I’m a sucker for vintage-esque guitars, and an even bigger sucker for used gear. Pics are in chronological order from my first to most recent acquisition😋
2017 Fender Road worn 50’s tele, 2021-ish Epiphone Shinichi Ubukata es-355, 2021-ish Martin Special 16, 2007 Fender Classic player 60’s Strat, 2010 Edwards E-LP, 2025 Fender Vintera II Jazzmaster
I got this guard from musiclily, I’ve always liked the quality of their parts. Obviously, not exactly a faithful recreation of a vintage Tort guard, but it really brings out the best of the desert sand on this guitar and I’m obsessed. Just wanted to ask where everyone else bought their tort guards from?
Putting tort on a JM is at this point an unsurprising mod, but it always yields amazing results with certain colors, including desert sand🤤 Swapping the guard was no easy feat, I’d even call it frustrating, especially the area with the rhythm circuit. I resorted to folding a couple pieces of paper and stuffing them underneath the controls of the rhythm circuit, and thankfully they helped me a lot. I also wanted to address the issue with the bridge lowering on its own, but I didn’t wanna use Loctite as I’ve had my fair share of bad experiences with glue and similar things. Instead, I found a couple of 1/4” metal washers that I had stashed from a previous guitar project and thankfully they fit the poles of the bridge just fine. While some washers needed a bit of force to get through, I didn’t have to drill or widen anything. After fitting a .5 degree shim and lowering the saddles, I got it to play the one way I wanted with 10-52 gauge strings. Now the bridge isn’t lowering on its own and yes, it still rocks when I use the trem, so I took that as a good sign. A lot of people always talk about swapping the bridge out, but I’m impressed with the bridges on this guitar, it holds the strings nicely and I think the string noise is bearable imo.
Just got the Jazzmaster today, and I couldn’t be any happier! These three sound so unique from one another, I’m very blessed I get to own all three fenders at once. Each of them serve a purpose sonically, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t over the moon with the tones of the JM. For someone who wasn’t exactly a guitar player himself, Leo Fender really knew how to design guitars!
Disclaimer: No guitars were harmed in the taking of this photo
My first offset!! I got this used, so it was still a cheaper option for me than getting the new vintera III Jazzmaster, which I’m sure is just as awesome. I’ve always loved the vibe and the sound of jazzmasters. It was a little alien to me at first, but when I raised the action a bit and adjusted the pickups’ height to taste, I’ve come to really love it. I wanted a jazzmaster because I wanted the combination of single coil pickups and a trem arm that won’t cause my strings to go out of tune like my strat, and boy am I happy with the trem. After owning a semi with a bigsby and a strat, I can confidently say that this has the smoothest trem action amongst my guitarsenal. I’m just waiting for a replacement tort guard (that I hope fits this guitar) and a shim that I ordered to really make this guitar my own. As it is now, however, I can say it’s totally playable in stock condition. I also wanted to know from people who have this same model, which bridges are good replacements that aren’t as expensive as a mastery and won’t require me to modify the guitar for it to fit?
Guitar center is selling both of these guitars used for a pretty ok price, and I’ve been itching for a Jazzmaster. I know the 50’s vintera model has had much better reviews, but I’d be lying if I said the older one with the matching headstock wasn’t appealing to me. I wanted to ask from people who’ve had experiences with both, how different are these from one another?
A lot of things are the same as they were two months ago, but I replaced my d&m drive with a JHS @+, my Aria was kicked off to make space for a klone I bought off aliexpress for 30 bucks (I wanted to experiment with a cheap klone first before I invest in a pricier version), and my 3-series reverb was also removed to make space for the compressor plus. Really loving this setup, all the drive sounds I need along with some chorus and a Leslie. I can go from Mayer-esque tones to more aggressive classic rock/grunge tones and whatever’s in between. I can’t play as well as my favorite guitarists but at least I can somewhat replicate their tones, right?😆