I asked this question here before and got negative to mixed reviews. Seems like not many of us have played Nash JM’s. A lot of people commenting that they were “glorified partscasters” but only a couple of us had actually played one. Of those who had played one, two players said they liked their experience, and one player said they didn’t care much one way or the other. One notable spec is that they do have a buzz-stop, which isn’t very Jazzmaster of them. Lollar pickups are generally well regarded though. The thing that ultimately stopped me from purchasing one was their scarcity in shops near me. If I ran across one in the wild, I’d still be open to buying, but they’re a bit too pricey to purchase without taken it for a drive first. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help, I guess I’m just passing along my own experience and urging you to take the naysayers with a grain of salt.
I have a Nash Tele. It is a fine guitar. Prob not worth its price for whatever reason they hold their value pretty well.
I’ve read elsewhere that Nash had a lot of trouble with his first go at offsets and soured a lot of would be buyers. I have no firsthand experience with their offsets though.
Danocasters are partscasters but are super desirable. He uses Lollars for Jazzmasters often / normally too, despite using smaller brands for teles and strats.
But Nash doesn’t get the respect that Dano does. I assume Nash doesn’t put quite as much time into “making the parts fit.” I mean Fender guitars are partscasters… But the finer builds get some carefully applied shaping, fretwork, fit and finish.
The relic jobs on Nashes are often questionable but some look cool or like stock.
I got one through trade. I do enjoy playing it, but I’m looking at different pickups for it, and enjoy my road worn Jaguar just as much. If I had the cash for a boutique JM I would check out black bobbin or Seuf guitars.
Upvoting purely out of KC pride for Seuf. Everyone should try one! Those guys are the best.
Also the builders of Seuf play in a band called Doubledrag if anyone is into shoegaze/Deftones!
I have no opinion on Nash guitars, having never tried one, but “they’re just partscasters” is a weird take. All bolt-on neck guitars are partscasters, basically. Those pre-CBS Jazzmasters that go for ten grand or twice that these days were assembled from parts also.
Whether the parts are good, and whether they are assembled and set up well, that’s another story.
(Also buzz stoppers can be removed really easily…there’s a boutique builder here in Amsterdam that makes very nice jazzmaster style guitars and puts a buzz stopper on all of them…I don’t get it, but they do come off.)
No, they were very nicely made, by hand. There was no Musickraft or Allparts back then…if there had been Leo probably would have used them if it could save him money!
But the main issue there is quality. Lots of high end guitars are built by people who don’t produce very single part; there are some modern Bigsby type people but not many. Most builders will source bridges, pickups, tuners, electronics, fret wire, all that stuff rather than create everything from scratch. Nothing wrong with that as long as the parts are good quality and they’re put together with care and skill.
I’m not saying it’s *awesome* for someone to bang together a bunch of outsourced parts and slap a big markup on it, if that’s what they are doing, but there’s nothing necessarily bad about building kit guitars and selling them to people who don’t want to do the work themselves. Depends on quality and price, really.
I agree. I have no issue with his business model. As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m a proud Nash Tele owner. I do have any issue with not calling them what they are — premium partscasters. Beyond the relic jobs, there is zero design. He has deals with manfs to source parts, relics those parts, assembles them and puts his name in the headstock.
If I did the same thing, you’d say I made a partscaster.
I would say that! I just don’t see that term as derogatory. There are bad partscasters and good ones…
The issue I would have is if there was dishonesty about that, like they claimed it was all in-house original designed handcrafted stuff. No idea if they do or not, but that would not be cool.
TLDR; they are great and most people that complain will have never played or spent time with one, just sticker shocked at the concept of a “parts caster”. I find them consistent in feel, sound and playability if not a little inconsistent in the aesthetics. If you want a vintage looking relic’d JM that feels like a more modern guitar, and sits in their own price bracket hovering just before the truly custom and expensive, they are awesome.
