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New Jazzmaster


shankyboy

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I have been on the lookout for a good deal on the 60th Anniversary Jazzmaster. I think they are pretty cool looking but being as they are made in Mexico, I don't think they are worth $1,199.00 asking price. My patience finally paid off when I found one locally on FB Marketplace for half that amount. It was still in new condition with the plastic on the pickguard. I think the owner only played it a couple of times. This is my first actual Jazzmaster and I am amazed at how useless the bridge is. I don't know how anyone plays one with the stock bridge. Every time I would start digging in, a string would skip to a different groove on the saddle and go out of tune. The Tremolo is pretty much worthless too. I ordered a Mastery Bridge & Tremolo and installed them yesterday. What a huge difference that made. The guitar resonates much better and stays in tune regardless how hard I play it. Anyway, here it is. 

Jazzmaster.JPG

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Nice snag!  IIRC, before there were Mastery bridges, people used to swap out the Jazzmaster saddles for ones from a Fender Mustang, I think the Johnny Marr model Jaguar uses Mustang saddles for much the same reason.  BTW, if the 'asking price' of a new guitar is the actual factory list price, and the seller won't go lower, walk away quickly, because other authorized outlets/stores will definitely go cheaper.  Nobody should ever pay list price for a standard issue off-the rack-new guitar nowadays!  And if the guitar wasn't new, then they were just trying to rip you off, plain and simple.

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24 minutes ago, shankyboy said:

Apparently the stores around here are asking list because I haven't seen any of these for less around here. 

Looks like the model's now out of production, so that might explain why somebody was asking for a high selling price; if you got it for half the price that others were asking for, then it sounds like you got a great deal, compared to what I'm seeing online!  There's a few used 60th Anniversary Jazzmasters listed on Reverb, but they also seem to be too close to MSRP for my liking.  Most are listed as 'Mint', and as far as I'm concerned, 'Mint' is just another word for 'Used' and 'Not New'.  But that's just me.  :rolleyes:

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1 minute ago, crunchee said:

Looks like the model's now out of production, so that might explain why somebody was asking for a high selling price; if you got it for half the price that others were asking for, then it sounds like you got a great deal, compared to what I'm seeing online!  There's a few used 60th Anniversary Jazzmasters listed on Reverb, but they also seem to be too close to MSRP for my liking.  Most are listed as 'Mint', and as far as I'm concerned, 'Mint' is just another word for 'Used' and 'Not New'.  But that's just me.  :rolleyes:

That would explain the high prices. They were a limited run. Not sure how many though. Totally agree on the term "mint". 

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What gauge strings are you using?

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Sometimes if strings tend to move on a Jazzmaster bridge, it can be fixed with a slim cardboard shim under very end of the neck, to give it a stopper angle so you can raise the bridge and get the right angle. But mine came with a Mastery bridge: I run 10s and stays in tune and is a blast to play. I kept the stock tailpiece, but it was a USA one so maybe it's somehow different from the Mexican. 

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13 hours ago, atomicwash said:

I'm diggin' the Mastery review. My in-production  SC Shishkov will sport that vibrato.

I have this same setup on my Bilt Zaftig which has been my main gigging guitar for the past year or more so I can testify that the Mastery bridge is amazing. You won't be disappointed.

 

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9 hours ago, Lockbody said:

Great looking Jazzmaster! 

My 62RI had a Mastery bridge, but I never had an issue with the stock tremolo other than the floppy arm. 

I figured if I was going to replace the bridge, I might as well replace the Tremolo. The stock one had the arm sitting too low whereas the new one put the arm right at the height I like.

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