WordMan, I’ve heard about that book but had never been to the site until you provided the link. Considering the reverence with which they treat the original 'casters, I was surprised to see the guitar on the page that you get to by clicking the “how to order” link. What’s wrong with that picture? 
The fact that it’s left-handed? The ashtray cover over the bridge? Someone bought that sucker and left it under a bed…
Unless I’m looking at it wrong, it looks like a right-handed neck on a left-handed body. Would Fender have shipped such a thing in the 50s?
:smack::smack::smack:
I didn’t catch that! As to your question - no clue, but I wouldn’t be suprised especially if it was early in the production run and they hadn’t tooled up the left-hand jigs…
Gibson, on the other hand - oh, hell yeah. There are more bizarre one-off Gibsons that you could imagine. They tossed stuff together all the time.
Hey, E-Sabs, did you notice the JT90 on the blem-clearance page, here? $35 off! Surrender to the dark side, Luke!
What about the 40? Any thoughts on a floating bridge in general? How do you adjust intonation on one of those? And yes, I did, but I’m not buying anything till after the ritual slaughter of the bull to bring the sun back to life.
THat’s a Jazzmaster trem - I have no experience with those. I believe the bridge is almost like a Gibson Tune-o-Matic - meaning there’s saddle to adjust intonation. The trem is incorporated into the separate tailpiece behind the bridge.
JM trems have their own vibe and following - the operate differently vs. a Strat or Bigsby. Some folks love the length of string behind the bridge to make sonic pings or other effects…
The 40’s bridge looks like the classic Jazzmaster design. Which is to say, it’s not a good trem unless you do subtle, laid back trem-ing. The difference between this bridge and a strat trem is that the on the J guitar you’re oscillating the tailpiece and the bridge has some wobble built-in so it will also move as the strings go slack and tight. On a strat trem, there is no tailpiece, the strings are plugged into the same metal piece that the arm oscillates. On a J-trem, the strings, esp wound ones, will get hung up on the bridge, and not return to tune; the strat approach avoids this problem (not perfectly, but its a better design).
As for intonation, it’s the same as other bridges – the J bridge has little saddles on it that you move. The bridge is intentionally wobbly so the trem can work; I’d imagine intonating that guitar would require some patience but you could do it.
Another luthier from the Montréal Guitar Show - Florian Vorreiter. He had one steel string acoustic with him, as well as one of his traditional classicals and one of his experimental classicals.
It was the experimental which I got to play, and boy! What a sound! One of its coolest features was a ‘window’ port on the upper side of the instrument that could be opened or closed. As a result, the guitarist hears the sound the guitar is making more directly - it’s kind of like having a monitor on an acoustic instrument. The displaced sound holes mean that your hand is almost never in the way of where the instrument breathes. Here’s a YouTube video of Karl Marino playing it. (The guitar is a regular size - Karl is a big fellow with very large hands!). The playing on this piece is very ‘ponte’, fairly toward the bridge, giving a more pointed sound. I can assure you the normale and ‘tasto’ tones were beautifully mellow.
There is one other video of Karl Marino playing the opening of the Regondi ‘Introduction and Caprice’ on the traditional model at this website. Scroll about 1/3 of the way down, just past the Flickr slideshow…
Wordman: I can’t find a good closeup of the bridge, but it’s a roller bridge, so I was wondering how adjusting the rollers worked.
I was thinking that might avoid some of the hangup problem. You think the tele is a better idea, then?
Update: I’m seeing a lot of reviews with complaints about the -40. Hello, 90.
E-Sabs - I think **squeegee **covered the Jazzmaster-type bridge pretty well. Yes, they have rollers for saddles, but they aren’t known for being super-rugged vs. a Strat trem. Given your reviews, I would say yes, a hardtail/Tele layout makes more sense…
Le Ministre - you love the avant-garde designs, don’t you? That player, Karl Marino - jeez, what a monster! The guitar sounded great, but I have no basis to judge it vs. a normal-design guitar given only online clips. Why does he hold his guitar the same way Bill Wyman held his bass, i.e., with the headstock up at his head, almost vertical?
As for “sound ports” on the upper bout of a guitar - here is a linkto a luthier’s site so you can see what **Le Ministre **is referring to. They are a feature on custom-made luthier guitars that differentiate them from factory-made guitars. I have not played one but want to - the basic premise of, as the player, having some sound beamed at your face vs. just out in front of you sounds cool. There are other features that custom-guitar-chasers look for - bevels on corners, a wedge-shaped body, etc., but of all of them, that soundport feature seems coolest…
Of course, it never ends, does it? That Blackout Jaguar looks nice. Not the biggest fan of the color, but a short scale neck fits my hand a little better.
Oh, and yeah, I found closeups of the 40s rollers.
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?2518551-Some-Photos-of-my-new-Xaviere-XV-JT40…
And someone recorded both the 40 and the 90. Can’t hear them at work. Can’t wait to get home.
This is nifty. This is the first guitar I’m going into knowing what I want and what the differences are. The Blackout Jazzmaster must have been what they had at Sam Ash. It was really a dream to hold.
Speaking of JazzCasters… or TeleMasters - or whatever you want to call them - behold my latest creation:
And it’s got my logo on the neck plate 
That is some gorgeous burst work there. Why’d you leave the headstock natural?
Thats the way the customer wanted it. This ones not for me, but I will be making myself one soon, I’m sure…
Gorgeous **BigShooter **- and I love the logo.
Awesome logo, BigShooter!
Hey, did you ever finish that guitar project with the carved top? Last I saw you were drilling holes for the wiring. Any updates?
You’re not missing anything; when I click on those clips I get a FNF message.
The russian gentleman here makes a very persuasive argument towards the JT-90 . In other news, I pulled the 585 out of the case, tucked the Pig With Lipstick away, and tried it out. I can now reliably play chords on the 585… my fingers were too ‘fat’ before. And I took my Pocket Pod, set it to Eddie Van Halen and HOLY HELL my random noodling sounds like freaking Eruption! Man, that is just awesome.