Jay Turser JT-280

Set neck, bound body, 2 p-90 soapbars, nice fake bigsby. Not a dead clone of a Mosrite, but a resaonable facimile thereof. If you're a purist, the bouts are "wrong," the high-e bout -should- be longer than the low-E bout, and it's backwards. Still, it "looks like a Mosrite," as much or more so than other guitars (old Hi-fliers, etc.)

I have to admit I'm not qualified to offer a schooled opinion in this area (I don't own a real Mosrite to compare it to), but I'm pleased with the sound of the guitar. It can do a lot of things, and you can coax a lot of different sounds out of it with just the tone control. The P-90s give it a different, slightly crunchier flavor than the lipstick tube pickup I have in my Jackson. There is some hum, as to be expected with any single coil pickups.

Mine was sold (eBay) as a factory second, and it has a "2" stamped in the back of the headstock. I have found it very hard to determine why mine is a "second." Finish is remarkable for what I paid for the guitar. Binding looks great, no finish bubbles, etc. Weak spots:
1) Pickguard and truss rod cover are pearloid. Looks like it was cut semi-freehand on a bandsaw. If you are used to a multi-laminate pick guard, like on a decent Strat, this flaw will glare at you. Then, again, you can't tell it from more than two feet away.
2) Pickups aren't mounted with springs behind the mounting screws. A semi-regid foam is used in lieu of springs. Cheap.

I just play at home, so I can't really comment on a guitars "gigability." Nothing I see on the guitar looks suspect. Threre's no sheilding behind the pickguard, to protect the pickup wiring from electrical "noise," so you might want to add some if you gigged around flouresent lights, etc.

No experience in this area. I -did- get a receipt from the dealer on eBay, so the "limited lifetime warranty" that Jay Turser offers should be available.

I'd replace it if it went away. Eastwood makes what looks to be a good Mosrite copy (the Sidejack). You might want to compare/contrast with the 280. Dillion also makes a clone, but no way you'll get one of those for less than twice what this guitar costs on eBay.

new guitar made in China? no sticker. p90 pickups and sunburst finish. solid body with set neck. vintage looking tuners. neck binding and a very nice bigsby.

the P90's sound pretty good. a little noisy through a fuzz pedal but not in the center position, normal for single coils.

Here is where I am dissapointed. My fault I suppose, but I bought it off EBAY, and in my opinion the pictures and description are VERY decieving. It is sold as a MOSRITE style guitar, but in fact the body shape is nothing like it. It looks like the body is somehow flipped over or reversed or something. I asked the dealer but he insisted that JAY TURSER says it is a Mosrite copy. CRAZY. I did some research and found another manufacturer, EASTWOOD, that has the RIGHT configuration. Check out www.myrareguitars.com or you can find them on EBAY called EASTWOOD SIDEJACK model. I asked them about it, and found that they are all made at the same factory, but somehow the JAY TURSER version has an incorrect body. I would call that a factory SECOND, but Jay Turser calls it a JT-280.

Solidly built. nice set neck and I think I can depend on it for a long time to come. However, I am trading it in for an EASTWOOD Sidejack which appeats to be the same, except the EASTWOOD has correct body design.

I have not had to use tech support.

Great guitar, but misleading as a MOSRITE design. If you want one, make sure you know what you are buying first.

I bought this guitar off Ebay for a steal of a price, $212.50 including shipping. It has a quazi Mosrite Ventures type look, however, it has a set/glued neck. Green plastic vintage Klusion style tuners. Gold paint on the hardware (when will the flaking begin). Bound neck and top. 1 vol & 1 tone controls, tele style knobs. Teh top is arched in a unique way along the upper bout and lower cut away, but not on the lower bout where the bigsby and vol/tone controls. It has a screw on to the top Bigsby system with a fully adjustable roller bridge. Mine is black with pearlized pick guard and truss rod cover. 3 way pickup, gibson style pickup selector. 2 P-90 pickups. Over all this guitar is pretty eye catching. When I gig with it, all the guitar players in the audience walk up for a closer look cause no one's ever seen this one before. This guitar gets a thumbs up on the cool factor.

I play in a bad that covers blues, swing, jump blues, rockabilly, surf and r&r. I'm really digging how this guitar fits in all of these styles. The P-90's really sound pretty good in this guitar. You can't get the p/u's really close to the strings because of the way the guitar was designed. So the guitar doesn't get that really raw gritty P-90 sound. the p/u's are really a little over 1/4 inch away from the strings. So this guitar is really bright and clear. Played through my Allen Old Flame/2x10 I can get a rocking Dave Gonzalez (of the Paladin's) kind of sound when I dig into the strings. A smooth jazzy sound when the volume and tone are rolled off and it's played softly. This guitar is a surf/instrumental budget guitar sleeper. Think Danny Amis of Los Straitjackets. Over all I really dig the sound of this guitar. I'm getting lot's of compliments from audience members and my bandmates on how it sounds.

