Zero to Hero: Squier Classic Vibe Jazzmaster

mikenetic

I kind of bought one accidentally - I put forward what I thought was a ridiculously low offer on a 'mint' condition one on Reverb that was accepted.

I own a US JM, but I was curious to see what the Indonesian built entry level model was like, and to have a bit of a project/modding platform to play with. Someone referred to these as a "Guitar YouTube favourite" - do they live up to the hype? I didn't go into this blind, I'd heard several consistent complaints about the model out of the box, but none of it seemed insurmountable.

Hopefully this post may help out anyone else who buys one of these. It's a happy tale, I paid £250 for the guitar delivered with a Fender gig bag, spent £15 on mandatory parts and £70 on an optional upgrade. I already had some basic maintenance tools to help me out. After an afternoon's pottering I have a very nice JM that sounds great.

The initial assessment

This looked pretty much unplayed, and I could see why.

Even though the bridge was set as low as possible the action was a lot higher than ideal. The fretboard was dried out and the frets felt scratchy when you bent notes, so the feel was off. In places the fret end finishing left a bit to be desired. It just wasn't nice. Also, there were some narrow dents about 20mm long in the neck in one place - like a pointed hardwood stick had been pressed into the finish. No breaks or cracks in the poly, but you could feel them.

The good points? The hardware felt fine, the electronics all worked without issue, the cosmetics were really pretty good (I have the sonic blue/tortoise shell colourway). There were no high/low spots on the neck as far as I could tell. It comes with the Mustang-style bridge. Most importantly, I really liked the way it sounded on all regular pickup positions and with the rhythm circuit engaged.

Getting it into shape

Strings off, neck removed.

I carefully applied medium-viscosity superglue into the neck dents and let it set. Working up from 400 grit paper I flatted the hardened glue off level with the existing finish, then worked through finer and finer grades right up to 12000 micromesh polish pads to refinish the repair. You'd have to know exactly where the dents were to see the faint impression on the wood, and you can't feel them at all - the neck feels great.

I sanded the edges of the fret ends with a fret sanding block, angled to just catch the lower edges and start rolling off the edge of the fretboard. Once I was happy with that I rounded the fret ends off with a needle file, then polished the frets up, again starting with 400 grit and working to a very fine grit with the micromesh. Lovely shiny smooth frets and a neck that felt very nice on the edges were the end result.

I removed the bridge, took out the adjustment grub screws and dabbed medium strength threadlock onto them and reinserted. These bridges are a bit notorious for dropping over time - the height adjustment screws need some help to stay in position.

The fretboard was saturated with lemon oil to get it rehydrated. That darkened it quite noticeably, and personally I think the Indian Laurel is both much more aesthetically appealing and nicer to play than the Pau Ferro used on the Vintera models.

I swapped out the stock trem unit for a Japanese-spec Fender one, which is better made and has the trem lock button. That was a perfect fit for the original screw holes and routing. I didn't need to do this, but I just fancied making this change.

Then, the magic ingredient was applied. A 0.5 degree neck shim from StewMac. This tilts the neck back, allowing you to raise the bridge so that it floats correctly, increases the string break angle over the bridge for better tension, and still allows a nice low action. I honestly do not understand why these aren't shimmed, have an angled neck pocket, or a microtilt neck from the factory.

The setup and playing impressions

Setup was straightforward. I strung it with 10-46s. The nut was fine, relief, action and intonation all came together with no issue, and it plays wonderfully well, regardless of the price point.

The only glitch was a horrible resonant vibration playing an A Major bar chord. That turned out to be the Squier trem arm vibrating in the Fender collet, even though they are both 5mm push fit. I swapped the collet over and that issue vanished instantly.

I would 100% recommend these guitars if you're happy with a bit of tinkering. I think it plays and sounds better than the Fender Vintera models which cost substantially more. Big Jazzmaster feelings for bargain-basement outlay.

thermionic

Good work.

Funkfingers

mikenetic said:

I kind of bought [a guitar] accidentally 

"We've gone on holiday by mistake."

mikenetic

Funkfingers said:

mikenetic said:

I kind of bought [a guitar] accidentally 

"We've gone on holiday by mistake."

This is very accurate

MagicPigDetective

Mine was much the same when I received it new, dry fretboard, rough frets, scratchy pots, and a terrible setup. After sorting those out, shimming the neck, stringing with 11's, and installing a Staytrem tremolo arm, it's a fine guitar.

It was quite a bit of work, much of which was new to me and involved a lot of research on youtube... but was achievable for a relative novice. 

Rkphilpot

Classic Vibe models are superb value for money.
I have 3, 2 Strats and a 72 Deluxe Thinline, I've upgraded parts on them, set them up and now use them all for gigging. 
Next will be a Jazz master so appreciate the thread. Well done.

mikenetic

Rkphilpot said:

Classic Vibe models are superb value for money.
I have 3, 2 Strats and a 72 Deluxe Thinline, I've upgraded parts on them, set them up and now use them all for gigging. 
Next will be a Jazz master so appreciate the thread. Well done.

You're welcome  How's the 72 Thinline? I've always fancied trying out a Thinline Tele of some sort.