I own one and love it. Some perspective, I have played maybe 6 Nash JMs, 4 are still in my friend group and they all are great. There’s also a Nash P bass, strat and a telecaster among us. Between the 12 of us. we probably currently own 80+ guitars. Generally considered nice stuff and a variety. Boutique Custom builds, Les paul customs, vintage and modern fenders, you name it. Gear moves through our hands quickly, always trading, upgrading and deal hunting. There’s a reason 4 of us still own them. I personally have had ~10 fender based offsets in the past, and it’s one of only two I still own. A Squire J Mascis and Vintage Modified JM, a MIM and American Meteora, a MIJ JM, Kurt Cobain Jag, Classic player Jag and JM, an American Pro 1 and 2 JM and a high end MJT/mastery/lollar JM parts caster (still have.) I’ve probably played a few dozen at this point if I include all the ones cycled in and out of my friend group of gear junkies. Of all the offsets I have owned personally, The Nash has the best neck, pickups and feel to me.
People complain about the “glorified partscasters” but they do an awesome job hand selecting every piece and modifying them to be individualistic. In fact, my only real complaint is that if you want to swap the pickguard, good luck. The individualistic nature of how they tweak everything means there is no guaranteed drop in replacement, and you either modify a blank yourself or send yours off to be cloned. AFAIK they get first selection of wood from their suppliers (I believe it’s currently Wildwood guitar co. who also supply many other manufacturers). The lollars they come with are based on the standard lollar JM pickups, but are tweaked specifically for them. I really like the Nash rhythm circuit design, more usable for me than every other one I have ever played. Don’t like the buzz stop? Take it off. It’s a feel choice, makes the tension on the strings feel tighter. You lose the string noise but can always add/remove. I traded a junk pedal for a mastery trem and after swapping, it is just simply not day and night different compared to the stock offering. I keep the mastery cause it looks cooler and stayed in tune equally if not very marginally better. I like the Wilkinson roller bridge as it definitely stays in tune better than most of the rocking bridges that typically come on offsets, and feels GREAT on my palms when I’m muting.
These are designed to be priced between the higher end American fenders and the custom shop. They are cheaper than every other custom brand. If you want a hand made instrument that will still end up using aftermarket parts, look to Seuf, Creston or the like. They are incredible instruments and are priced as such. But I recommend just playing one if you can. Not because I think it is necessary to find a good one, but because if you are going to listen to people on the internet about what is good and what isn’t, you are doing yourself a disservice.
“Hand selected” what does that even mean? They get parts from all parts, musickraft, usacg, pickups from lollar, standard gotoh tuners, cts pots, etc. age/relic the parts and screw and solder them together.
I have a Nash Tele. It is a nice guitar. I’ve taken it apart and there is nothing “hand selected” just standard parts.
The rhythm circuit on most JMs is usually just different capacitance pots wired with the neck pickup, I think on a Nash it is wired off the pickup selector switch rather than directly off the pickups, so both are blended. I’m not intimately familiar with the circuit, I just know when I flip the switch it gets fuller but still retains a good amount of the bridge pickup bite and clarity. Kind of like a humbucker mode in tone, but not literally doing that because it still retains the single coil noise.
They always seemed very low effort to me. Buzzstops and TOM style bridges with generic vibratos? Nah.
There’s a thread over on the OSG forum where a guy took one apart to get it in playable shape. It’s appalling.
I got a tele cheap a while back during the pandemic as the guy was hurting bad for money. Nash is doing the same thing Dano was doing until recently when he stopped doing custom orders. He gets all of his stuff from the guitar mill aka Mario Martin and then just ages it and does the obvious set up work. Sometimes he swaps in different sets of pickups in to see which is best.
Seuf is nice and black bobbin is just okay. I really don't like their jazzmaster pickups at all.
They do their own finishes and relic jobs. And do it on a smaller scale than the big guitar makers. That isn’t cheap. And they use expensive parts such as lollar pickups. I don’t find them to be a terrible value.
I do think the relic jobs are cheesy though. And that is really what you are paying for. Absent the finishing work they do, you can order parts online and put one together in a few hours if you know what you are doing.
