J Mascis Squier
 

The J Mascis Squier is the best electric guitar money can buy. A bold statement I know but go play one and tell me I'm wrong.

To the general population, that particular Squier Jazzmaster just may be the best guitar that Squier offers for sale to date.

But as long as there are choices for guitar players to make, it will never be the best electric guitar.

As long as it’s the greatest to you is all that should ever matter.

If you like Jazzmasters, it’s a really good one and might be the best electric guitar YOUR money could buy. If you don’t like Jazzmasters, it clearly wouldn’t be. I’m a strat, tele, SG, ES-335, Les Paul guy waaaaaay before Jazzmasters, so it wouldn’t even be in my top 10. All rather subjective stuff...

Regardless, I’m glad you like your’s - that’s all that matters... Enjoy!

-Ray

It's a great guitar! I owned one for a while and have considered buying another one. I really love the twang of those P90s! By the same token, there are some great guitars out there now in the same price range or even less. It's just a matter of finding what works for you. I would say the new Epiphone Inspired by Gibson LP Special is as good as the Mascis, and perhaps better for some people. Same for the P90 equipped SG. A CV tele or strat is also a great guitar for some.

The JMJM has a very unique tone, and is much more in line with a P90 equipped guitar than a true Jazzmaster. But, again, it sounds great. There can be issues with rattling in the bridge, but with some effort you can fix that.

Overall, it's a very nice guitar with a fabulous neck. There are others that are just as good though, so I can't say it's the absolute best for the price, but it would certainly be a contender.

If you like this guitar (I don't because I like the originial JM pickups and this model features the straight-ahead P90s), you may want to think about buying one.
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Why? At another forum there is a post that says Fender has discontinued the Mascis. It makes no sense at all ... and it does make sense as Fender has discontinued AFAIK all of the Vintage Modern guitars and replaced them with the Classic Vibe models, at a higher price. Personally I prefer the older, rosewood board-equiped VM Jazzmasters. The Mascis I think was considered part of the VM series.

And we know what often happens when popular items are discontinued ... the prices zoom by sellers trying to cash in on the models' unavailability.

Again I don't personally know if the Mascis has been discontinued as that is just what I've read online. And we all know that whatever we read online just has to be true. Right?

Right?

I sure like mine. Although it's had a bit of a rise in use/appreciation, the Jazzmaster in general has been really underestimated guitar ever since it was introduced. Very versatile (can't do the Strat "quack" sounds, but that's but about it) and the J Mascis Squire can do most all those things: clean twangy stuff, experimental guitar, takes to overdrive and fuzz well, and the "rhythm circuit" can be used for a rolled-off, mellow voice. I somewhat prefer the Fender Jaguar/Jazzmaster vibrato system over all the other vintage designs.

Some things that set the Squier Mascis apart from some others:

Retains the original rhythm circuit. You get a separate volume and tone knob applied to the neck pickup when that's switched in, similar in ways to what Gibson-like four know systems allow, but there are different electronic values in that circuit give it a different sound too.

Metal pickguard, which I like the looks of and it may increase the shielding from noise. Mine's quieter than most P90 guitars.

Works great with modern electric guitar strings. The original Jazzmaster design bridge assumed heavier gauge strings, while the Tune-o-Matic type suppled on the J Mascis can work with any set of strings you like.

As mentioned upthread, the pickups are supposed to be less-faithful to the original Jazzmaster wide single-coil design and are said to be more like the Gibson P90. I happen to like the P90 sound a great deal, so this hasn't impacted my enjoyment of my example over the years. However, I just got a used set of Fender's Original Vintage line Jazzmaster pickups and that means I may swap mine out now that I have several other P90 pickup guitars that cover that sound well.