I know there are countless discussions on Jaguar vs Jazzmaster on t'internet. But what the hell, one more won't hurt. I've wanted an offset for years, but can't, decide between the two. I have a Les Paul and a Strat. The main reason for wanting one is the tremolo action, for surf, shoegaze, indie etc. I've played a Jaguar (
@thermionic 's old Jag, felt very nice to play). It's a choice between long scale vs short scale, and the Jag single coils vs the Jazzmaster pickups. I can't see myself getting to a shop soon to try some out. On one hand, a Jaguar would be a good contrast to the Strat, with the shorter scale. On the other hand, the JM's bid, open, clean sounds are very appealing. There's so much great music made by both guitars!
There's currently a shortage of new stock online, Squier and Fender. I'd consider anything between a Squier to maybe £800. There are Fender players JM's, but I don't want humbuckers. The J Mascis JM looks cool (I love Dinosaur Jr) though is not a 'proper' JM, with P90's and the tremolo in a more forward position. Does that matter? I don't know. There are Vintera 60's in Ice Blue about, they also looks cool. Jaguar wise there's little choice out there at the moment. No rush though, perhaps a used one will crop up soon.
I've spent far too much time pondering over this. Does anyone have any wisdom that may help me choose between the two?
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Currently, his purple sig is my favourite of all the ones I own.
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However, a large part of my record collection is Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, MBV etc. I will probably end up with a Jazzmaster at some point.
Edit: grammar
Bt srsly, for my money the Jazzmaster is overall a more versatile guitar that speaks more to me. But I've never had a really really great Jag, and definitely want to try that for a bit too.
Don't choose. Buy both.
I do like the Marr switching and have another en route shortly so that will be 3-1 to the Jaguar for me but I’d love an American Original Jazzmaster at some point.
I may just take the plunge on one and see how I get on with it. Perhaps a Squier Classic Vibe Jag or JM. The J Mascis still tempting, despite not being standard JM specs. The 60's Vintera JM in Ice Blue does look very very nice indeed though.
What to go for? CIJ is a great modding platform, MIM lacquers get a good write up. The recent ice blue one from the standard range looked lovely.
American Original is a real step up but at least 50% more than your budget unless you were lucky like some of us and snapped up the FSR sonic blue AO jaguars that went up for £850-900 a few years ago. An absolute gem and aging gracefully (but quite quickly!!)
Mosrite!
There are plenty of video presentations on YouTube and Discussions on this forum about modifications that have been inflicted on Squier offset guitars.
Fair description. I have one of each. I justify the Jaguar because some of the bitey angular sounds of which you speak cannot be extracted anywhere else. Thanks to Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups, mine does some nice Jazz/Blues too.
Jazzmaster ownership evaded me for decades, until 2019 and a transaction with HarrySeven. D'oh!