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Fender Jazzmaster
The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as a more expensive sibling of the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Convention, it was initially marketed to jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarists in the early 1960s. Its appearance is similar to the Fender Jaguar, though it is tonally and physically different in many technical ways, including pickup design, scale length and controls.
The Jazzmaster's contoured "offset-waist" body was designed for comfort while playing the guitar in a seated position, as many jazz and blues artists prefer to do. A full 25.5-inch (647.7 mm) scale length, 'lead' and 'rhythm' circuit switching with independent volume and tone controls, a 'floating tremolo' (which actually produces vibrato) with vibrato lock, and a uniquely designed bridge were other keys to the guitar's character. The vibrato lock can be manually activated to reduce the detuning of the guitar if one string breaks. The Jazzmaster also had an extra-long vibrato arm. The bridge and vibrato construction is very different from that of the Stratocaster, and gives the Jazzmaster a different resonance and generally less sustain. The bridge sits on two fulcrum points and moves back and forth with the vibrato motion. Aftermarket versions that provided more sustain and less buzz were created during the 2000s by companies such as Mastery, Staytrem, Halon and Descendant.
The body is larger than that of other Fender guitars, requiring a more spacious guitar case. The Jazzmaster has unique wide, white 'soapbar' pickups that are unlike any other single coil guitar pickup. Although they closely resemble Gibson's P-90 pickups, they are constructed differently; the P-90 has its magnets placed underneath its coil, whereas the pole pieces of the Jazzmaster pickup are magnets themselves. Also, the JM coil is wound flat and wide, even more so than that of the P-90. This is in contrast to Fender's usual tall and thin coils. This 'pancake winding' gives them a warmer thicker tone without losing their single coil clarity. Additionally, due to the pickups being reverse-wound, the pickups provide a 'hum cancelling' effect in the middle pickup position. This position eliminates the typical mains hum that is inherent in most single-coil pickups. The Jazzmaster has a mellower, 'jazzier' tone than the Stratocaster, although it was not widely embraced by jazz musicians. Instead, rock guitarists adopted it for surf rock. The Ventures, The Surfaris, and The Fireballs were prominent Jazzmaster users.
One of the Jazzmaster's notable features is the pickup circuit featuring unusual "roller" thumbwheel controls and a slide switch at the upper neck end of the pickguard. The slide switch selects between two different pickup circuits, the "lead" and "rhythm" circuits. When the switch is in the lead position, the guitar's tone is controlled by the conventional tone and volume knobs and the pickup selector switch. When it is in the rhythm position, it selects the neck pickup only with the brightness rolled off slightly due to different values of the potentiometers (500kΩ vs 1MΩ in the lead circuit), and the volume and tone are controlled by the two thumbwheels; the other controls are bypassed. The intention was that this circuit would allow the performer to quickly switch to a "preset" volume and tone setting for rhythm playing. The lead circuit potentiometer values also stray from Fender's usual specifications. Up until the introduction of the Jazzmaster, Fender used 250kΩ potentiometers on their guitars. The Jazzmaster's lead circuit uses 1MΩ potentiometers instead, contributing to its unique tonal characteristics. As a concession to its more conservative audience, the Jazzmaster was the first Fender guitar carrying a rosewood fingerboard instead of maple. The fingerboard had "clay dot" position inlays and was glued onto the maple neck.
Some early pre-production/prototype examples came with a one-piece maple neck, others with an ebony fingerboard, or a black painted aluminum pickguard. Longtime Fender associate George Fullerton owned a 1957 Fiesta Red pre-production body coupled with an unusual and experimental fretboard manufactured in 1961 using vulcanised rubber — reportedly one of two ever made. Rosewood became a standard fretboard material on other Fender models around 1959. The walnut 'skunk stripe' which covers the truss-rod channel on the back of one-piece necks, is absent where the truss-rod was installed from the top, and the rosewood fretboard glued on afterwards.
