I'm off to a bad start: I can't hear anything wrong with the stock Squier.

@rustyshackleford9557

Ай бұрын

Well that is because you lack the nerdy insecurities of most guitarists. Guitar buyers often buy to make up for something they see as lacking in their own self. Guitar seller's take full advantage of this and often without realizing it because it pays for their lunch and that clouds their ability to be honest, even to themselves. Welcome to one of the most over hyped consumer products ever invented, sold mostly to folks who couldn't strum Happy Birthday even if I told em it was a I, V, I IV progression.

@richardroyster6631

Ай бұрын

your bad start is cash in the bank, why create non-existing problems

@maxvanderhoning8375

28 күн бұрын

That's because hes playing through a great amp. Also squiers dont sound bad, they just dont sound great either. More expensive guitars/ pups have that oompf that you can't quite express in words

@richardroyster6631

28 күн бұрын

@@maxvanderhoning8375 I find that a good amp ( I do not know great amps but most valve amps and many solid state amps sound pretty good with decent guitars and the speakers make the biggest difference to me. Yes PUPs can sound muddy, but I find the speakers and setting contribute a lot to the muddy sound or loss of definition. Yes I have various teles from MIM MiJ to US special and The neck had the most lame. also the MIJ switches failed on me and costs the most to repair. The MIA texas specials were really lame sounding. I ordered a Classic Vibes and I will see what the deal is. I will have saved enough euros to buy new pups if I need. PUP is most important to me. I am not guitar tech or claim to be an expert. but I have played since 1971. I am also considering Harley Benton, because of price and ease of attaining them in Europe. The most popular players did not play the most expensive guitars Ask Marc Farner or Brian May or Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.

@scotthornsey

27 күн бұрын

I wouldn't say you're off to a bad start, squiers aren't bad guitars. It's mostly hardware that feels cheaper on them particularly the trems as Rhett said. The pickups did sound a bit more sterile to me but you could definitely EQ it out.

The main take away is that what really makes a guitar sound good is the person playing it.

@burningjoe

Ай бұрын

I once saw Al Di Meola play a black plastic Mickey Mouse toy guitar and of course was amazing on it. after he played the piece, he said "its the player, not the guitar (pause for laughter) of course the guitar has room for tonal improvement..."

@svendtveskg5719

Ай бұрын

@@burningjoe Yeah, I once saw blues-legend Magic Slim play a Squier through a.. wait for it: Roland Jazz Chorus solid state amp. Sounded killer!

@youropionmattersnot

Ай бұрын

For the most part, yes. Every guitar I play sounds like me. Every drum set I play sounds like me. Every keyboard I play sounds like me.

@Charlesbabbage2209

Ай бұрын

If I had to choose between a thousand hours of practice or a $5000 guitar, I'll take the practice. A good player will sound good on a decent guitar, a bad player will still sound bad on the best guitar on the planet.

@maxvanderhoning8375

28 күн бұрын

​@@Charlesbabbage2209i'd take the 5000 guitar in a heartbeat. The fun of playing guitar is getting better. I'd rather put in the 1000 hours myself and work for it, than to have those skills handed down to me

Rhett, I am absolutely blown away dude. I don’t even know where to begin. You and Tilly becoming family so quickly is something I will cherish forever and this guitar and video will constantly remind me of these past few months and the beautiful moments we’ve shared from eating delicious ribeye with our hands in my kitchen to producing a live recording of 7 artists in 24 hours in my bike shop. Thank you just doesn’t seem to cut it. I’ve been so busy I didn’t get to watch the whole video until tonight and I literally had no idea you were sending me the Jazzmaster until it was at my home and in my hands. Love you and Tilly forever. Can’t wait to play this guitar with you soon. ❤ Now I got me a Jazzmaster!!! Thank you my friend. I’m speechless and that doesn’t happen ever.

@MashaT22

Ай бұрын

Enjoy that thing! That’s a great friend you’ve got!

@Nightpants

29 күн бұрын

This video went from being a techy gear head video to sentimental pretty quick. I kinda sniffled a lil bit when Rhett went into the story of why he was doing this. Such a cool thing to do.

@Nightpants

29 күн бұрын

This video went from being a techy gear head video to sentimental pretty quick. I kinda sniffled a lil bit when Rhett went into the story of why he was doing this. Such a cool thing to do.

