Vintera 60s Jazzmaster - Regrets? One Year Later

[@danilalikhachev341]

Bought one like this in the summer. Like you've mentioned, it's very characteristically 60-s JM, and aside from the materials used (being pau ferro on the fretboard, polyurethane finish, synthetic bone of the nut, and wires outer layer not being cloth) it's very close to the vintage specs, even down to clay-style material for the dots. The sound is so much more reminiscent of the "proper" JM character than a CV Jazzmaster, which we also had a chance to compare to. The vintera played great right out of the box, but after some minor adjustments it became absolutely perfect for me. After rubbing some lemon oil into the fretboard, pau ferro acquired a very deep and textured look to it, which I honestly prefer to rosewood cosmetically (in conjunction with a lighter color scheme of this model, as I also changed the pickguard for a mint green one, my personal preference), and it's definitely better than a muddier, grey-ish tone of indian laurel on a Squier model. Copper foil shielding of the cavities did away with overwhelming majority of the noises, and it's also a work that's not too complex and doesn't require to be a guitar tech, only some patience, good music or an audiobook, and several hours of love to youg guitar. I must say though, the cavities on this particular model aren't painted, but instead left with surface of bare wood covered (not completely) with a not very good shielding paint. That paint does not take the adhesive on the copper foil particularly well, so one might need to sand it or come up with some other trick to fixate the shielding firmly in its place. A setup of a fender offset is a bit different to most of the guitars, but once you understand it's inner dynamics, it's no more complex and overwhelming than any other. You might want to disassemble the vibrato unit to see why the button doesn't lock properly, but it's probably because of the spring tuning. Once you tune it to provide just enough depth for the slider to fit under (but no more) it should work just fine, and in conjunction with the rocking bridge it's a very flexible and reliable system. Ecpecially when, like you've mentioned, the heavier gauge strings are used, beginning with 11. Overall, I had a choice between vintera and an "original 60's" JM model, and I liked vintera better, mostly because of the neck being more comfortable for my hands and some cosmetical reasons. But otherwise they were pretty evenly matched from my point of view. Other less vintage-correct specs ended up being more preferrable for me, too. Synthetic bone over the real one for ethical concerns, polyurethane finish over nitro - because I'm not a fan of heavy relic and color changing over the years, and like I said, the PF lighter tone fits better with the lighter tone of ice blue metallic in my book. Also, some pau ferro boards have a very beautiful choice of grain to them. Overall, after some minor tweaks, a fantastic guitar, absolutely worth it's middle of the market price. Thanks for the update, these "..years later" videos are always needed!

[@BrianRogers_]

Wow, fantastic comment. Thanks for all the info. I’m going to do the copper lining asap and see if that works for me. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@danilalikhachev341]

@@BrianRogers_ Thank you back! Your original video helped a lot with making a buying decision in the first place. Just make sure to use a tape with electro-conductive adhesive layer and check the electrical continuity between the pieces of shielding using a multimeter. Stock pickguard already has a foil shielding under it, it just needs several points of connection to the shielding that you'll make in the cavities. Hope it'll work ou great for you, too!

[@radio-friendlyunitshifter4670]

I bought this guitar new and I’ve loved it ever since. I did take out the rhythm circuit and shielded the cavities with copper tape, but it only sang true once I took it in to a guitar tech buddy of mine who redid the wiring and shielding with a proper setup and that helped the buzz a LOT, lessened the issue by half if not more. Maybe $130-150 in repairs and setup and it plays like a $3k guitar now

[@BrianRogers_]

Yeah, that's what I'll do too. There's a good shop here in town and I'll take it in and get it some better wiring and shielding to help with the noise. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@roddyrockstar]

did the same, to mine, re-did the wiring without the rhythm circuit, shielding on the pickguard (it has shielding paint on the body), also swapped pots for 500k (as it sounded to bright to my ears). i also tinted the fretboard to look darker, and finally swapped the pickguard for a mint green/white one as the current tortoise pickguard on fenders d o not look like they used too in the 60s... a repro one costs a fortune