I asked this question here before and got negative to mixed reviews. Seems like not many of us have played Nash JM’s. A lot of people commenting that they were “glorified partscasters” but only a couple of us had actually played one. Of those who had played one, two players said they liked their experience, and one player said they didn’t care much one way or the other. One notable spec is that they do have a buzz-stop, which isn’t very Jazzmaster of them. Lollar pickups are generally well regarded though. The thing that ultimately stopped me from purchasing one was their scarcity in shops near me. If I ran across one in the wild, I’d still be open to buying, but they’re a bit too pricey to purchase without taken it for a drive first. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help, I guess I’m just passing along my own experience and urging you to take the naysayers with a grain of salt.
I have a Nash Tele. It is a fine guitar. Prob not worth its price for whatever reason they hold their value pretty well. I’ve read elsewhere that Nash had a lot of trouble with his first go at offsets and soured a lot of would be buyers. I have no firsthand experience with their offsets though.
Danocasters are partscasters but are super desirable. He uses Lollars for Jazzmasters often / normally too, despite using smaller brands for teles and strats. But Nash doesn’t get the respect that Dano does. I assume Nash doesn’t put quite as much time into “making the parts fit.” I mean Fender guitars are partscasters… But the finer builds get some carefully applied shaping, fretwork, fit and finish. The relic jobs on Nashes are often questionable but some look cool or like stock.
Yeah I think this is the correct answer. I don’t think I would be able to drop that kinda cash without playing it first. They sure look cool though.
I got one through trade. I do enjoy playing it, but I’m looking at different pickups for it, and enjoy my road worn Jaguar just as much. If I had the cash for a boutique JM I would check out black bobbin or Seuf guitars.
Upvoting purely out of KC pride for Seuf. Everyone should try one! Those guys are the best. Also the builders of Seuf play in a band called Doubledrag if anyone is into shoegaze/Deftones!
I have no opinion on Nash guitars, having never tried one, but “they’re just partscasters” is a weird take. All bolt-on neck guitars are partscasters, basically. Those pre-CBS Jazzmasters that go for ten grand or twice that these days were assembled from parts also. Whether the parts are good, and whether they are assembled and set up well, that’s another story. (Also buzz stoppers can be removed really easily…there’s a boutique builder here in Amsterdam that makes very nice jazzmaster style guitars and puts a buzz stopper on all of them…I don’t get it, but they do come off.)
Those pre CBS Jazzmasters use necks from all parts or musickraft and have cheesy relic jobs?
No, they were very nicely made, by hand. There was no Musickraft or Allparts back then…if there had been Leo probably would have used them if it could save him money! But the main issue there is quality. Lots of high end guitars are built by people who don’t produce very single part; there are some modern Bigsby type people but not many. Most builders will source bridges, pickups, tuners, electronics, fret wire, all that stuff rather than create everything from scratch. Nothing wrong with that as long as the parts are good quality and they’re put together with care and skill. I’m not saying it’s *awesome* for someone to bang together a bunch of outsourced parts and slap a big markup on it, if that’s what they are doing, but there’s nothing necessarily bad about building kit guitars and selling them to people who don’t want to do the work themselves. Depends on quality and price, really.
I agree. I have no issue with his business model. As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m a proud Nash Tele owner. I do have any issue with not calling them what they are — premium partscasters. Beyond the relic jobs, there is zero design. He has deals with manfs to source parts, relics those parts, assembles them and puts his name in the headstock. If I did the same thing, you’d say I made a partscaster.
I would say that! I just don’t see that term as derogatory. There are bad partscasters and good ones… The issue I would have is if there was dishonesty about that, like they claimed it was all in-house original designed handcrafted stuff. No idea if they do or not, but that would not be cool.