I closed my eyes during the initial comparison and really listened. Before you did anything both sounded great in their own way anyway.

@chromedomejunior

Ай бұрын

I think that this stuff is more about specificity than good v bad, tonewise. Any fully-functioning guitar can be part of many musically-useful signal chains, but a given player’s style and workflow might dictate that a certain output (whether it be from pickups or surrounding electronics) gets closer to their dream tone with less effort. The biggest tone difference comes from a happier player who is having their desired physical and psychoacoustic experience.

@mikedspringstead5974

Ай бұрын

The sound difference didn't seem drastic, but he looked much more relaxed on the Custom Shop, appeared to be digging in harder to coax the sound out of the Classic Vibe. Possibly a responsiveness that's more felt than heard.

@jw_au

Ай бұрын

I was exacting my lunch and looked up a few times and hadn’t realised he’d changed guitars… both sounded pretty good to me at home on my iPad speakers 🤷‍♂️

@jw_au

Ай бұрын

I think the bigger question is, with the cost of the mods, is the guitar any better than say a US Standard which is probably the same cost…

@andoros.7017

Ай бұрын

“Custom Shopping” a guitar is almost all about psychology and how the guitar makes the player feel rather than it having to do with any drastic sonic improvement. Giving it a proper set up (with any needed fret work and fretboard rolling included) will make the largest noticeable difference pertaining to playability and comfort which is a HUGE factor as well. Long-winded way of saying that gaining a better tone is one of the least observable effects of upgrading a guitar.

Just wanted to note for anyone who feels that the custom shop model sounds a little “warmer” than the upgraded squier… the custom shop has been using 250k pots in their jazzmasters as of late. It’s not true to the original design, but many people prefer the sound. So it’s another switch worth considering if you find your jazzmaster a touch too bright. All that said, great video on some truly transformative and affordable upgrades Rhett! Keep it up!

@mvsr990

Ай бұрын

"the custom shop has been using 250k pots in their jazzmasters as of late. " Blasphemers... The key to the offsets and their 1 meg pots is that they should live on 8 - which is real close to a 500k pot. Lets you dial it up to full blast if you want or a couple more down and you're basically at 250. The biggest knock on the linear 1 meg pots is that they aren't great if you want to use the volume knob to clean up an amp but they still work fine with a pedal that cleans up like a Fuzz Face.

@colonelbrando

Ай бұрын

brass bridge, hate graphtec saddles

@justindlc

Ай бұрын

I have the same Squier in the video and put 250k pots in the main circuit and 1meg pots in the rhythm circuit. 95% of the time I’m on the 250k pots but if I need some thin sparkly stuff I have the option to switch. The 250k pots were a real game changer for this guitar, and a cheap change.

@gazzie12000

Ай бұрын

Interesting. I thought the Squier sounded too bright and harsh both before and after the upgrade, so that's probably why. Could have saved quite a bit of money by just changing the pots first and seeing if that tamed the harshness. If so, no need for new pickups.

@ExpatZ266

Ай бұрын

@@gazzie12000 My Affinity had 500k pots, after stratifying the electronics I decided I really liked the stock pickups so they got new black covers and stayed in place, sounds great now with the 250k's.

Hey Rhett, I am a guitar technician in Los Angeles Ca, this video solidifies what can be done to “most” less expensive guitars. I say most cause some cheaper guitars are cannot be deemed playable due to a severely warped neck, frets although frets can be serviced and be very good. All in all, with a little $$ even cheap guitars can be made to play and play very well.every once in a while one slips through and only needs pick ups and there are so many aftermarket pickup brands that you can purchase pickups south of $100.00 and you be hard pressed to hear the difference. Thanks Rhett. Tim Russell Guitar.

@JeremyAndersonBoise

Ай бұрын

Pro detected

@SStudiopro

Ай бұрын

@@JeremyAndersonBoise ??

@wyattheitkamp55

Ай бұрын

Yeah what’s crazy is sometimes all a cheap guitar needs is a good setup. I think for me that has to be one of the most important parts regardless of the price of the instrument

@zachjacobs3337

Ай бұрын

@@SStudiopro He is saying your comment indicates you are a professional.

@SStudiopro

Ай бұрын

@@zachjacobs3337 Oh, ok thank you so much for the clarification.