[@pharmerdavid1432]

Thanks for the review Brian, which is helpful. I've never had a Jazzmaster before, but ordered one that looks like yours yesterday, except it has a white pick-guard replacing the tortoise one, so it was only $850USD, had just been listed 7 hours before I bought it. I wanted something that was like the vintage versions, but not too expensive, and not too heavy - this one is 7lbs. 14oz. (I always ask). I like that the neck is a medium C on the chunky side, and that it doesn't change much going up the neck. I also like the 7.25" radius, and medium frets for a vintage feel. The things I might change are the bridge and vibrato-bar mechanism, tuners if they need it (probably don't). I wanted a road-worn Vintera Jazzmaster, but couldn't find one, and don't mind the thin urethane satin finish on the neck, and the body looks beautiful in metallic blue!

[@alwaysandy_]

Stickin with classic vibes is always a good choice. Great stuff! 💥🍻

[@BrianRogers_]

You need a jazzmaster next! 🤣 Thanks for watching!

[@silverman169]

Classic Vibes are definitely such great guitars for the money, especially 2nd hand. I will say the tuners should be upgraded when possible and they usually need a setup.

[@dinosauria55]

The locking mechanism needs to be set up for the tension of the gauge you use. You’ve gone up a gauge from factory. When the lock is engaged the trem arm won’t pull up but WILL go down. There’s a screw in the middle of the plate and plenty of guides online on how to set it up correctly. As for the level of noise you’re getting, that’s not normal. Check under the guard for a loose earth wire etc. I was that issue with my AmPro2 JM.

[@jakehollomon3676]

I've had this same guitar for about two years now... your review tracks with my experience. I ended up replacing the trem and bridge with Master hardware and that really helped the guitar feel a lot more 'stable'. I'm just about to dive into shielding the cavity because the noise has been annoying, especially after moving from a more rural area back into the city. So far all of my DIY upgrades and a guitar shop setup have felt like they're worth the effort because I've only grown more and more attached to this instrument over the course of owning it.

[@ethanpearson897]

It won’t eliminate noise, but you can shield the body cavities + back of the pickguard with copper foil and it will help quiet it down. There are a few good KZbin videos that can show you how to do this.

[@triptoyourheart]

I have that exact same model and agree with about everything. It is indeed ridiculously noisy, i did the full faraday cage shielding with copper tape and the results were phenomenal. They did apply some shielding paint to the bottom of the cavities but since there's no connection to the tiny stripes of shielding on the pickguard, it's doing nothing. The tremolo on the other hand is kind of decent and after hours of tweaking it kind of works. But for long term professional use, it is not good enough. And since the AVRI tremolo is a drop-in replacement for a quite decent price, it's really a no brainer.

[@monmixer]

The Fender is certainly painted inside of the cavities with shieling paint. My old tube amps all buzz. A couple of tem still have the old 2 prong ac cord on them. Changing that cord helps a great deal with ground buzz and 60 cycle hum issues.

[@atomicflash1753]

Just play it the way it is and have fun with it don't worry about adjusting anything

[@BrianRogers_]

If only I could… I’m a tinkerer I guess and my guitars have always been works in progress. Thanks for watching!

[@maciekjankowskitomkow4107]

Nice, im looking to get this in January and I've been disappointed that there's not too many videos reviewing it. Do you find the neck comfortable?

[@BrianRogers_]

Thanks for watching’ I do find the neck very comfortable. It is a thicker ‘c’ style neck and that’s my favorite over thin necks. Very good for chords and stuff but not a fast shredder.

[@maciekjankowskitomkow4107]

@@BrianRogers_ good, shredding is boring - harmonic playing is the way

[@YouTubeHandlesAreMoronic]

Some weird ping-ponging audio going on with this video. Other than that, thanks for the content.

[@BrianRogers_]

thanks for watching! I don't hear that audio issue on the original video export, but I do hear it sometimes on the youtube playback. very strange.