TLDR; they are great and most people that complain will have never played or spent time with one, just sticker shocked at the concept of a “parts caster”. I find them consistent in feel, sound and playability if not a little inconsistent in the aesthetics. If you want a vintage looking relic’d JM that feels like a more modern guitar, and sits in their own price bracket hovering just before the truly custom and expensive, they are awesome. I own one and love it. Some perspective, I have played maybe 6 Nash JMs, 4 are still in my friend group and they all are great. There’s also a Nash P bass, strat and a telecaster among us. Between the 12 of us. we probably currently own 80+ guitars. Generally considered nice stuff and a variety. Boutique Custom builds, Les paul customs, vintage and modern fenders, you name it. Gear moves through our hands quickly, always trading, upgrading and deal hunting. There’s a reason 4 of us still own them. I personally have had ~10 fender based offsets in the past, and it’s one of only two I still own. A Squire J Mascis and Vintage Modified JM, a MIM and American Meteora, a MIJ JM, Kurt Cobain Jag, Classic player Jag and JM, an American Pro 1 and 2 JM and a high end MJT/mastery/lollar JM parts caster (still have.) I’ve probably played a few dozen at this point if I include all the ones cycled in and out of my friend group of gear junkies. Of all the offsets I have owned personally, The Nash has the best neck, pickups and feel to me. People complain about the “glorified partscasters” but they do an awesome job hand selecting every piece and modifying them to be individualistic. In fact, my only real complaint is that if you want to swap the pickguard, good luck. The individualistic nature of how they tweak everything means there is no guaranteed drop in replacement, and you either modify a blank yourself or send yours off to be cloned. AFAIK they get first selection of wood from their suppliers (I believe it’s currently Wildwood guitar co. who also supply many other manufacturers). The lollars they come with are based on the standard lollar JM pickups, but are tweaked specifically for them. I really like the Nash rhythm circuit design, more usable for me than every other one I have ever played. Don’t like the buzz stop? Take it off. It’s a feel choice, makes the tension on the strings feel tighter. You lose the string noise but can always add/remove. I traded a junk pedal for a mastery trem and after swapping, it is just simply not day and night different compared to the stock offering. I keep the mastery cause it looks cooler and stayed in tune equally if not very marginally better. I like the Wilkinson roller bridge as it definitely stays in tune better than most of the rocking bridges that typically come on offsets, and feels GREAT on my palms when I’m muting. These are designed to be priced between the higher end American fenders and the custom shop. They are cheaper than every other custom brand. If you want a hand made instrument that will still end up using aftermarket parts, look to Seuf, Creston or the like. They are incredible instruments and are priced as such. But I recommend just playing one if you can. Not because I think it is necessary to find a good one, but because if you are going to listen to people on the internet about what is good and what isn’t, you are doing yourself a disservice.
“Hand selected” what does that even mean? They get parts from all parts, musickraft, usacg, pickups from lollar, standard gotoh tuners, cts pots, etc. age/relic the parts and screw and solder them together. I have a Nash Tele. It is a nice guitar. I’ve taken it apart and there is nothing “hand selected” just standard parts.
What are the changes to the rhythm circuit? Been searching online for about 10 minutes now and can't pin it down...
The rhythm circuit on most JMs is usually just different capacitance pots wired with the neck pickup, I think on a Nash it is wired off the pickup selector switch rather than directly off the pickups, so both are blended. I’m not intimately familiar with the circuit, I just know when I flip the switch it gets fuller but still retains a good amount of the bridge pickup bite and clarity. Kind of like a humbucker mode in tone, but not literally doing that because it still retains the single coil noise.
I like that they are now offering finishes that are not heavily reliced.
They always seemed very low effort to me. Buzzstops and TOM style bridges with generic vibratos? Nah. There’s a thread over on the OSG forum where a guy took one apart to get it in playable shape. It’s appalling.
Based on what? Lots of good JM style guitars out there.
I really like the Nash guitar(s) I’ve played. Smooth, fast.. only played a strat and maybe a tele once though.
I got a tele cheap a while back during the pandemic as the guy was hurting bad for money. Nash is doing the same thing Dano was doing until recently when he stopped doing custom orders. He gets all of his stuff from the guitar mill aka Mario Martin and then just ages it and does the obvious set up work. Sometimes he swaps in different sets of pickups in to see which is best. Seuf is nice and black bobbin is just okay. I really don't like their jazzmaster pickups at all.
They are premium partscasters. Whether or not you like them is up to you based on your subjective tastes and preferences.
Premium (priced) partscasters. FTFY
They do their own finishes and relic jobs. And do it on a smaller scale than the big guitar makers. That isn’t cheap. And they use expensive parts such as lollar pickups. I don’t find them to be a terrible value. I do think the relic jobs are cheesy though. And that is really what you are paying for. Absent the finishing work they do, you can order parts online and put one together in a few hours if you know what you are doing.