Squier Jazzmaster

[hotrodperlmutter]

These Jags and Jazzies are basically new, slightly modified Jagmasters.

with strat jacks instead of trems.

[honeyiscool]

That said, I find that Jagmasters rule because they are a great low-maintenance offset w/ a simple and well understood vibrato system.

These, meanwhile, are merely OK in my book. The use of a non-standard bridge, the Strat jack which is just a bit offsetting, with these glossy maple necks, you just know they don't play as fast as a real Jazzmaster, and that's annoying.

Honestly, if I were Fender, I'd just have forked the Jagmaster into two guitars: a "VM Jazzmaster" with a 25.5" scale 22-fret rosewood neck (like the Standard Series), and a "VM Jaguar" with a 24" scale 22-fret rosewood neck and a lighter body, while keeping everything else pretty much the same as a Jagmaster, except maybe offer soapbars on Jazzmaster (maybe even P90s for good measure). Then offer some kickass colors like Candy Apple, Daphne, Olympic White, etc. I'd have bought three by now. Why wouldn't they be gobbled up like hotcakes?

And bring back the Silver Sparkle. It's one of the best Squier finishes of all time.

[SKC Willie]

I want to throw a bigsby all of the black one. Black jazzys w/ a white guard have always been one of the best looking guitars.

[Billy3000]

I still think that these would be infinitely better if they used the same hardtail bridge that they use on the duo-sonic, or perhaps even just a plain, regular hardtail strat bridge. This weird, floating hardtail design is uncomfortable and stupid and it still doesn't make sense why they used that because it's not found on any of their other guitars, so it seems like it can't possibly be good for keeping production costs down.

[Sparky]

That said, I find that Jagmasters rule because they are a great low-maintenance offset w/ a simple and well understood vibrato system.

These, meanwhile, are merely OK in my book. The use of a non-standard bridge, the Strat jack which is just a bit offsetting, with these glossy maple necks, you just know they don't play as fast as a real Jazzmaster, and that's annoying.

However, much like the Jagstang, they sound pretty bland regardless of pickup options. I must have went through 5 different pickup configurations on mine and it still sounded poopy, the bridge especially. It didn't have bad tone, just generic blah. The best thing about the Jagmaster is its neck IMO. Sand the gloss off, slap it on another guitar and you've got something reminiscent of an orgasm.

[Josh]

the bridge doesn't bother me on these, just that stupid strat jack.

[jcyphe]

And this is why lefty David Byrne learned to play righty.

Not an option for everyone. If I had stuck with trying to play right handed, I'd barely be able to do Ramones songs by this point. I spent two goddamn years trying to manage to play guitar right handed, and I could not make it work. I was better in three months after I switched it over to lefty than I was after two years trying to play right handed.

Besides the fact that it's incredibly insulting and discriminating to tell somebody to simply do something backwards. I have relatives who are left handed from back in the day when they would try and force you to use your right hand, this was a big thing in Catholic schools. That's so crazy to me that they would hit kids with rulers for writing with their natural hand, people can be so barbaric and inconsiderate.

Also some lefties who just learn to do things ambidextrously may posses that skill to begin with. Not all left-handedness is the same. I knew kids who were lefties who could bat right-handed really well but couldn't throw for shit and vice versa.

With CNC today it isn't very hard to make more left-handed guitars. The demand is there, guitar companies need to stop being lazy/ignorant and offer more options.

[serfx]

the bridge doesn't bother me on these, just that stupid strat jack.

i found the bridge to be nothing but a pain in the ass and always in my way..
probably why i replaced it with a mustang trem on my squier jaguar.

[hotrodperlmutter]

no, you replaced it with a mustang trem because you wanted to make more work than was necessary for yourself.

if i needed another guitar and it didn't have the strat jack on it, i would get one and put a toronado bridge on it. done deal.

[honeyiscool]

However, much like the Jagstang, they sound pretty bland regardless of pickup options. I must have went through 5 different pickup configurations on mine and it still sounded poopy, the bridge especially. It didn't have bad tone, just generic blah. The best thing about the Jagmaster is its neck IMO. Sand the gloss off, slap it on another guitar and you've got something reminiscent of an orgasm.

Really? I get great tone from my Jagmaster. The Dragonfire Screamers, which are like $25 a pop, really make that thing work great.

[honeyiscool]

no, you replaced it with a mustang trem because you wanted to make more work than was necessary for yourself.

if i needed another guitar and it didn't have the strat jack on it, i would get one and put a toronado bridge on it. done deal.

Yeah I have one of those bridges sitting in my parts drawer. Anybody want it for price of shipping?

[hotrodperlmutter]

yes. we should've worked something out with that guard! (which i recv'd, btw - thanks)

pm me shipping price.

[honeyiscool]

What's a padded envelope and first class cost these days? $3? $4?

You know, at that, it's barely worth collecting. I'll send it to you when I get around to it.

[honeyiscool]

Besides the fact that it's incredibly insulting and discriminating to tell somebody to simply do something backwards. I have relatives who are left handed from back in the day when they would try and force you to use your right hand, this was a big thing in Catholic schools. That's so crazy to me that they would hit kids with rulers for writing with their natural hand, people can be so barbaric and inconsiderate.

Let's just say that I don't believe that learning to play righty is anything like telling someone to write with their non-dominant hand. Musicians for hundreds of years have played all kinds of instruments with one orientation only. I don't know why guitar ever started being played lefty but I don't think it's insulting or discriminating to think that someone can learn to play the way that most other people are expected to. It's at least worth trying and it does save a lot of headache later in life. The fretting hand needs plenty of agility, too. There's righty guitarists who play lefty for this reason.