18:29 I did this trick with my 1998 Epiphone Les Paul. Every few years, I break out the 0000 steel wool and make about 4 passes over the back of the neck to make it less sticky! 😊

When I was touring, I used to do this to my Squiers. Obviously, money was always tight. So, finding quality guitars at affordable prices was impossible. You used to be able to find pawn shop deals and hotrod them to make useable stage instruments. I haven't been in a pawn shop in decades. So, I don't know if that is still true. My last "build" was a Squier standard Tele. I put in Custom Shop Texas Specials and added a middle Strat pup. I didn't have a router but careful use of a wood chisel worked just as well. I also replaced all of the wiring, pots, caps and replaced the 3 way switch with a 5 way. I could have installed a push/pull tone pot to get a ton of pickup selections but I chose to wire the 5 way with my own preferences of pickup combinations. Most of my pawn shop builds found homes with young and promising pickers that couldn't afford a decent guitar. My last Squier Tele build, I kept. I still drag it out occasionally. It still plays and sounds great. 😊😊😊

@mikewithers299

Ай бұрын

I used to cruise pawnshops for good candidates for customizing even 5 years ago. Got a few this way. But now pawnshops in my area have jacked the prices up considerably since the plandemic. Used guitars, even cheap ones, seem to have gone up in value bcuz of the higher cost of new guitars.

@scramblesthedeathdealer

Ай бұрын

I picked up a nice Ibanez RG7421 7-string for $250 at a pawn shop recently... put more than that into upgrades, but I love that guitar so much now!

@mikewithers299

Ай бұрын

@scramblesthedeathdealer yea I did the same for my Yamaha RGZ 321. Wanted a Floyd Rose ended up buying the guitar for $189 and dumped $300 more into new SD pickups. So worth the upgrade

@scramblesthedeathdealer

Ай бұрын

@@mikewithers299 Nothing wrong with that, now it's your custom model 👍

@gringogreen4719

Ай бұрын

I do these too, I call them my Primo Cheapos and they definitely are a blast to play. Sadly used Squier prices shot up during the Pandemic so I moved in to newer Import guitars that pretty much straddle the Affinity and Standard lines for Squier. When I mod my Primo Cheapos they tend to add weight as all the new pots, switches, pickups and parts weigh more than the Chinese pot metal parts. Gives them more of a familiar Fender style heft when playing.

Getting the plastic wrap off in one piece - so satisfying

@brentwalker8596

Ай бұрын

Ah, the simple things in life.

great sounding guitar.....also, gotta love the "pinche way" street sign behind Ben at 13:54 !!!!

This is by far one of your best videos Rhett. Bravo!!! really great integration of guitar parts, other professionals and informative subject matter. Cheers!

I closed my eyes while listening to the sound comparison and every time i preferred the squier

100% what I do. Have a standard tele, an old Epiphone 335, and a player Strat that have all been “custom shopped”, and I always get tone compliments every show. Also, Ben is the 🐐

Great job and killer gift for the Bike guy! I enjoyed watching you and Josh in the video of the gravel race and gig. The bike guy will definitely love this guitar.

Les Paul player detected at 22:26 :P The comparison in the end... I can keep listening to it for all day long, awesome!!! To me, low end is something I believe cannot be achieved in a cheaper guitar no matter which component is upgraded. This is what I noticed not only on this video, but on other similar ones. Cheers

Cool upgrade and sound soo better and closer to the custom!

These more tech/mechanical videos are pretty cool. They’re all cool, but obviously I enjoy these ones. Thanks, dude.

One of the great joys of my life now is what I've learned by slowly upgrading my Standard Tele that I got as a gift in 2011. What I haven't changed or fixed up is a very small list. I've really loved learning how to solder and sand and file and whatever else.

Dude this video is insanely good!! I am in the midst of this EXACT project!! Thank you so much for this! You rule!

I did this to Harley Benton TE-62 Telecaster. Replaced pickups with custom wound ones, replaced electronics, had a proper setup from a good luthier and some smaller neck adjustments. It sounds amazing and it is not as heavy weighted as everybody is saying. The biggest difference of course was in pickups, but the rest also does it's a part more or less. If you don't have a budget for expensive Fenders, Gibsons etc., try this. It definitely can work, you just need to find a cheaper guitar that "rings". In other words, that is made from decent piece of wood. If that is the case, these mods can take the instrument to a really good place. :)

Having built a few guitars with my Dad I'd take doing a custom job all day. You can make it EXACTLY what you want it to be. The bigger thing to me though is because you are doing all that stuff yourself, it really makes the guitar feel like it's yours. The ones we've built will never EVER be sold. The personal connection we have to them is something you just can't replicate and I love it.

