Offloading The Offset Neville Marten’s

Delve into the world of offset Fenders was brief. And now he’s casting the net for a more mellifluous-sounding catch

You won’t be surprised to learn that my love affair with the Fender Jazzmaster was somewhat short lived. I’d had this bee in my bonnet that I needed to overcome my irrational fear of them, so typically I went in at the deep end and bought one. Lake Placid Blue, matching headstock, white pickups and ’guard, and several upgrades specified by the previous owner. I further upgraded it when I realised that knocking the volume control back, even a touch, drained the thing of any top-end.

I contacted James Gascoigne at Home Of Tone and he made me a top-spec replacement wiring loom with treble bleed. After accidentally soldering the switch backwards and James spotting what I’d done when I sent him pics, I had the guitar exactly as I wanted. It was a different sound to anything I’d used before, but I was determined to persevere.

I proudly turned up with it at rehearsals for our Dreamboats&Petticoats tour, and the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from the assembled company assured me I was onto a winner. But I struggled all day to find a sound that I could work with. The bridge pickup (which I use for so many things) had a ‘honk’ that I just couldn’t dial out. I didn’t particularly like the ‘both pickups on’ tone, either, so spent the entire day on the plummy neck single coil. When that tone was right it was brilliant, as in Diamonds, but I require a more conventional range of sounds, hence the rest of the tour being spent with my faithful red Strat around my neck.

Classical Gas

There were four acts on the show, and our band was to back them all. This was a ‘pre-Beatles, British rock ’n’ roll era’ tour, with several croony ballads that didn’t contain much electric guitar. So I elected to play my Gibson Hummingbird for about 75 per cent of every gig.

I love strumming an acoustic, finding different capo positions so that I blend with the music but won’t clash with the keys or our other guitarist. Several songs required multiple capo positions due to key changes and medleys. In fact, I changed capo position 22 times every night, and only ever had one mishap.

The Hummingbird is a superb stage guitar, so handsome in its Cherry Sunburst livery and with that flashy pickguard. Mine is also a dream to play and sounds fantastic with its LR Baggs Anthem pickup. I have to confess, though, that I painted the protruding control panel black to disguise it – once set, I rarely touch it anyway.

We had 24 gigs in total. I’d strung the Gibson with D’Addario 0.011-gauge SPs and they did the entire run, with no fuss at all. Same with the Strat. It ran the course with a single set of 0.009.5-gauge NYXL strings – that’s not an advert, as the Hummingbird now has Elixirs 12s on, and I may try 0.010-gauge Nanowebs on the Strat, too. It’s amazing how the hands gain strength during a concerted slew of gigs.

The sharp-minded among you (sorry, of course that’s all Guitarist readers) may have spotted that, with the Jazz to offload, something is sure to take its place. You’re not wrong. We played a couple of gigs in Surrey, so I popped into Guitar Village in Farnham to try its Ramirez classicals. I’ve wanted a decent nylon-string for ages, mainly as a sofa noodler and to finally get

“I struggled all day to find a sound I could work with. The bridge pickup had a ‘honk’ I just couldn’t dial out. I didn’t like the ‘both pickups on’ tone, either…”

around to learning some of the Antônio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto bossa nova repertoire. Del-Boy and the guys at the store were very welcoming, and I kind of bonded with one particular Ramirez. But they are awaiting a new shipment and suggested I hold my horses until it arrives.

So perhaps by this time next month I’ll be serenading myself with HowInsensitive, Desafinado, OneNote Samba, and so on. Or maybe changed my mind and got a black Les Paul Custom instead! See you next time.