Troy Van Leeuwen Jazzmaster : I really is a very good guitar

This guitar is well built, is handsome, keeps its tuning well when using the tremolo, is extremely versatile and sounds great.

The tremolo arm often falls out.

I play this guitar in a 60's, 70's, and 80's classic rock and roll covers band. I play both lead and rhythm. I can get an appropriate sound out of this thing for just about any song. So far i have played it through a Lacquered Tweed Fender Blues Junior, a Palmer Fab 5, and an Orange Tiny Terror combo. It sounds pleasing(pleasingly nice AND pleasingly disgusting, depending on my mood) through all of them.

Frankly; i love the thing. It's not too heavy. The frets are large and it is eminently playable. The tuning heads are extremely smooth. I almost look forward to it going out of tune as the act of turning those almost frictionless devices is massively satisfying. I don't have to do this that often as it is very stable.

The pick ups sound great. As mentioned before you can coax a huge range of sounds out of this thing. Bright, twangy sounds from the bridge pickup, thick and crunchy goodness from the neck pickup and the rhythm circuit provides a tastefully darker set of tones.

I had read that there was a problem with the first string slipping off the bridge and sometimes off the neck but this has never happened to me.

It played well straight out of the box. The case it comes in can support the weight of (and protect it from the bouncing up and down of) a fairly hefty 2 year old boy with a taste and a talent for destruction.

I'm not a fan of the tremolo arm falling out though and didn't give full marks for quality because of this. It IS a quality instrument and I have read that this is a feature of Jazzmaster tremolo units.

I'm not that animated a player and it does fall out a lot. Having to look about on the floor for the tremolo arm mid-song is enormously tedious. It bounces and it travels. It is even more tedious trying to the the tremolo arm BACK INTO the unit while playing.

In spite of this, I heartily recommend this guitar.

I enjoy playing it.

A lot.

You probably will too.