@GuitarsModsMusic

7 күн бұрын

Exactly 👍

Honestly, the stock Squier sounds pretty great.

I love all episodes with Ben!

Your content has really been next level lately man! 🔥🔥🔥

Great job on this. Sounds great. Not as warm as the Fender but still holds its own. Fantastic luthier tips as well. Thanks Rhett.

Love that street sign behind Ben. PINCHE way !! 😂🤣😂

Such a great mod. You are a great friend Rhett, giving him a one of a kind top notch, better than new Squier. The tones were so so good from each of those JMs.

These drums are so groovy on the jam part. Love it

I did a similar thing to my MIM strat, Texas special pickups, upgraded the harness, bone nut locking tuners. Very happy with the result. 😊

Perfect timing, I *just* bought a CME FSR Player Jazzmaster like last week with the intent of doing some upgrades! Definitely gonna be taking notes from this vid

As always I love your playing. Great feeling.

I bought a Squier Stratocasters vintage 70s and it is the best feeling strat I ever owned. I did replace the pickups to the Cradle Rocks and the tuners to what is on Robin Trower strat. It is now a beast.

I customized a 72' Squire Thinline and it is now one of my favorite guitars, (but I added a sick custom Warmoth neck too) and I have a Relic'ed 62' Custom Shop Strat. Nothing wrong with doing this and we all love a good project if it can become a cool toy later. Thanks again Rhett, another great vid.

We need “today I AM a guitar technician” merch 😂

@cheintz44

Ай бұрын

a "subtly nervous" technician 😜

That screwdriver trick on the fretboard edges is great. Just transformed my unbound BFG Les Paul neck.

@Fatherflot64

Ай бұрын

Agreed. I just did that to a couple of Franken tele builds of mine that needed a little fretboard rolling. Worked great

Great video, Rhett! Always have been curious about those kinds of mods.

Great job, Rhett. Thank you so much. I've been thinking about getting a beater so I can start hot-rodding and approach my more expensive guitars with less intimidation when working on them. This vid definitely motivated me to get my a** in gear and start looking for a cool used guitar I can upgrade with parts and relic or repaint.

I just did this to my Jay Mascus Jazz But I also replaced the neck, put in Fralin hum canceling Jazz PU's, and soldered in all new electronics,put a bridge from an American professional Jag on it and a new tremolo Guitars spectacular now. Nice Video Rhett.

Great feel, great fingers, great amp is all you need to make great music.

The clear pickguard was cool too.

@jasondorsey7110

Ай бұрын

That clear pickguard is begging to be stickerbombed

I love the video--lots of actionable insights. I got a great sound with a Mastery trem and bridge--lots of options these days for JMs.

I’ve done my custom version of Squier Tele. I love it

Thanks A lot Rhett! Now everyone gonna be a guitar tech:)

Hell yeah! I just ordered a CV Strat and I'll be doing this exact thing with it!

Your playing is sounding great man

Perfect friggin timing. Thanks, Rhett.

Great blues jam!

I got a Squier J mascis Put on a Mastery bridge Series switch instead of rhythm circuit Lots of fret work It’s one of the best playing guitars I own It plays and sounds great

I changed the electronics in a Squier Tele for an Obsidian Wire solderless kit with a treble bleed built in. It made a tremendous improvement in sound.

Good seeing you at Sea Otter.

Rocking the Mid South t-shirt 💪🏻

About a month ago I had 30th St Guitars in Manhattan install Elvis Costello’s custom spec Lindy Fralin Noiseless Pickups on my CIJ Jazzmaster along with the Black Bobbin wiring harness swapped for 500k pots and I couldn’t be happier. The guitar is a machine now. I had the antiquities for a while but they just weren’t doing what I wanted.

My PRS ZM. Hot rodded to the 9s with Cremas, ratio tuners, rewired and switchcraft parts. Been my number 1 since 2018.