[gaybear]

Let's just say that I don't believe that learning to play righty is anything like telling someone to write with their non-dominant hand.

Why not? Because you say so?

Musicians for hundreds of years have played all kinds of instruments with one orientation only.

for the same reason as writing (as jcyphe already pointed out). being left handed was considered unnatural and possibly immoral. it's stupid.
Hundreds of years doesn't equal "right."

I don't know why guitar ever started being played lefty but I don't think it's insulting or discriminating to think that someone can learn to play the way that most other people are expected to.

Because "other people are expected to" play with their dominant hand/the way that feels natural to them, dummy.

It's at least worth trying and it does save a lot of headache later in life. The fretting hand needs plenty of agility, too. There's righty guitarists who play lefty for this reason.

If you pay attention to what PANPAN said instead of just deciding that you're right, you'd see that it was much more of a headache to learn righty than to play his natural way.

[Zack]

FUCK AN STRAT JACKS

[Pens]

FUCK AN STRAT JACKS

Also, I am sort of ambidextrous in some ways, things that I can focus on just doing with one hand I can do with either hand. I can write or turn a key or draw or etc with either hand. I can actually write with both hands simultaneously, though it's really tough to coordinate. I can throw and catch with either hand. I typically box southpaw but am comfortable switching either way. I am more comfortable shooting with my left hand, but my right eye is actually dominant, which isn't uncommon as there's several shooters who are right handed but left-eye dominant. I hold a rifle right handed though, as it's easier to use with my right-eye that way. I play billiards mostly right handed, probably for the same reason, just more comfortable, however I can make left-handed shots just as well so I have an advantage there for those shots.

However, I failed at playing piano, and originally guitar, because I could not figure it out. In my mind it's backwards, playing it that way did not "flow" in my head and I could not do it. I didn't even know left handed guitars existed for a long time, I just tried to learn right handed, and this was before the internet and shit. All I knew was that my Dad's guitar was a certain way, and almost all instruments were a certain way. Then I read about McCartney and how he had his guitar switched to left handed, and it blew my mind. I went and flipped it over and it played exactly how I expected it to work.

I used to think I was just a really shitty guitarist and would probably just be one of them cowboy chord singer types who only did basic stuff. That's what my Dad did, so I assumed that was how it was. Turns out I'm not a half-bad guitarist once I converted it to true lefty, suddenly I was an actual musician when before I just thought I wasn't cut out for it.

I imagine back in the day that there's a lot of musicians who just gave up thinking they weren't cut out for it, because they were lefty and couldn't "get" it. You're looking at a section of musicians in history and assuming that since traditionally they all played right handed, that all lefties just switched. It's more like, there would be many more musicians out there in history had instruments been made left handed. I'd bet that there's been many talented people that just gave up and didn't become musicians since they couldn't learn how to play the instrument, and thus thought that they didn't have the "talent" for it.

[honeyiscool]

...

Did I say all these things, that lefties should play righty? No, I just joked around about David Byrne learning to play righty because one of those things you always read in forums is lefties saying they don't get enough guitars to play. Did I touch a nerve or something?

Nobody forced anyone to learn righty or lefty. I just think it's worth trying to learn righty for lefties because I think it could have certain advantages, whereas I can't think of any advantages for a lefty writing with their right hand, so I think lefties should see if they can learn righty. If it doesn't work, try lefty, but understand that it comes with its own disadvantages, in that you won't have the same variety of instruments to choose from.

As for the notion that guitarists "play with their dominant hand/the way that feels natural to them," guitars are played with both hands. Both hands are just as important and do completely different things. That's why this point is even worth raising.

[honeyiscool]

...

Your story is really interesting. I think, for you, it seems like it's a matter of how your mind naturally thinks about how instruments should work. You know, if you ever watch someone who's never played guitar try to play air guitar, you notice really interesting things. Some people will move their hand away from their body when the part gets higher ("backwards"), and some will move their hand closer (the "correct" way). To someone who's never played a stringed instrument (or trombone), it might be kind of natural to think higher notes should go further away from the instrument and that's how an instrument like the theremin is set up. Now, when people learn guitar, they will generally be able to fix that mindset, but what if you never could? Then guitar just might not ever make sense for you.

It might not be a true sense of handedness for you, since you're ambi, as you say. It might just be that certain motions, your brain thinks should be done with a certain hand, and that your brain doesn't let you rewire that, and that those prewired things work best when playing a true lefty guitar. And that might also be why some righties play lefty, that even though they write with their right hand, their left hand is better for other things. I'm right handed but I do a lot of things left handed because it is the stronger and larger hand, which has actually been a really good thing because playing piano and guitar, having a larger left hand is very useful, since most of the stretching is in the left hand.

Guitars are cool, though, since you can pretty much do whatever. Some people even prefer play with treble strings on top because they just think it makes more sense, though they tend to be lefties playing flipped righty guitars, but in the process of flipping, they allowed themselves to experiment with treble strings on top, something that most righties don't try.

[avj]

Veering way off here, I'll note that I always thought I would play guitar left-handed because I do so many other things that way. On stupid little plastic guitars when I was a kid, and playing air guitar or whatever, I'd always do it left-handed.

It wasn't until I went to the grand opening of the first Michigan Guitar Center on Dec 14, 1994, where my dad and I picked out a right-handed guitar. It felt a bit odd at first but because I had absolutely no fucking idea what I was doing anyway, it would've likely felt just as awkward to play on a left-handed guitar -- because I didn't know how to actually play yet.

I've never understood the lefty/righty thing when it comes to guitars. I consider myself left-handed, but when I play guitar "right-handed", my left hand does all the hard work while my right hand just bangs away like a big dumb idiot on the the strings. It's stupid.