While I am not a Nashville cat, I regularly am doing session work in the Rockies. I do take my LP 80% of the time. It's wired up in a somewhat Jimmy Page style with custom would pups that can give me some great single coil - almost P-90 like sounds, along with parallel/series, configs as well as the trad LP sounds. It's my go to for recording. Guitar 2 is the Tele.
My Jazzmaster is probably my most versatile guitar too, especially after changing out the bridge for the RSD bridge. It sounds killer in all pickup positions and it holds tune well.
First and foremost, just wanna say thanks for all you do for us Justin. So for awhile I had been wanting a Jazzmaster because I really like Chris Stapletons sound, but having been subscribed to you for a little over a year now that was the icing on the cake lol. I ended up trading 2 guitars I really loved for one, and definitely do not regret it. This episode solidified my decision in getting one…. Love what you do Justin…, thanks again for all your inspiration.
I have a Michael Kelly Hex with the Floyd Rose whammy bar. Trouble is, I’m not a shredder and I use compound bends a lot and that made the MK undesirable, even though it was a great guitar to play. A client of mine bought his guitar over for me to fix up some wiring and to install a Tremsetter. Wow. What a life changing thing. It sets up a heavier spring tension on the downward movement vs when you pull back. You have a “flat spot” in the travel that is stable when you bend a string. So I can bend a solid string a minor third and it will mostly hold its pitch. Definitely stable over a whole tone bend. Downside is the whammy bar is a lot stiffer and not as smooth as a full floating bridge. My 14yo son has commandeered it and has been using it as his main guitar for his school project tunes. Glad he is keeping the dust off it, and it’s getting some use.
To me, you’ve described my PRS S2 24. The neck on that thing is killer. I got this guitar to cover the need of carrying my Les Paul and my Strat, when I started carrying an SG which lives in Open E. So instead of going to three guitars, I stayed with two. If I’m hard pressed, I can even leave the SG at home. The PRS will drop down a whole step in tuning and backup in the same gig and the intonation is still there. All of that said, I love playing my V, LP, and Strat just as much. Each has its personality, its own ‘je ne sais quoi’ so to speak. So, it goes back to what guitars do I own that I like? I’ve traded through guitar, buying and selling several along the way, but I have a clear set of definite keepers. These are what I call ‘Last Will and Testament’ guitars. The ones the kids will have to fight over at the reading of my will. :)
I would agree that the jazzmaster makes a great ONE guitar to take. You can really fatten up that bridge pickup and take away any ice picking characteristics by rolling back the tone a bit.
Justin I was watching this video with interest as I have a 73' Strat, a 1990 Orville By Gibson Les Paul (made in Japan which is simply amazing) and a 1961 Blond Jazzmaster in Ash. Your point about the Jazzmaster staying in tune is absolutely true. It doesn't seem to matter what I play or for how long and this includes using the tremolo and it remarkably still stays in tune. I'm not sure what year yours is (it looks old) but I really do think that pre CBS Jazzmasters are incredibly underrated. I really enjoyed your chat.Cheers from Sydney.
P 90’s in a 25.5 inch scale length is probably one of the most versatile designs, if not THE most versatile next to a telecaster. I have a boutique geetar with some Filtertrons and a mod on the bridge pickup that lets me pull the tone pot and get a 1k boost for more of a PAF sound and a bigsby that’s super versatile, too
back in 2010 Bill Nash made a candy apple red 63 Strat replica for me with noiseless pickups. People tell me there is a magic to it, but I just know that it plays really well.
That Supra is super jangly. Kinda reminds me of one of my Gretsch’s. Also - SO true that in the end, we sound like ourselves. I could sit and watch you noodle for days, brother. Thanks for sharing such good content. 🙏
I’m still almost definitely reaching for the strat! It can approximate most tones and makes some that other guitars can’t: especially with the correct pedal combos. You’re right about the tuning on those bends though…
My one guitar would be my 8-string Tele guitar. Humbuckers for heavy sounds. Multiple split coil positions for those sounds. Need a baritone? Tune down the third string to f#. Middle position with volume down into a clean amp and it’s sort of a bass guitar.
My main studio guitar for the last 30+ years is my Roger Sadowsky NYC S Style HSH. Pretty much a Swiss Army Knife! Interesting to see / hear the Jazzmaster - in a similar vein I have been checking out the Johnny Marr Jaguar and the newish Gold Foil Jazzmasters from Fender for a lot of what I'm doing . . . super budget guitar but the latest incarnation of the Guild Surfliner has a lot of fun tonal options on offer!