Ben is my hero! I wanna make him a living space in my home, feed him dinner, give him whatever he wants and ask him to tech all my guitars. LOL. Perfect vid for what I needed today. Thanks Rhett. 🎶🎶🌅🎶🎶

Squire sounded so good I had to switch tabs to see which one you were playing Great video!

Thanks for this - got my daughter a Squier & she plays out so we started upgrading by replacing the tuners and nut, but the bridge is an issue as well. Going to try these further recommendations.

Excellent vid, Rhett. I did a few similar modifications to my J. Mascis Squire Jazzmaster although I decided to keep the stock pickups because they actually sound pretty great. Swapped-out parts: Staytrem Bridge, TUSQ nut, Fender OEM Tremolo, 00 steel wool to the back of the neck, and added copper shielding tape in the control cavities for better noise rejection. Now, it's one of my favourite guitars and when you see my collection, that's saying something. Next, I'm going to try rolling the edges along with a few passes of 320 grit sandpaper and see how it feels. (Excellent tips, BTW). Cheers!

13:04 I spit my coffee on my hoodie. Thanks, Rhett!

Great video. I've modded a few guitars, and in my opinion the nut is the main secret sauce of a good guitar. It is the hardest to get right and to have the skill to correct it. Everything else you can work around. But if the nut is not right, if the neck is not right... do not spend the money to buy and much less upgrade it. I've learned some cool tricks with this video, so thanks a lot.

I did this exact same thing, only I used a Squier JMJM neck and a Fender Vintera JM body. Totally worth it.

I was in the market for a Jazzmaster and after watching your earlier video, I went with the Squier (from Sweetwater). It looks and sounds great. Such a great value. I do need to knock the edges of the frets back a bit, and I love the steel wool-to-the-neck idea. I like the pickups through my set up, and I have no intention of "upgrading" them or the wiring. Maybe the bridge will get swapped out for a Mustang bridge if I have trouble with it, but so far, so good. And since I rarely even think about using the tremelo, that's going to stay Squier stock. But I've been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the "budget" instruments on the market these days. My Jazzmaster is light years better than the Squiers of my youth. Thanks Rhett. I've watched you sporadically for a while, but I'm now hitting subscribe!

Guitars sound sick, and your playing is so good! Difficult to get that Custom Shop feel, however, sonically its pretty close after upgrading the pickups.

Really cool video!! Cheers

This is right up my alley. I've been thinking about doing something similar to a JM for a while. I figure that I would at the very least change the tremolo, and possibly the bridge. Good to see that it can be done. I know it's out of scope for this vid, but it would be interesting to see how the replacement pups sound in the original wiring harness.

Phenomenal tasty playing, Rhett!

i haven´t seen the video yet, but i know that this is the kind of video that i needed.

I “upgraded” my Squier Contemporary Jaguar HH with Graphtech tuner/nut, Babicz bridge, Fishman Fluence Classics and I absolutely love it. The neck is glorious and it’s a guitar I can’t currently buy from Fender with a roasted maple neck and sculpted heel. Plays amazing, sounds amazing and looks unreal!!

I'm actually in the process of doing a similar upgrade with my own classic vibe jazzmaster. So far I've done a bunch of setup, replacing the trem for the Fender AVRI trem, and I've sanded the back of the neck to remove the gloss. Planning on throwing some gotoh tuners in, replacing the bridge with a staytrem, and replacing the pickups with a set from Sunday Handwound

Great video. there is also a case to be made for doing the wiring loom before the pickups; the improved pots jack etc will show what your stock pickups are really like, they may be ok enough to live with while you take time to choose. If you aren't brave enough to go for wire wool(or you are heavy handed ) start with plain paper, it's a very mild abrasive

Im not a tech either Rhett but i do the same basic things to my guitars. Electronics and pots get replaced, fret board rolled the same way (its an old carpenter trick i learned buildings houses and cabinets). A new Graphtech nut, completely intonated and adjusted, and frets dressed. Saved me lots of money, and now i do it on my friends guitars too.

Great video. The tip about using 0000 steel wool on the back of the neck was really helpful. I was going to chime in and say - why not get an MIM Jazzmaster, swap the pickups, and then do the setup. Then I checked the prices of new MIM Jazzmasters and realized the guitar alone is more than the Squier plus all the enhancements.

