Jet guitars - anyone tried one?

DiscoStu

I like the look of some of these Jet guitars but being pretty new there aren't many reviews to go on. Anyone tried one for real, and do they live up to the hype (given the price)?

DrCornelius

My son wanted a cheap Tele so we went to absolute music where they had a few : the T300 felt like a cheap guitar, badly cut nut , poor tuners , dry fretboard and frets that needed a polish . Tried the next one up - the roasted maple necked T350 and it was fantastic - I can’t remember what he paid (£250 ?)  but it felt as good and played as well as some of the  Mexican Fenders I’ve owned 

DiscoStu

DrCornelius said:

My son wanted a cheap Tele so we went to absolute music where they had a few : the T300 felt like a cheap guitar, badly cut nut , poor tuners , dry fretboard and frets that needed a polish . Tried the next one up - the roasted maple necked T350 and it was fantastic - I can’t remember what he paid (£250 ?)  but it felt as good and played as well as some of the  Mexican Fenders I’ve owned 

It's the JT350 I was looking at - the black one with binding and the roasted maple neck. It looks great so good to know it played great too. Was the neck bare/lightly oiled? For me that is the whole point of roasted maple but some manufacturers stick a thick finish on them.

DrCornelius

DiscoStu said:

DrCornelius said:

My son wanted a cheap Tele so we went to absolute music where they had a few : the T300 felt like a cheap guitar, badly cut nut , poor tuners , dry fretboard and frets that needed a polish . Tried the next one up - the roasted maple necked T350 and it was fantastic - I can’t remember what he paid (£250 ?)  but it felt as good and played as well as some of the  Mexican Fenders I’ve owned 

It's the JT350 I was looking at - the black one with binding and the roasted maple neck. It looks great so good to know it played great too. Was the neck bare/lightly oiled? For me that is the whole point of roasted maple but some manufacturers stick a thick finish on them.

The neck was definitely the biggest selling point - felt very solid , comfy and smoothly unfinished 

DiscoStu

Sounds convincing!

KrisGee

I had the JS 400 and it felt very so so. Uninspiring, extremely glossy neck and generic pickups. I liked the trem tho. Anyway, sent it back because...

...the 25 year old Korean Squier I bought few days before that was pretty amazing compared to the Jet and it cost me same money. Done a few mods to it and it kicks ass:

  

damodai

I got a js-300 a few days before christmas , sea foam green and it looks very pretty , haven't found any issues with how its pu together yet . Plays nice too . Neck does feel very nice ,   Well worth the money.

flyingv

Recently bought the JS 400 - Good to go straight out of the box -  nice fit and finish, pickups sound very good -  I’ve got another set of tuners ( Klusons ) coming, the originals feel cheap and are a bit sticky, but other than that? Excellent guitar for the money.  
https://i.imgur.com/eIF3qUK.jpg

blueskunk

Good to hear more views as pretty much all the reviews I have seen have been very good. The 300 in particular 

Acev

JET seem to be killing it, with the new models recently - that JS-700 Copper....want !

https://www.instagram.com/jet_guitars/

Winny_Pooh

I bought a fazely phynica (same factory etc as Jet, it's either their or Bax's house brand) to leave at my parent's house as a holiday guitar. Its a very budget SUHR, looking at the design and neck feel (medium C flat radius)

Good: finish, neck shape, weight, trem, 2x control knobs.
Bad: pickups, tuners, nut, some high frets

I levelled the high frets and got action down to a medium low height, wont go lower than that.
Stock pickups are really bad. Replaced them with a bloodstone set, A5 mag singles and an A2 PAF. Pots and switch fine for now.

It sounds really good at the moment. Next to replace will probably be the crap nut as even when lubricated trem use is not that stable.

The price to the door delivered is crazy good.
And cost of the upgrades is worth it as the basic woodwork and build is generally better than £400 Squiers I've played. 

Pic before new pickups:

Acev

I have JS-400 and JS-800 - Actually stock pickups sound quite OK on 400. 800 already has much better pickups, so I didnt even replace those ones. They are tight and bright, good for 80s stuff.

GoFish

I have a JS 450 I think? It's a pinky HSS Strat with a dark roasted neck. The bones on the guitar are excellent. The neck is the standout feature but the body is well weighted (light) and the nut and frets are ok too. The pickups are bad imo (hot n' harsh) and the pots are nearer to on/off than a steady taper. With the volume lowered the pickups are less offensive to my ears.

Stick some new pickups and hardware in and it'll be as good as an R8.

Seriously though, I'd strongly consider one with upgrades over a Squier or even a low end Mex.

earwighoney

Winny_Pooh said:

I bought a fazely phynica (same factory etc as Jet, it's either their or Bax's house brand) to leave at my parent's house as a holiday guitar. Its a very budget SUHR, looking at the design and neck feel (medium C flat radius)

Good: finish, neck shape, weight, trem, 2x control knobs.
Bad: pickups, tuners, nut, some high frets

I levelled the high frets and got action down to a medium low height, wont go lower than that.
Stock pickups are really bad. Replaced them with a bloodstone set, A5 mag singles and an A2 PAF. Pots and switch fine for now.

I got an absolute gem with mine.  Mine has one of the best cut nuts I've come across and superb fretwork and it's light as a feather. The only issue I have come across is a difficult one to describe. They filled the side of the necks where the frets went in, and one of them (12th fret bass side) has fallen out. The tuners aren't great though. I was going to post up a thread asking for recommendations at some point.

I've ordered pots, switches to change to 500k and I have a few spare pickups I will mod the guitar to a strat in the neck and a HB in the bridge. No middle pickup.

Acev

This one looks awesome:

Bobsher

Just bought a fazely phynica 920 second hand for £90, superb quality roasted neck locking tuners Wilkinson hardware etc. Amazed at what is available these days as entry level. Back in the 80s when I first started on the journey the choice at entry level was either the squire strat, though I remember buying a Wayne's World squire which was excellent and the Yamaha 112v. 

grungebob

I’ve had the JT350 telecaster one with a neck humbucker.  Was a very nice guitar , great neck and fretwork and the nut was well cut. The neck humbucker was actually nice but the bridge one was a bit meh. The volume and tone controls were on/off nothing in between. 

guitarjack66

I have the T version and the S versions, JT 400 and 300 I believe? I prefer the strat type better as its very easy to play. The tele version needs a tweak,action still a bit high, so I shy away from it despite it being excellent. I'm sure experienced players would mod it but for 170 quid apiece they are excellent value.

Alun

The ones I’ve played have been very nice - about what’d you’d expect from the hardware and pickups but the necks were the part that really punched above their weight. Nicely set up too, at least in the shop I was in. Compared to a Fender Player Strat and the fret job was definitely better, but the Fender had it beat on tone by some distance. Seemed like great guitars for the money but their headstock logo is hideous, haha. 

Acev

I upgraded the pickups and pots on JS-400 - now it sounds as good as any Fender up to 1000 gpb mark and the total cost was about 350-ish.

DrBob

Picked up a JS-300 for £70 secondhand on FB marketplace as a decoy guitar to keep youngest child away from my guitars but in fact it is legit decent. Probably will stick some better pickups in it as some point but it plays great