Squier Classic Vibe '60s Jazzmaster - Upgrades

I used to be really indifferent to Jazzmaster guitars in general. I had no appreciation for them. Lately that has changed, and I find myself getting excited when a new one arrives at the house.

Here are a few things that changed my mind. I have learned a lot along the way.

• Any short comings the guitar has are easily overcome with easy upgrades or modifications.
• The action height can be fixed by installing a shim.
• Once you learn how the two individual pickup circuits work the whole world opens up to you and you learn how great the pickups actually are.

Prior to now I would buy a Jazzmaster play around with it. Get bored with it and set it aside. I would eventually sell these guitars and six to twelve months later the cycle would repeat itself. I have done this three or four times.

Now I have three Jazzmasters (with a new one arriving today) and am always on the lookout for my next addition to the collection.

The end conclusion I have come to is the Jazzmaster is one of the great misunderstood and underappreciated guitars out there.

I recently released a video of a Squier Classic Vibe 40th Anniversary Vintage Edition Jazzmaster and this was where I really became aware of how great the different Squier CV versions of the Jazzmaster is. It is probably one of the better deals on the market today for a Jazzmaster and as an affordable guitar in general.

In my experience and opinion, you can take a Squier CV Jazzmaster and lay it side by side to a Fender Mexican Jazzmaster, USA Jazzmaster, and even a Custom Shop model of the guitar and if I was tasked with keeping only two of them one would be a Squier, and one would be a Mexican Jazzmaster (video to come). I am sure folks will argue with me on this. That is okay.

From Fender - The Classic Vibe '60s Jazzmaster® is a faithful and striking homage to the iconic Fender favorite, producing undeniable Jazzmaster tone courtesy of its dual Fender-Designed alnico single-coil pickups. Player-friendly features include a slim, comfortable "C"-shaped neck profile with an easy-playing 9.5"-radius fingerboard and narrow-tall frets, 25.5 scale length, a vintage- style tremolo system for expressive string bending effects, and a floating bridge with barrel saddles for solid string stability. This throwback Squier model also features 1960s-inspired headstock markings, rich-looking nickel-plated hardware, and a slick vintage-tint gloss maple neck finish for an old-school vibe. Classic Vibe '60s Jazzmaster®, Laurel Fingerboard, 3-Color Sunburst Squier Classic Vibe '60s Jazzmaster

Let’s talk about the Squier CV 60s Jazzmaster. There are some short comings that may or may not culminate for you right out of the box.

First, I would always replace the Squier Tremolo with a Fender made part. The Squier part rattles some and seems less significant when compared to the Fender part.

I have also found that the Squier part seems to not hold a tune as well as the Fender made part.

For less than $50 and 15 minutes of time to replace it is a no brainer.

A lot of folks replace the bridge with the mustang bridge that allows you to set height individually for each saddle as opposed to the traditional bridge.

I meant to do that upgrade on this project but stupidly ordered the wrong part. I instead installed a Fender bridge that is identical in functionality to the Squier part but does seem to be more robust and well made.

The guitar I received had issues with string height right out of the box. I bottomed out the bridge adjustments, but the height was still too high for me. As a result, in y upgrades I popped off the neck and installed a .5-degree maple premade shim and then reinstalled the neck. After installing strings, the string height was easy to set with the bridge without bottoming out. I now have quite a bit of play in the bridge adjustment as I should have.


I have been wanting to trade out the pickups on a Classic Vibe 60s Jazzmaster with a Fender US Pure Vintage 65 pickup set. The one thing that I do like really about my US made Jazzmaster is the pickups. You can pick up a brand-new set for $129 on and a used set of the pickups on Reverb for about $50 in excellent condition. This is what I did.

Note – this is not a before and after video where I compare the pickups before the upgrade and after the upgrade. The sound samples at the end of the video are of the guitar post upgrades.