[@ricardo.joao.1984]

You should use Umbrella shielding for the cavities. I have Four Jazzmasters and the Umbrella works great. Rock'n'Roll

[@BrianRogers_]

interesting. I'll check that out.

[@TheChristafershawn]

I recently sold my J Mascis to go towards this guitar but at the last second I went with the Vintera Jaguar instead. I almost instantly regretted selling the J Mascis (with upgraded AVRI tremolo) even though I was mostly happy with the Jag I missed having a Jazzmaster and the neck on the JM JM was really great. Shortly after that I got a brand new Classic Vibe on sale for $300 delivered. The CV is not as nice as the J Mascis but I bought a set of Pure Vintage 65 pups for it and plan on sanding the neck for a satin feel and will just have to live with the thinner neck profile. Eventually I will buy a Fender JM but like you mentioned, I am not sure if I will be playing any live gigs any time soon other than solo acoustic stuff. First world problems.

[@LlLlLlLllLllLllLlLlLIIIL]

I’m in the exact same boat, I have the JMJM and it’s incredible, I’m thinking of getting a vintera II in the future also but definitely holding on this for some time

[@TheChristafershawn]

@@LlLlLlLllLllLllLlLlLIIIL Yeah hold onto it especially if it’s one of the older ones. I hear the current production is not as good as the last two runs, that’s just what I heard. I ended up buying a Vintera Jazzmaster as well and it’s actually really nice. But definitely a different beast than JMJM.

[@LlLlLlLllLllLllLlLlLIIIL]

@@TheChristafershawn how cool, I managed to pick it up for $345 from my local guitar center, definitely will for the time being then

[@krekcabnow2910]

I go pretty hard on my guitars and so eventually the whammy broke on mine. It would keep falling out into the body cavity. Replaced it with a mastery. Also had problems with the bridge for similar reasons. The strings wouldn’t stay on right. Right now I have a mustang bridge but I’ll also replace that with a mastery cause it’s been falling apart for whatever reason.

[@BrianRogers_]

I tend to play pretty soft these days but could certainly see myself having issues with that bridge in my younger days.

[@rakbeatz4196]

Hi Brian I Hope ur doing great, I just got this guitar and I've noticed a lot of buzzing/hissing noise. Is that the “noise” you are referring to??

[@rakbeatz4196]

It's because I honestly don't know if it's an issue with my guitar only or if this model just is noisy the way it is and I should just save myself the hassle to wait and get a replacement just for the same thing to happen.

[@jacobseal]

​@@rakbeatz4196by design, single coil pickups are noisy with 60 cycle hum. That could be what you are hearing. It is really loud in the videos I have heard with his guitar, not sure why as I haven't got my hands on one. One thing I don't want is to buy a project. If I am getting genuine Fender I expect it to be playable out of the box.

[@BrianRogers_]

Yeah pretty noisy on the electronics. A little more so than other single coils I have. I’ve insulated mine a little with copper tape now and it seems to be a little better.

[@BrianRogers_]

Not shielded at all under the pickguard on mine. I posted a video on the channel showing under the hood if you’re interested.

[@stefandothill]

@BrianRogers_ Don't take this the wrong way but please listen back to your video with some headphones; the audio is constantly switching left right (so much so that it's hard to focus on what you are saying even)

[@redforge1372]

I'll never understand how you review a guitar and... don't.... play...the guitar....

[@RUBBERTANK_3]

Awful guitars out the box, trying to solo on the 7.5" is not happening. I love my jag but only after i leveled the frets to 9.5" changed pickups to Curtis novak, changed Pickguard to Pearloid, changed nut. Only thing i can't change is the fact that it must have a 10 piece body! p.s. i darkened the fretboard a lot, it was terribly light at first. I have three vinteras and all are junk before some work, they are multiple piece bodies which is a ripoff really.

[@majunior1944]

You’re wrong.

[@BrianRogers_]

Interesting opinions.

[@Ferruidoblanco]

faraday cage for noisy pickups

[@BrianRogers_]

Already lined the inside. Much better!