I feel like your P90 Gold Top makes a compelling case, just lacking the vibrato. Also, I wouldn’t do it to your Jazzmaster, but Lollar does a JM sized P90 that sounds great in the bridge position of a Jazzmaster. And then you still have the JM neck pickup. Love that combo
I'm playing my Les Paul every day, so that would probably be it for me. One day, if i have choices, I'll have to think about this again. Dig those bends toward the end!
Yip, was thinking a Vibrato arm. So my first choice would probably be my Baum Wingman. I suppose it might be toward the Novo take. It's Fender Jazzmaster-ish but with pickups somewhere P90ish. Has a Bigsby and the tuning is the most stable of all my guitars with a trem. I'm about to get a Duesenberg Les Trem to my ES-335, and that would be my other option. If I didn't think I needed a trem or was doing moderate gain, it would be my Les Paul Special.
Thanks so much for allowing us to take our own pedalboards with us! 😅 I totally understand your choice for your Jazzmaster. What an amazing guitar. ❤ My choice would be relatively easy. I don’t have a crazy amount of guitars, but still enough to doubt my choices. However, 37 years ago I worked really hard for a couple of months full time when I was still living with my parents. It was a now or never decision, knowing it may be the only and last opportunity I would ever get to save enough money to buy any guitar I could possibly want, with the exception of certain vintage instruments that were starting to become unobtainable already. Anyway, I knew I wanted the best 335/345/355 I could find. I still remember that day. I literally spent hours and hours to carefully listen and playing and inspecting a beautiful selection of new guitars, going back and forth from one guitar to the other and I kept coming back to this amazing black ES-347. So that’s what I took home with me and it never let me down. Even after 37 years of playing that guitar it still fulfills me with pride and joy. It feels like coming home. So many great memories of all the gigs I played with it. 🥹 I don’t have to tell you how versatile a good 335 can be. The 347 has a coil tap switch and this switch was one of the reasons why I kept coming back to it, because unlike the bad reputation (at least, so it seems, because I hardly ever hear anything positive about guitars that have a coil tap option) the sounds I can get from it are incredible and I actually use that switch quite a lot, like 30% of the time. The only thing it doesn’t have is a vibrato system, or ‘tremolo’ (I don’t want to start a debate 🫣). I have been thinking about buying the Deusenberg Les Trem combined with a roller bridge, but even though I know that I can literally bring it back to its original state within just a few minutes, I just don’t want to change anything that’s already perfect in my opinion. So, to make a long story short, if I can only bring one guitar, it will most probably be my trusty old ES-347. 😅
Wow! That Normandy sounds killer! It’s doesn’t hurt that it’s been tuned down a step. To be honest, I thought you’d end up with either a tele or a 335 as your do-all guitar.
One telecaster has rode with me for 500000 miles in all lower 48 states for 10 years. From the dry dessert of Nevada for more months than any and now in the humidity of the south that will rust the strings if you refuse to change them. Hey if it aint broke dont fix it. A telecaster is like a faithful old dog. Mans best friend.
Which jazz master do you have? There’s a bunch of different models There’s some with the 7.2 radius neck and there’s some with a 9.5 radius neck There’s some with noiseless pickups There are some that are signature There is the American ll There is the performer Anyway, you could tell me exactly which one which make and model of the jazz master you have I don’t know why there are so many make, and model of the jazz master, but there are And they all have different pick ups
Awesome video...now I'm jonesing for a Jazzmaster, hah. My recent purchase was a Strat to get some tones I was missing on my other guitars. I love it but I really miss being able to do compound bends. Here's the question: Can I setup the trem to be down only to emulate the Jazzmaster? Do I lose anything tone-wise by doing that? I'm assuming this would also let me quickly switch to drop-D without having to retune the entire guitar? Maybe the strat could be closer to a "do-it-all" with this setup? I feel like I might be missing something as I never bend the trem arm up, I only use it to push down for full chord vibrato. What cool "floating trem" strat move am I missing out on...
Yes, you can "deck" the Strat bridge, but you lose some of the Strat magic. The springs act like a built-in reverb when floating the Strat bridge. Decking makes it sound more like a hardtail.
It’s not terribly different. My rhythm circuit is attached to the bridge pickup. Even with both wheels fully up, it takes a bit of gain and high end off at the flick of a switch. I really dig it for slide playing. Putting it on the bridge pickup instead of the neck makes it so much more usable to me.
