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I bought this guitar through zZounds a bit over a year ago, and from day one I was thoroughly impressed. But there are some things that would be valuable to know before shelling out such a bit chunk of change. For starters, the bridge on the American Pro is vastly improved, and no longer lets strings come off the saddles when you play heavy. But, it uses the wider spacing, about 60mm I believe. This causes the outside E strings to be way to close to the edge of the neck. From time to time I still throw a string over the edge. I am preparing to order a Mastery bridge to solve this issue, but for an extra $190 plus shipping, I wish I didn't have to. Nevertheless, the guitar is so amazing that it's worth it. Also note that these VMod pickups are rather impressive, and fit the modern approach to the Jazzmaster very nicely. However, be prepared for a roller-coaster ride of information....and misinformation, if you ever want to change them out. There are not a lot of drop in replacements for these, and trying to figure out what my options are when I install the Mastery bridge is getting tough. I assume I would go to a standard Strat size since my string spacing would, but I've heard otherwise. So, in short, if you want the guitar as is from Fender, than you're all set. But if mods are in your future, be prepared to do a LOT of research and get constant varying and contradicting information. For what it's worth, the pickups and bridge are fantastic, I'm just trying to turn gold into diamonds, so to speak.The quality of the build is beyond exceptional. Every component of this guitar is very well made and has held up to my heavy playing without exception. I did add a BuzzStop to the tremelo plate awhile ago, and I've been pleased with the results, though it's not for the purists by any stretch of the imagination. The Fender branded tuners perform well, and the tremelo design is very nice, especially with the locking feature, which I suppose is almost a necessity. Not much in the way of complaints, though I suppose I would have preferred if the pickup selector were more conveniently located. Not much of an issue since I play on the bridge almost exclusively, but not the best place if you change it a lot. The volume pot is ideal for swells, however. I did swiftly swap the .09's out with .10's. With all that said, this is the best guitar I've ever had, and I've been through my fair share. It's not exactly a modder's delight, but it is fantastic as is anyway.Oh, and to elaborate on the star ratings.......OVERALL gets 5/5 because I don't have any reason not to.FEATURES gets 4/5 because it's ideal except for the pickup selector placement.QUALITY gets 5/5 because I have not had a single issue with the build qualityMANUFACTURER SUPPORT gets 5/5 because Fender support is that goodSOUND gets 4/5 because I love it, but not so much the aft bridge string characterEASE OF USE gets a 5/5 because there's nothing complicated about itVALUE gets a 5/5 because that's the highest it let's me goTHE WOW FACTOR gets a 5/5 because I was wowed the moment it left it's case

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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.

First off it should be noted that this is a jazzmaster more in form than in function and if you are looking for a true vintage style jazzmaster this probably isnt the choice for you. I went for this guitar because i have always wanted an American fender and loved the aesthetic of the jazzmaster and jaguar but wanted something with a maple fretboard and this was the best of all 3. In addition to that i found out when researching this guitar a little more that these are not actually true jazzmaster pickups which were wound flat and wide but pretty much just standard single coils on oversized bobbins. Which is not great if you want that vintage jazzmaster sound because after playing it i found it really does sound very much like a strat. HOWEVER, this is a huge plus if you plan on changing out the pickups, since the jazzmaster pickups were always so flat that the routing was far to shallow to fit anything else without doing additional routing and messing up the body, but since these are the same depth as standard pickups you can replace them without much work which is good since i had been hoping to put p90s in it from the beginning but wasnt too stoked about tearing up the body to make em fit. Anyhow, as far as construction and playabillity goes everything is top notch. Moved recently and had to leave behind most of my guitars so all iv had to play was a les paul for a few months and after this arrived i havent touched the LP, neck feels far more comfortable frets feel smoother and its just an overall very fun guitar to play. The tremolo takes a little getting used and seems to take the guitar out of tune pretty quick if your not careful but its still better than alot of the older jazzmasters iv played. There was some pretty bad buzz with the trem locked when it arrived but it was a fairly easy fix so not not really as issue but something to be on the lookout for i guess? Anyhow, bottom line is, great guitar, very fun, very pretty, and very well made and i definitely recommend it. but know what your getting, because its definitely not a vintage style jazzmaster.

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