock’n’roll and I purposely wanted that hard-to-bend sound, but it doesn’t suit more modern styles.

grappagreen

Thanks all.

I hadn't thought about vintage Duo Sonics and Musicmasters.. I could tick a couple of boxes with an early '60's one

I'm off to do some research

Si

ICBM

You can still buy real 50s-early 60s - or mid-60s 22.5” scale IIs - for quite sensible prices, because the tiny necks drastically reduce demand. Don’t be talked into paying too much by dealers, just because they’re old.

Be aware that a lot have had parts - including things as apparently trivial as pickguard screws - which are identical to equivalent Strats and Teles, stripped off and replaced with new ones, which reduces the value but not the playability!

The one I had was a ‘65 Musicmaster II, you could probably still get a ‘player grade’ one of those for under a grand I think.