Guitar Nerds Anonymous

excellent work

Strong hankering for a Strat in the post-xmas sales… when what I probably ought to get (if anything) is a Jazzmaster.

Woke up with a free day and hankering to record. On a whim went with an SG straight into the Champ. On a chair, under a duvet. Sounding righteous. Should no pedal it more often. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmuDKIZpjw4/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Yeah man. Sounding good.

Strong hankering for a Strat in the post-xmas sales… when what I probably ought to get (if anything) is a Jazzmaster.

So I bought a Strat and returned it, lol.

It was really nice actually, but I quickly realised it wasn't right for me.

So I decided I needed to go try a load of Jazzmasters and see how good all the various grades were, from Squier CV up to AmProII. Turns out I hated all the Mexican ones - I didn't like the pickups on either the Player or the Vintera (even some FSR model with USA pickups in apparently), also really didn't like the look of the pau ferro boards or the feel of the glossy necks. The AmProII is very good, although the rosewood fingerboard was quite dry feeling and the neck was a bit thinner than I'd like (though still very nice to play). But sound-wise it kind of felt a bit too polished to me. Too much of a dad guitar. Loads of very nice tones though, I really like the way they swapped the rhythm circuit for a humbucker setting, plus both settings of the coil tap were very usable. But also: they're like 1700 quid. Maybe one day.

Surprise of the day was the 40th anniversary Squier: https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/220118379953025--squier-40th-anniversary-jazzmaster-vintage-edition-satin-seafoa

Weird spec on this one but hear me out. The neck is killer. Better than any other JM I tried except the AmProII (and actually I prefer the deeper carve on the Squier). And even the overall sound and chiminess of the pickups was at least as good as any of them, and definitely I preferred it to all the MX ones. And they're more vintage sounding than the AmPro.

I did not like any of the glossy necked Squiers. Including the 40th version with the gold hardware. There was one with block markers and a laurel board that just looked and felt crap. The only one I did like (apart from the satin 40th) was this '70s walnut blocks & binding one from Andertons: https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/squier/squier-jazzmaster-guitars/squier-fsr-classic-vibe-70s-jazzmaster-electric-guitar-walnut

That felt a lot like the 40th (and similarly has the Mustang style bridge) except with a glossy neck. Couldn't A/B the sound with the 40th as it was at a different shop.

So yeah, I have a weirdly-satin seafoam Squier JM on the way. I think it's going to need a pickguard swap though, gold anodized is maybe too much of a look for me.

Looks fun. Maybe a matt-gold ano pickguard would be better than the brushed finish?

I like Strats too, btw. It’s my secret shame.

I’ll probably go either black or tort. I just need to see if the template is a standard US Jazzmaster one.

All the hardware has a kind of distressed/worn nickel finish by the way, like I said, a slightly odd spec. But for the money I thought it was a pretty nice guitar and it’s going to do the stuff I want it for.

I like Strats too, btw. It’s my secret shame.

Yeah, I grew up playing a Strat, I’ll always like them. But it feels like quite a luxury these days. I’ll have one again at some point, just not right now.

Oh yeah. While trying loads of JMs out at Wunjo they asked if I wanted any pedals. I asked for a Muff or Tone Bender style fuzz and they gave me one of these:

https://fuzzboxes.co.uk/product/meatropolis

And I liked it so much I bought it. I think it’s basically a BM but the tone control is really nice, you can do big thick doomy fuzz or brighter shoegazey stuff, it definitely got into mk3 TB territory. Really good price for a handmade pedal too.

Building a JTM45 kit (like I need another nmv amp... 🤦‍♂️), board populated.

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That’s really neat work.

I'm mostly satisfied :-) I tend to struggle a bit with the temptation to redo stuff just for cosmetics.

Nice! We could do with a thread for ad-hoc recordings. Riff of the week maybe?

Ooooh really interested in this! Where is the board from?

Been getting JTM45 withdrawals lately, I owned one (along with a 1974 straight 4x12 with Greenbacks and the lovely grey/check cloth 🤤) but had to let it go once I decided I needed an AC30 (which I did and still own).

Also the best amp I think I probably have ever tried was an original Bluesbreaker, which is a JTM in a box.

Wouldn't want to shell out for a proper one as I couldn't justify it, so was looking at the Origin series, or maybe a cheap (but surprisingly good) amp like a Bugera V22 to then repurpose the trannies and turret board the insides with something JTM-esque.... 🤔

The pedal kit I ordered from Jeds Peds arrived today. Looking forward to getting started on it. Hopefully a nice simple one to get started with. Unfortunately doubt I’ll have it ready for my first band practice of the year tomorrow.

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I finally made a start on my Jed's harmonic percolator last week. Just doing 20 minutes on it here and there, trying to remember how to solder... Going ok so far. Bit apprehensive about the warnings about frying diodes with too much heat but we'll see how it goes, eh.

Yeah a bit worried about that part after reading how easy it apparently is to destroy them, but just plan to get on with it and learn on the go with it I reckon. I've seen some advice about using a crocodile clip as a heat sink so might go down that route to begin with.

Blu-tack as a lash up, or electricians pliers held closed with an elastic band? Both will work as heat sinks.
Blu-tack will also hold a component in position - useful if you're working with pre-used components or the legs have been cut short in a fit of premature enthusiasm.

The kit is from Uraltone. They are Finnish, so (sorta) local to me. I've also built their Princeton Reverb kit before.

I shelled out for a nice Mojotone head cabinet... so it's not like I'm necessarily saving loads of money here. But building stuff is fun, and I could potentially tweak the amp to my liking without having to worry about deprecation.

Got the onboard parts on and soldered. Happy enough so far with it for my first go at soldering.

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And after a wrongly positioned pot mishap that took a while to de-solder I’ve ended up at this stage at the end of the day and can sleep soundly as the pedal is making sound/effect when played through. Whether it’s the right sound or effect is to be decided.

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Changed the strings on the new Jazzmaster and lowered to bridge to achieve an acceptable string height and of course the classic JM bridge buzz appears. Neck shim incoming.

It’s a bit Squier-tatty in places but hey, the neck and the pickups are good so it’s doing the job.

Nice one, I definitely can see the fun in doing it yourself! Been toying with the idea of building an 18 watter myself though a little nervous due to the many "you might die" warnings - probably need to do a bit of reading first!

@ric_a5 What flavour of Electra have you gone for? It's such a good sounding circuit for what it is! I built one with a switchable input cap and diodes and it's great 👍

Did manage to get it all wired up and into the case yesterday before my practice. A little messy in places as was worried I’d not have enough wire so some were a little shorter than probably ideal lengths and have obviously now ended up with leftover wire. It all worked when the pedal was engaged though so pretty happy. There’s a little fuzz when it’s engaged but can’t hear it when it’s being played and adds a nice little overdrive to my bass and a bit more crunch to guitar.

Looking at a bass specific overdrive next and now I’ve got the excitement of one build under my belt I’ll be a bit more chilled and not rush through it as much.

@alex_s this one is the Cranker.

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RIP JB.