shoegaze

I've got a question for those of you who exclusively play Fender Jaguars and Jazzmasters. Why did you choose a Jaguar or Jazzmaster? Aside from the look (and they really do look cool), what makes them so special? Do they really help you get the tone or sound you're after?

Incidentally, have a Squier Jagmaster (inexpensive Jaguar/Jazzmaster copy, but with a Strat-style bridge) which still own and play occasionally, but I mainly play on a Schecter Ultra with a simple effects setup: (Electro-Harmonix Little Big Muff, Digitech Hardwire CM-2 Tube Overdrive, Boss OC-3 Super Octave, BBE Mind Bender, Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble, Boss BF-3 Flanger, BBE Two-Timer, Boss DD-7 Digital Delay, Digitech Hardwire RV-7 Stereo Reverb). I play in the style of The Chameleons, Sad Lovers & Giants, The Cure, Bell Hollow, Alison's Halo. Cocteau Twins and Slowdive have been a huge influence as well; so the Schecter's coil-tap control gives me a good variety of tones to play the music I like.

I've looked at the Fender Jaguar as a possible "next guitar" purchase because the smaller scale seems to work better for me, but one of the guys who works at a local music shop in my area claims that the Jaguar and Jazzmaster tend to be problematic and says they've become cliché with the indie/shoegaze/dreampop genre and recommends I look at other guitars. What are your opinions?

I think its mostly cosmetic. If your a fan of the MBV sound the tremelo is useful on a Jag or Jazz or even Mustang.
Most shoegaze bands back in the day rarely used jazzmasters and jaguars, Slowdive were Rickenbackers Stratocasters and telecasters.
Chapterhouse did have 1 jaguar on the decent early stuff for the tinny sound otherwise they were also telecaster and rickenbacker users.
I have a jazzmaster but i only use it occasionaly nowadays and use an old Ibanez am50 a rickenbacker 360 or a telecaster for my shoey sounds.

Offset guitars are beautiful but can be pain in the arse to set up, just go with what feels best and sounds best for you and dont go with the stereotypes.

First of all, I'd just like to say I don't exclusively use Jazzmasters (I have a couple of Rickenbackers, SG, LP and a lovely "reverse offset" Yamaha SGV800 amongst others.)

I've had my white Jazzmaster since '92. I just always thought they looked gorgeous, ever since I saw Robert Smith using one on an early Cure video. I've always like guitars whith a chimey kind of sound (hence the Rickenbackers) and the Jazzmaster is certainly very good for that. It also has the only tremolo system I can get on with (though I had to make a new arm to suit my playing style). I absolutely hate the Strat-type trem and find Bigsbys too cumbersome.

It was when I acquired the Jazzmaster that I first started to get into different tunings and it just seemed to deal with these tunings better than the other guitars I had. I now have two Jazzmasters and one is in open D and the other DADGAD.

For gentle strumming and picked parts it's my go-to guitar, along with the Rickenbacker, but for leads and heavy distortion I'll usually go for the SG or LP, though the Rick 330 sounds pretty amazing with distortion too, as it's much darker sounding than a lot of people realise. If I must have use of a trem with distortion, then I'll use the Jazzmaster, but it's times like this I feel like adding a Jazzmaster trem to an SG

Obviously the Jazzmaster will get you those Cure and Cocteaus tones, but it also comes pretty close to the Micro-Frets that Dave Fielding uses. In my last band, the other guitarist had a Micro-Frets and I thought it sat pretty much slap-bang between the Jazzmaster and Rick 330 soundwise. [ Incidentally, Mark Burgess told me that Reg really doesn't care what guitar he uses. It's just a tool to him!]

When it comes down to it, play what you like! I've always had an aversion to Strats myself, but I'm in a small minority there!

Buy yourself a guitar that feels, plays and looks right to you. Yes, we all know that the jaguar and the jazzmaster are indie/shoegaze staples. But since I've always wanted one I'm going to go ahead and buy one. A jazzmaster that is just like the one in lasermonkey's avatar.

I've wanted to try out a Jag or Jazzmaster simply because they are the so-called shoegaze guitars. Who knows, I might love them if I ever gave them a try. But, quite honestly I think they're really ugly guitars.

My main axe is a Fender Telecaster Plus, not because it has any exceptional tone (it doesn't), but because it feels comfortable in my hands, the pickup configuration is very versatile, and it's simply a beautiful guitar.

I will second the advice given and say: try out a lot of guitars and go with the one feels and sounds the best for you. Don't worry too much about make and model.

Sure. Here are a few of shots I took of my Jag-stang:








My Schecter Ultra and Fender Jag-stang:

sweet! I will post a pic of my 67 mustang.[/url]

This Schecter and the Jag-stang look pretty swell! Great stuff.

I like Fender guitars, because they are reliable instruments, and adapted to the type of music I play. Also, properly set up, they hold a downtuning fairly well. And of course, if you're into vintage shapes, the jag/jazzmaster/mustang are classics.
I own a 67 lefty mustang (older than me, blah!), and a CIJ lefty Jaguar (since there is no "jaguar" on the headstock, I re-baptized it "stratfucker").

Here are some pix of the Jag:

Interesting (cheap!) looking lefties are hard to come by... if anyone has one for sale, let me know! Something Jag/Jazmmaster-looking......... cheap. Did I mention cheap?

JMA reminded me that I'm subscribed to this board.

I've had a Jag since about 1995. I got it because of the whole shoegaze/weirdo band affiliation. Plus, they were still kind of the oddball guitars then, and almost no one in Indiana used them at the time.

Something I discovered is that the less-sustain trait is kind of an advantage for effects-users. You see, when using a lot of delay and reverb, the faster decay of the strings seems to make the guitar get out of the way of the effects faster. When I use my tele or Ric with the same effects settings, it sounds really muddy and messy. With the Jag, it feels more like the effects become part of the instrument, if that makes sense.

Here's my jag.


JMA, is that a 1/4" pounder pickup in the neck? Looks kind of intimidating.

Cheers!
Ben Adrian