Squier Jagmaster Vista Series Price
Lupercal wrote:Found a Jagmaster locally, its red with a black guard, seller thinks its a 2001 model, £120 sounds a pretty good deal, no? The photo doesn't really do it justice in terms of telling whether its a vista model, maybe you guys will know.No, that's not a vista.
21 frets and 25.5' scale.Black Pg's were typical for the JagMaster II's (2nd generation, when production shifted from Japan to China)These are the ones folks turn into Jazzmasters. (since they have a full scale neck)Though £ 120,- isn't that bad of a deal imho. They are decent guitars, it's just that the 'Jag' part in 'JagMaster' is missing in these guitars imho, as they have nothing in common with a Jaguar. I just had a new pearliod three layer pickguard cut from pickguardian and it cost me $64. I received it and it looks GREAT. $100 is a ripoff.Also the cavity on my MIC jagmaster IS big enough for a full size Humbucker - although its slighty too narrow for the 62 Reissusse Jazzmaster pickups that I'm putting in, so i'll have to rout it a bit.
Maybe i have an intermediate model between the VISTA and the later series? Maybe not.Nothing wrong with the wood on my model - its Alder.My body Thickness is 4.1cm (1.625') which is pretty close to a JazzMaster.Maybe there is a difference in consistency on a guitar by guitar basis. Best idea would be to pick up the guitar and play it.
Anti- wrote:The vistas are basically MIJ Fender quality. Very nice guitars.The current MIC Jagmasters are decent, but to be perfectly honest, there are far better options out there. They use thinner bodies, cheap, weak wood, terrible electronics, routs that are too small to do anything with, and garbage hardware.They're functional, but for all of $100 more you're into Fender Blacktop range - which will get you a MUCH nicer guitar.Well if I decide to get a Jagmaster it would be my backup guitar, and I would use it to gain experience with mods etc.I had the same thought in mind. Backup for my Jaguar, and a mod platform.It's useless for modding, unless you feel like filling the back cavity and routing. Full sized HB's won't fit in the stock MIC Jagmasters. The Duncan Designed HB's they come with are thinner coils, and have shorter legs for the screws. So, say you had a nice pair of uncovered Seymour Duncan's or similar, they won't fit.
Squier Jagmaster Vista Series
The screws will be too long, the legs of the pickup for the screws will be too long, and the pickup will force the pickguard upwards.That brings me to the next major issue. The pickguard. It's cheap shit - I went to widen the pickup holes (as a covered humbucker, or even uncovered with less rounded edges won't fit), and even with the file I had some chipping, and even melting. I finally got it widened enough, but it looked like crap - and I'm not exactly bad with tools.To replace the pickguard would require a custom tracing and cut. I looked into it, and unless you want thin single ply black or white, you're looking at around $100 when all is said and done.
Even if you go with single ply white or black, you're still looking at the $75-$80 range, and the hassle of sending it in and all that.This of course goes right into the next major issue. The body wood. It's cheap, weak wood.
Alder is a lie. Agathis is possible, but hell - even Squier Affinities can hold a damned screw in. This stuff turns into sawdust when you take a screw out.
I had seven stripped out screw holes on my MIC Jagmaster, and I took the pickguard off a total of four times. I'm honestly surprised the bridge stays in.On top of all that, the body isn't correct to any Fender Offset size. It's thinner, and the shape itself is off. If you look at one next to a Jaguar or Jazzmaster, you can see that it's different from both. A side look shows that it's more than 1/4' thinner - maybe even closer to 1/2' thinner.
Similar to how the Squier Affinities and Bullets are to normal Strats and Teles.I strongly recommend that you look for a used Vista Jagmaster or just get a Blacktop Jaguar or Jazzmaster instead. Even by the time you would buy the pickguard, you're into the price range that the Vistas and BT's can be had for. I got my Blacktop Jazzmaster for $400. There's a site (nstuff music?) that's selling them for $420. UlricvonCatalyst wrote:Difficult to say exactly from that pic, but I'd guess it's NOT Vista - my CAR Vista had a tort scratchplate and white open humbuggers.
The Squier logo looks off too - like it's bigger or darker (see the Vista headstock shot for details).Correct. The CAR Jagmaster in the pic above is not a Vista series item.As pictured, that example has 21 frets, meaing a 25.5' scale (the Vista JGM has 22 on a 24' scale) and it has the modern Fender/Squier headstock-end truss-rod adjustment aperture (the Vista JGM adjusts like a vintage Jaguar, at the body end, and the headstock is uncluttered).JN.
Dinosaurkale- wrote:ANOTHER jagmaster in my area with fender headstock.should i bite on this?' Onclick='window.open(this.href);return false;The guitar for sale here is a 25.5' scale Squier Jagmaster (not a Vista) with the two-point tremolo. It's had the Squier decal removed and replaced with a Fender decal, but the pickup change is interesting. Not a horrible deal, but not an incredible deal. The Duncan P-rails pickups are pretty cool and it might not be bad as long as the decal swap went alright, but I prefer the 24' scale Jagmasters personally.