Nice video! Any recommendations for a quality jazzmaster in the $1k-2k range? I’ve wanted something with P-90’s for a while and this looks like a great way to go
@@JustinOstrander great thanks! I actually just picked up an American Professional II P-bass and LOVE it. I’ve been playing my J-bass for nearly 20 years and wanted to get myself a slightly different tool to work with. Off to shop! Thanks again and very much looking forward to the next video! PS- I would love to see anything technical/gear functionality type stuff. I was inspired by the cranked Deluxe Reverb and now have a single 12” in my basement fed by the amp upstairs in my little mixing room (a small spare bedroom).
Very cool. If you don’t mind, what are the guitars on your list that hold up well tuned down? I’m on that very search at the moment. Thanks for all the great videos.
Most of my guitars hold up well when tuned down. It has to be dialed in with good intonation, not too low action, and played with a light right hand. I regularly tune down my goldtop, 69 LP, 335, 55 Tele, Senn Tele & Strat, Novo, and Jazzmaster.
While I am not a Nashville cat, I regularly am doing session work in the Rockies. I do take my LP 80% of the time. It's wired up in a somewhat Jimmy Page style with custom would pups that can give me some great single coil - almost P-90 like sounds, along with parallel/series, configs as well as the trad LP sounds. It's my go to for recording. Guitar 2 is the Tele.
They all sound great in your hands so....with that said, the Novo would nail it all!
My Jazzmaster is probably my most versatile guitar too, especially after changing out the bridge for the RSD bridge. It sounds killer in all pickup positions and it holds tune well.
First and foremost, just wanna say thanks for all you do for us Justin. So for awhile I had been wanting a Jazzmaster because I really like Chris Stapletons sound, but having been subscribed to you for a little over a year now that was the icing on the cake lol. I ended up trading 2 guitars I really loved for one, and definitely do not regret it. This episode solidified my decision in getting one…. Love what you do Justin…, thanks again for all your inspiration.
I have a Michael Kelly Hex with the Floyd Rose whammy bar. Trouble is, I’m not a shredder and I use compound bends a lot and that made the MK undesirable, even though it was a great guitar to play.
A client of mine bought his guitar over for me to fix up some wiring and to install a Tremsetter. Wow. What a life changing thing.
It sets up a heavier spring tension on the downward movement vs when you pull back. You have a “flat spot” in the travel that is stable when you bend a string. So I can bend a solid string a minor third and it will mostly hold its pitch. Definitely stable over a whole tone bend.
Downside is the whammy bar is a lot stiffer and not as smooth as a full floating bridge.
My 14yo son has commandeered it and has been using it as his main guitar for his school project tunes. Glad he is keeping the dust off it, and it’s getting some use.
To me, you’ve described my PRS S2 24. The neck on that thing is killer. I got this guitar to cover the need of carrying my Les Paul and my Strat, when I started carrying an SG which lives in Open E. So instead of going to three guitars, I stayed with two. If I’m hard pressed, I can even leave the SG at home. The PRS will drop down a whole step in tuning and backup in the same gig and the intonation is still there. All of that said, I love playing my V, LP, and Strat just as much. Each has its personality, its own ‘je ne sais quoi’ so to speak. So, it goes back to what guitars do I own that I like? I’ve traded through guitar, buying and selling several along the way, but I have a clear set of definite keepers. These are what I call ‘Last Will and Testament’ guitars. The ones the kids will have to fight over at the reading of my will. :)
I would agree that the jazzmaster makes a great ONE guitar to take. You can really fatten up that bridge pickup and take away any ice picking characteristics by rolling back the tone a bit.
Justin I was watching this video with interest as I have a 73' Strat, a 1990 Orville By Gibson Les Paul (made in Japan which is simply amazing) and a 1961 Blond Jazzmaster in Ash. Your point about the Jazzmaster staying in tune is absolutely true. It doesn't seem to matter what I play or for how long and this includes using the tremolo and it remarkably still stays in tune. I'm not sure what year yours is (it looks old) but I really do think that pre CBS Jazzmasters are incredibly underrated. I really enjoyed your chat.Cheers from Sydney.
Speaking of sessions, I saw you on a session with Nicky V. Seemed like you were enjoying yourself. Looking forward to the class.
My Suhr HSS strat with a thornbucker covers all I need! I do some jazz fusion, pop and Jpop stuff!
Yes! Nice detailed response. I totally feel you man. Great choice! I think I would do the same out of my arsenal and I have very similar tools as you.
P 90’s in a 25.5 inch scale length is probably one of the most versatile designs, if not THE most versatile next to a telecaster. I have a boutique geetar with some Filtertrons and a mod on the bridge pickup that lets me pull the tone pot and get a 1k boost for more of a PAF sound and a bigsby that’s super versatile, too
back in 2010 Bill Nash made a candy apple red 63 Strat replica for me with noiseless pickups. People tell me there is a magic to it, but I just know that it plays really well.