I customed my cheap gretsch ( the less paul version) everything other than the guitar body. ( neck stayed the same, but had fretwork and adjustments... My favorite guitar..my number 1

I upgraded my Squier Jaguar. Fender locking tuners, Graphtec nut and saddles, USA pickups and Japanese tremolo. It’s great

I dont want anyone building my guitar that doesnt enjoy building guitars...but for free,bring it!...i can always look over the work

Excellent video. Interestingly enough, I don’t thing anyone would have known with confidence which sound was the CS and which was the squire from a blind test prior to the mods.

Thinking about the overall quality of the Fender products that have been outsourced overseas, the quality has gotten a lot better ... over the years. I got a used 50th Anniversary Squire P-Bass (China Made) and it was VERY good. Great neck profile and feel. I knew that I could do better with some higher quality pickups ... and yes it was. I installed a hip-shot style bridge and that was an improvement. For what I have invested in that bass, I am very satisfied. I've played many new Squire Tele's and Strat's that were almost unplayable out of the box. To get those guitars into "playable "shape would have been a big project. Thanks for another great vid.

To fix the shallow string angle, you just have to shim the neck. A shallow angle will always remain whether you change the saddles or not. New saddles will decrease the chance of strings popping out, but changing the angle of the neck will fully fix the issue.

Love the complete wiring harness. What a great idea. I know fender offers a loaded pickguard but I don't think they have them for everything and you don't have a pickup brand option. You can do the mods one at a time to fit your budget.

Great work, I've been working on a Squier Jazzmaster some years ago for a similar project and tried the Antiquity pickups but wasn't satisfied. Still to bright and harsh in my opinion. I found the definitive answer in the Mojo UK pickups 58-64 (I bought from them the complete preassembled harness kit too, very good quality). Super amazing. Those pickups transformed the cheap Squier in one of my main guitars that I still play with my band every week.

I took a similar approach with my Epiphone Sheraton. Took the guts out of a 335 and swapped em in. Massive upgrade for a fraction of the cost.

Recently I bought a cheap, used L5 knock off (1995 Samick) as I tried it in the store it floored me with it's tone. As soon as I took it out to really check set up, my grandson dropped a handful of picks in the f holes. When I pulled out the pup and found some real gibson pafs.

I just recently did a similar project with a Squier CV 50’s Tele. Duncan Alnico 2 Pro pickups, Hoagland Custom 5way wiring harness, and similar neck work I put into it.

Cool setup nuggets in this vid. I have a squire jazz base that I need to do a tiny bit of dialing in still

Definitely in love with that custom shop… I followed your links and looked up the specs. It appears that that custom shop guitar modded the pots to 250k ones, which give it a darker tone. So that’s the difference we’re hearing between the CS and the upgraded Squier. I’m sure if you put in similar pots they would sound almost identical. As is, the Squier comes across brighter.

I have both the Classic Vibe and the J Mascis Squier JM. With some upgrade (pickups, tremolo, bridge, neck shim) and the right setup these instruments are great touring and recording guitars, so they worth more than a 5K custom shop (for me at least). Great video Rhett, thanks.

I just put Lollars in mine. That's it. Amazing guitar.

Thankyou for sharing Rhett, i also have one that Squier CV JM, but yeah i'm upgrading that Guitar. I change the bridge into tune o matic, bcs its really hard to get Mastery in Indonesia. Also i change the tremolo kit into Fender, i change my bridge pickup into fender wide range humbucker. Tbh its a fun guitar. But that neck pickup from Squire i really love it! So i didnt change it

They both sounded great. I was working in shop and listening and not watching and I couldn't tell the difference honestly. You sound great I think the basic squire sounds real close. Pots and switches feel better when they're in your hands

I like the tone of the custom shop Fender. It’s mellow and yet sharper on the bridge pickup. But with that said, great price and you could tune the amp to get a similar tone. Thanks for the tips!

I bought a new Squier Jazzmaster (but in dented or chipped condition on the body so it was cheaper) about a year ago because I liked the wide neck and thought it had P90 pickups and i liked the sound of them. Turns out, they look like P90s but are Jazzmaster specific pickups. I still like them. Thanks for the video---will have to play this guitar some more and determine what upgrades I can afford and will be valid in my situation! It definitely is a different guitar to play compared to Strat and hollow body guitar model styles I also play.

I know nothing about how Jazzmasters are "supposed" to sound, but being a Tele fan, I think I enjoyed the brighter sound of the Squier to the warmer sound of the custom shop. As others have mentioned.. that may have just been a difference in the pot values. Very interesting, thanks!

