RayL wrote:Jim plays the Fender XII on Bird Rockers from The Secrets' first album, Top Secret. The Jazzmaster purchases must have been after the second album was recorded, JIm, since I can imagine you might have considered using a Jazzmaster for Get Ready or For Your Love?
Ray
Hi, Ray.
Yes - Robbo is right. That guitar in the current avatar is a 1966 Fender Electric XII, which I bought secondhand for £170 in 1979 at Frank Hessy's shop in Liverpool. It is the guitar which has been in my collection the third longest, preceded among my present instruments only by a 1965 Burns Marvin (bought s/h in London in 1972) and a Gibson Les Paul Custom (bought new at Hessy's in 1978).
I bought an immaculate, as-new Fender J Mascis Jazzmaster from David Martin in 2008, which was probably just too late for use on "Secret Society". That guitar, resplendent in its purple metallic-flake finish with gold anodised scratchplate, is the one with the replacement pickups, and you'll probably remember it in use on our second Pipeline Convention appearance. The other Jazzmaster is in more traditional sunburst/tortoiseshell garb and has yet to have the upgraded pickups fitted (I'm still considering which ones to use). I have used it at a few jams, but I just don't like the sound of the original pickups too much.
If I get a Jaguar (I have had one in the past), I will then have the following Fender "offset shape" guitars:
(a) Fender J Mascis Jazzmaster
(b) Fender Jazzmaster (MIJ)
(c) Fender Electric XII
(d) Fender Bass VI
(e) Squier (Vista Series) MIJ Jagmaster (with upgraded pickups from Catswhisker) and
(f) Squier Jaguar.
The
Jagmaster is a sensational guitar - Jaguar-sized (with a superb 24" scale slim neck), Strat-type tremolo and two (replacement) P90 Catswhiskers in humbucker sized cases, controlled by the equivalent of the Jazzmaster lead circuit: three way switch and just volume and tone controls:

JN
JN