That Supra is super jangly. Kinda reminds me of one of my Gretsch’s. Also - SO true that in the end, we sound like ourselves. I could sit and watch you noodle for days, brother. Thanks for sharing such good content. 🙏
I’m still almost definitely reaching for the strat! It can approximate most tones and makes some that other guitars can’t: especially with the correct pedal combos. You’re right about the tuning on those bends though…
My one guitar would be my 8-string Tele guitar. Humbuckers for heavy sounds. Multiple split coil positions for those sounds. Need a baritone? Tune down the third string to f#. Middle position with volume down into a clean amp and it’s sort of a bass guitar.
That sounds awesome!
My main studio guitar for the last 30+ years is my Roger Sadowsky NYC S Style HSH. Pretty much a Swiss Army Knife! Interesting to see / hear the Jazzmaster - in a similar vein I have been checking out the Johnny Marr Jaguar and the newish Gold Foil Jazzmasters from Fender for a lot of what I'm doing . . . super budget guitar but the latest incarnation of the Guild Surfliner has a lot of fun tonal options on offer!
I feel like your P90 Gold Top makes a compelling case, just lacking the vibrato. Also, I wouldn’t do it to your Jazzmaster, but Lollar does a JM sized P90 that sounds great in the bridge position of a Jazzmaster. And then you still have the JM neck pickup. Love that combo
I miss my turquoise Blue PRS standard, that said , I sold it for 1900.00 when I needed the money most !
I'm playing my Les Paul every day, so that would probably be it for me. One day, if i have choices, I'll have to think about this again. Dig those bends toward the end!
I’ve been a Strat guy for 30 years but in the last few years my PRS semi hollow body S2 with upgraded pups is the one.
Yeah man , a sweet guitar voice indeed !
Yip, was thinking a Vibrato arm. So my first choice would probably be my Baum Wingman. I suppose it might be toward the Novo take. It's Fender Jazzmaster-ish but with pickups somewhere P90ish. Has a Bigsby and the tuning is the most stable of all my guitars with a trem. I'm about to get a Duesenberg Les Trem to my ES-335, and that would be my other option. If I didn't think I needed a trem or was doing moderate gain, it would be my Les Paul Special.
Thanks so much for allowing us to take our own pedalboards with us! 😅
I totally understand your choice for your Jazzmaster. What an amazing guitar. ❤
My choice would be relatively easy. I don’t have a crazy amount of guitars, but still enough to doubt my choices. However, 37 years ago I worked really hard for a couple of months full time when I was still living with my parents. It was a now or never decision, knowing it may be the only and last opportunity I would ever get to save enough money to buy any guitar I could possibly want, with the exception of certain vintage instruments that were starting to become unobtainable already.
Anyway, I knew I wanted the best 335/345/355 I could find. I still remember that day. I literally spent hours and hours to carefully listen and playing and inspecting a beautiful selection of new guitars, going back and forth from one guitar to the other and I kept coming back to this amazing black ES-347. So that’s what I took home with me and it never let me down. Even after 37 years of playing that guitar it still fulfills me with pride and joy. It feels like coming home. So many great memories of all the gigs I played with it. 🥹
I don’t have to tell you how versatile a good 335 can be. The 347 has a coil tap switch and this switch was one of the reasons why I kept coming back to it, because unlike the bad reputation (at least, so it seems, because I hardly ever hear anything positive about guitars that have a coil tap option) the sounds I can get from it are incredible and I actually use that switch quite a lot, like 30% of the time.
The only thing it doesn’t have is a vibrato system, or ‘tremolo’ (I don’t want to start a debate 🫣). I have been thinking about buying the Deusenberg Les Trem combined with a roller bridge, but even though I know that I can literally bring it back to its original state within just a few minutes, I just don’t want to change anything that’s already perfect in my opinion.
So, to make a long story short, if I can only bring one guitar, it will most probably be my trusty old ES-347. 😅
Wow! That Normandy sounds killer! It’s doesn’t hurt that it’s been tuned down a step.
To be honest, I thought you’d end up with either a tele or a 335 as your do-all guitar.
I’ll bet this video prompted lots of us to go out and buy a Jazzmaster. I did, same day.
What a fantastic video have a wonderful day Justin ❤😊
For me it's my G&L ASAT Special.
So now i have to get a jassmaster. Lol Love your stuff.
One telecaster has rode with me for 500000 miles in all lower 48 states for 10 years. From the dry dessert of Nevada for more months than any and now in the humidity of the south that will rust the strings if you refuse to change them. Hey if it aint broke dont fix it. A telecaster is like a faithful old dog. Mans best friend.
