There's probably the odd difference in hardware between the CIJ and the US one, bit it won't be the equiv. of the price difference. US made guitars are invariable twice the price of those made elsewhere. But rarely twice as good. And once you put it through some pedals I'd defy anyone to tell the difference, soundwise anyway.

The only real differences between the AVRI and the Mascis are the pickups (AVRI reissues and CIJ pickups), body wood (AVRI are alder and Mascis is basswood), bridge (reissue vs adjust-o-matic) and finish (nitro vs poly). That and the AVRI come with hardshell cases. You can swap the pickups to S-D Antiquity or Quarter-pound for $150 and a hardshell case runs about as much.

Edit: two pictures with my other equipment (and my DVDs).

I am jealous.

lemme borrow tha ttele deluxe for a bit homie. :)

that's really gorgeous
don't put stickers all over it!

I'm not. I got over my stickering phase.

i will never ever put stickers on my jag bass. but some of the old beat to shit ones have got stickers on them. kittens and things.

I can't bring myself to put stickers on anything else except maybe the LP copy, but it would kind of be a waste of a sticker.

I love my j mascis jazzmaster : )

Okay, might be a dumb question, but is there any point/use for the bit of wire on the front (facing pickup) of the bridge? It keeps buzzing and I'm about to take it off. It looks like it's just there to keep the saddles from coming out when it doesn't have strings.

Yeah that's really all its there for
I took mine off and had no problems.

Okay, good. If it buzzes again, I'm taking it off. It took me a few minute to figure out what the buzzing was because the Mascis bridge is not supposed to buzz.

It will if you don't tighten the saddles a little bit

Yeah, I've already done that.

It's Japanese pickups with higher output than normal though.

Yeah. I still might replace them with Seymour Duncans sometime in the future.

The mascis one also has nice jumbo frets.
I love the feel of that guitar... I jsut wish the termelo arm would stay in...

Mine only works it's way out some when I pull it up, then it seats again when I push it down. I guess is kind of a problem with just pop-in bars.

Okay, so mine started falling out today, so I wrapped 2 layers of clear Scotch tape around the jack and put it back in. Solid as a rock.

Okay, fuck the tape repair. It was good for about an hour. Turns out the collets on CIJ Jazzmasters are shit. So I had to take the trem off and bend them to make the bar fit tighter. It's peferct now. I even "clicked" when I put it in. I'm never taking the bar out again.