Great video, but that’s probably some of the best playing I’ve heard from you! ✌️😎🎸🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶

Interesting video…. I have a Squier Bass VI that I’m considering modding in a similar way. Good stuff

Nice video. My first guitar was a Samick, which was about $250 in 2004. I should do some of these upgrades on it.

Hahaha I just did the same: compared my Epiphone '59 Les Paul reissue with eight mods including upgraded electronics and Faber bridge and tailpiece with the Gibson '59 LP reissue head-to-head. Numbers are also very similar: I have ~ $1050 into the Epiphone whereas the Gibson was tagged at $4750 used. Came out grinning like the Cheshire Cat. They look and sound identical, the only difference is a VERY slight difference in neck feel. This video offered me some suggestions on how to improve that, too. In addition to improving the tone, I buffed out the entire top with Maguire's automotive scratch remover and rubbed walnut stain into the Indian Laurel fretboard to make it look like rosewood, which worked well. I do NOT pine for a Gibson :o)

I did the exact same upgrade. Put in Antiquity IIs in a lefty antique white CV Jazzmaster. Got a Staytrem bar. Kept stock saddles and trim they work fine (lefty trim as an aftermarket part from Fender not available). Got frets leveled. Plays a dream. BIG THING NOT MENTIONED. Noticed the demos in video the CV sound was had more top end than CS. This is because the replacement wiring harness has 1 meg pots. That's the classic Jazzmaster sound but many players today are backing away from that much top end in a Jazzmaster, in the old days you'd reach for the tone control on the guitar to tame it. Today many Jazzmaster players either put in 500k (or as someone here said even 250K they believe to be standard in CS Jazzmasters today) OR buy Antiquity I pickups that have Alnico II magnets instead of the Alnico V in the Antiquity II. Rhett didn't say which Antiquities he put in his redo, that makes a world of difference. My advice is 500K pots with Alnico V Antiquity IIs it's the goldilocks zone of emphasized top you want in a Jazzmaster, plenty of nice bite and chime but you're not instantly and forever using the tone pot to tame it. If you want a mellower sound go with the Antiquity Is with Alnico II it's the sound of a late 50's Jazzmaster that is more mellow. Alnico II with 1 meg pots will sound in the zip code of the CS guitar in the demo. For jazz as designed :). But I suspect Fender may have moved to Alnico Vs in the 60's when they couldn't sell enough guitars to jazz players but the surf guys were buying them like hotcakes for "that sound." The key balance and interaction here is magnet type vs. pot spec. These two factors have the highest impact on the warm/bright characteristic of your guitar. Not going into body wood or fretboard here, but definitely pots and magnets are the key. For a brighter guitar use 1 meg pots or Alnico Vs. 1 meg + Alnico V will tear your head off but maybe that's what you're after. 250k + Alnico II will be the most warm mellow sound but IMHO doesn't sound like a Jazzmaster it sounds almost like a Tele to me. 500k + Alnico Vs to my ears is that "ah, that's better" moment where you stop managing the top end. And for the Squire CV Jazzmasters with poplar bodies which some say are snappier than Fender alder Jazzmasters this helps moderate that factor as well.

Good call on the thread pitch, but it is also good to turn the screw counter-clockwise until it drops into the thread that is already in the wood before screwing it in.

Pretty cool seeing all the steps, might need to get some steel wool to pull a little more of the neck finish from some of my Ibanez guitars.

Hi Rhett. Don't know if you're aware, but EMG has a new set for Jazzmasters called the JMaster set. They are amazing and have a couple of tricks in the upper control panel. Rather than Vol/Tone for the neck PU, as in stock Jazzmasters, there is an EXG, that gives you a fuller, clean tone, and a SPC, which EMG originally intended to make single coils sound like Humbuckers. Although it doesn't exactly do that, it does give VERY useful tones. I use them in all my Turbocaster J-style guitars, including my own working guitars, and LOVE them! They also have the whole setup in a loaded pickguard as well. BTW, I also love those GraphTech saddles, in Mustang bridges. And another thing is I ALWAYS use Hipshot Locking tuners in ALL my guitars, but for sale and personal, and even acoustics and my archtops!

That Pinche Way sign is awesome! Hahahaha! Loved the video.