The black custom Les Paul. It’s the one.
I am not a good enough guitar player to consider all the stuff you do on the jazz master. But I get it.
Have you thought of building a custom parts guitar from Warmoth? You could build it to your custom specs and dimensions.
Which jazz master do you have?
There’s a bunch of different models
There’s some with the 7.2 radius neck and there’s some with a 9.5 radius neck
There’s some with noiseless pickups
There are some that are signature
There is the American ll
There is the performer
Anyway, you could tell me exactly which one which make and model of the jazz master you have
I don’t know why there are so many make, and model of the jazz master, but there are
And they all have different pick ups
Mine is a Danocaster with Peter Leonard pickups and a 9.5" radius.
Yay JM for the win
Awesome video...now I'm jonesing for a Jazzmaster, hah. My recent purchase was a Strat to get some tones I was missing on my other guitars. I love it but I really miss being able to do compound bends. Here's the question: Can I setup the trem to be down only to emulate the Jazzmaster? Do I lose anything tone-wise by doing that? I'm assuming this would also let me quickly switch to drop-D without having to retune the entire guitar? Maybe the strat could be closer to a "do-it-all" with this setup? I feel like I might be missing something as I never bend the trem arm up, I only use it to push down for full chord vibrato. What cool "floating trem" strat move am I missing out on...
Yes, you can "deck" the Strat bridge, but you lose some of the Strat magic. The springs act like a built-in reverb when floating the Strat bridge. Decking makes it sound more like a hardtail.
With your criteria, it's an easy choice: Novo Serus J or Miris J.....
Dude your Dano sounds AMAZING! Any idea what your pickup readings are?
No idea. They’re made by pickup wizard.
Acoustic: Maton 808...electric: tele
So J you know what everybody's gonna buy now
3:14 Is this true for a Bigsby as well? I’ve been doing compound bends on a B7 equipped Casino recently and haven’t noticed any issues.
Not really an issue with Bigsby or jazzmaster vibratos
Johnny Hiland uses some kind of guitar that seems to give him twang and gain.
Folks, I am in the market for a JM. How different is the rhythm circuit in comparison to the lead circuit with rolled of tone? Thanks!
It’s not terribly different. My rhythm circuit is attached to the bridge pickup. Even with both wheels fully up, it takes a bit of gain and high end off at the flick of a switch. I really dig it for slide playing. Putting it on the bridge pickup instead of the neck makes it so much more usable to me.
@@JustinOstranderWow sorry I have not recognized your answer. Thanks Justin!
Hey Justin, I saw your video on channel jumping a deluxe reverb, do you ever jump channels with reverb dimed and go from there with vol/eq?
What gauge strings do you use on your JM?
10s
4:28 Why did you remove the Bigsby on the 335?
I like the extra punch of the stop tailpiece.
Nice video! Any recommendations for a quality jazzmaster in the $1k-2k range? I’ve wanted something with P-90’s for a while and this looks like a great way to go
I would buy an American Professional II. The performer series has a Strat bridge....you want the Jazzmaster bridge and tailpiece
@@JustinOstrander great thanks! I actually just picked up an American Professional II P-bass and LOVE it. I’ve been playing my J-bass for nearly 20 years and wanted to get myself a slightly different tool to work with. Off to shop! Thanks again and very much looking forward to the next video!
PS- I would love to see anything technical/gear functionality type stuff. I was inspired by the cranked Deluxe Reverb and now have a single 12” in my basement fed by the amp upstairs in my little mixing room (a small spare bedroom).
Very cool. If you don’t mind, what are the guitars on your list that hold up well tuned down? I’m on that very search at the moment. Thanks for all the great videos.
Most of my guitars hold up well when tuned down. It has to be dialed in with good intonation, not too low action, and played with a light right hand. I regularly tune down my goldtop, 69 LP, 335, 55 Tele, Senn Tele & Strat, Novo, and Jazzmaster.
Sounds Great! What pickups do you have in the Jazzmaster??
Peter Leonard. The guitar is a Danocaster, and that’s what he put in it.
@@JustinOstrander Thanks! Sounds Great!
Have you tried a PRS Studio..?
Yep. Long time ago. Solid guitar
... hmmm
depends on the session....
talking in tool box : better no chainsaw for motorbike repairs ???
My novo Miris j ..
Strat period ........
My Homeskoolin Duesenberg of course! Cheers Justin!!
Did you buy Tom's?
@@Timtime67 I got it in Bozeman at Music Villa.
Router. easy. My favorite tool is my router. And if I had to go to a session, the one guitar I'd take is YOUR 335 :) ha!
One guitar, string way down low!