Here's where I'm going to have to take off a few marks on this guitar. I bought it new from a music store auctioning this guitar on ebay. There were other jt-280's on ebay with a buy it now price of $289-299 and this acution didn't show to have a reserve price. I figured it would be worth $200 to me, since I had been wanting a p-90 guitar with a bigsby. To my suprize I won the auction @ $187.50 +$25 shipping and handling. I emailed the folks selling it and asked if this guitar was a second and they assured me that it wasn't. I got the guitar a few days later, it had been packed as well as it could have been packed for the box it was in. When I pulled it out the bridge pickup and been completely jarred loose in shipping. No biggie I screwed it back in, but lost some range of travel up because the wood had been stripped from where it was jarred loose. The bigsby arm was also bent almost down to the body and I had to bend it back up. This isn't a real bigsby and the arm is made out of some kind of softer metal. Once the arm was bent back up, all was fine. Further inspection of this guitar found 3 out of 8 pick guard screws stripped into the wood, they won't ever screw tight with out some repair. There are several bubbles in the finish close to where the body and neck meet. There are also some rough edges on parts of the 2 ply pearl pick guard and truss rod cover. The neck on the jt-280 is really nice. Gibsonish in the way it feels and fairly wide. The frets are best described as tallish, narrowish with a medium feel. Fret edges are filed off well, there's no scraping your fingers when moving up and down the neck. As always, the strings that came on this guitar were horrible. I put a set of Ernie Ball power slinky's (11-48) and the guitar settled into a medium low action and now holds it's tune fairly well even with the bigsby is used. Cosmetically, I would consider this guitar a factory second if they were trying to get full retail for it, however, for the price I got it for it was an excellent deal!

I've gigged with this guitar several times. It's held up well. I always bring a back up just in the event I break a string in mid set. I think this guitar will last a long time. Now that I've tightened everything down it feels very solid.

This is my first Jay Turser. I also own a couple of DeArmonds and a Micheal Kelly guitar. This guitar comes in just slightly under these others in initial build/hardware quality. Jay Turser offers a limited life time warranty. Which is cool. I have no complaints about the mail order company I purchased this guitar from.

I've been playing got 27 yrs and gigging on and off for the last 10 years. If this guitar were lost or stolen I think I would get another as long as I could get it for under $250. I really do dig this guitar. It satisfies my p-90 desires just fine, stays in tune fairly well, the bigsby is cool for the instrumentals and the looks of the guitar get attention. For the price I paid for it, it was a major steal!! Check em' out, you won't be sorry.

2003 made in china-not sure tag removed or fell off- no serial #
black with gold hardware, mosrite style with bigsby type tremolo, one volume one tone knob, two p-90 type pick ups

Beautiful in life guitar- finish great- no flaws
rosewood fingerboard with basic dots

roller fully adustable bridge

awesome vintage sound from the p-90's straight into the amp or with effects
no dead spots, easy, smooth fingerboard

very sweet sounding, through tonal range- not a guitar to distort
clear crisp notes with harmonious chords, strums, quiteness of a solid body without hum, buzz

shy on the deep tones- but that is what bass is for

tuned out of the box- elecrtonically tune , will retune
pickups look fixed- not sure find out later
easily playable out of box, no adjustments needed,
no flaws noted

nothing seems cheap or unreliable

lifetime warrenty- not used

To cut it short, J.T. has manufactured a plank guitar with great looks, sound and playability. the p90 sound is here, the looks favor the moserite without the upside down strat idea. The size and weight approximates a 335. The bigsby tremolo adds weight and makes the bass wood justified. This guitar mosrite style stands on it's own rite. The play, feel, sound,and looks are truely a bargin at this price. Thanks JT

2003 -22 Frets Solid body MOSRITE COPY. one volume one tone -three way switch --Two P90 type pick up's S/S - Bigsby type trem. SET neck. Vintage tuners.

Great this is one of the best sounding guitars I have played . the pich-ups are nice and Quiet for single coil. I realy like the sound . I play mostly Surf so this guitar is perfect....

The guitar was set up right out of the box-The red finish is very nice no scratches and the paint job is fantastic. The pearled pick guard is also very nice.-gold tone bigsby / bridge etc. This is one pretty guitar.

Too early to tell but it looks very well built and sturdy.

I bought this from Musicland central they are excellent (not that there was any problems with the Guitar). Dennis at Musicland central.com Answered all questions very fast and is helpful.
I have not needed to contact Jay Turser. so I am not sure how good the Customer service is.

For the price this is an excellent guitar - I am very happy with it