As with many other Fender models, there are significant differences between pre-CBS models and models made after the CBS acquisition of Fender. The changes implemented by CBS after their purchase of Fender were largely universal, and the Jazzmaster was no exception.[citation needed]
From 1968 until the model was discontinued in 1980, it remained largely unchanged.
After years of dwindling sales, with instruments being pieced together from leftover factory stock, the Jazzmaster was officially discontinued in September 1980, but has since then been re-released in many forms and modifications. The Jazzmaster was re-introduced in 1986 as a 1962 reissue model from Fender's Japanese factory, with a 1966 model existing parallel to it (with block inlays and binding, but paired with a small pre-CBS headstock). The American Vintage Reissue Series version was introduced in 1999, also based on the 1962 model. In 2007 Fender released a 'thin skin' Jazzmaster reissue with thinner vintage nitrocellulose finish. The 1962 model was discontinued in favor of a 1965 model which was equipped with a bound neck and a veneer fretboard when the American Vintage Series were revamped in 2012.
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Fender Jazzmaster
The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as a more expensive sibling of the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Convention, it was initially marketed to jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarists in the early 1960s. Its appearance is similar to the Fender Jaguar, though it is tonally and physically different in many technical ways, including pickup design, scale length and controls.
The Jazzmaster's contoured "offset-waist" body was designed for comfort while playing the guitar in a seated position, as many jazz and blues artists prefer to do. A full 25.5-inch (647.7 mm) scale length, 'lead' and 'rhythm' circuit switching with independent volume and tone controls, a 'floating tremolo' (which actually produces vibrato) with vibrato lock, and a uniquely designed bridge were other keys to the guitar's character. The vibrato lock can be manually activated to reduce the detuning of the guitar if one string breaks. The Jazzmaster also had an extra-long vibrato arm. The bridge and vibrato construction is very different from that of the Stratocaster, and gives the Jazzmaster a different resonance and generally less sustain. The bridge sits on two fulcrum points and moves back and forth with the vibrato motion. Aftermarket versions that provided more sustain and less buzz were created during the 2000s by companies such as Mastery, Staytrem, Halon and Descendant.
The body is larger than that of other Fender guitars, requiring a more spacious guitar case. The Jazzmaster has unique wide, white 'soapbar' pickups that are unlike any other single coil guitar pickup. Although they closely resemble Gibson's P-90 pickups, they are constructed differently; the P-90 has its magnets placed underneath its coil, whereas the pole pieces of the Jazzmaster pickup are magnets themselves. Also, the JM coil is wound flat and wide, even more so than that of the P-90. This is in contrast to Fender's usual tall and thin coils. This 'pancake winding' gives them a warmer thicker tone without losing their single coil clarity. Additionally, due to the pickups being reverse-wound, the pickups provide a 'hum cancelling' effect in the middle pickup position. This position eliminates the typical mains hum that is inherent in most single-coil pickups. The Jazzmaster has a mellower, 'jazzier' tone than the Stratocaster, although it was not widely embraced by jazz musicians. Instead, rock guitarists adopted it for surf rock. The Ventures, The Surfaris, and The Fireballs were prominent Jazzmaster users.
One of the Jazzmaster's notable features is the pickup circuit featuring unusual "roller" thumbwheel controls and a slide switch at the upper neck end of the pickguard. The slide switch selects between two different pickup circuits, the "lead" and "rhythm" circuits. When the switch is in the lead position, the guitar's tone is controlled by the conventional tone and volume knobs and the pickup selector switch. When it is in the rhythm position, it selects the neck pickup only with the brightness rolled off slightly due to different values of the potentiometers (500kΩ vs 1MΩ in the lead circuit), and the volume and tone are controlled by the two thumbwheels; the other controls are bypassed. The intention was that this circuit would allow the performer to quickly switch to a "preset" volume and tone setting for rhythm playing. The lead circuit potentiometer values also stray from Fender's usual specifications. Up until the introduction of the Jazzmaster, Fender used 250kΩ potentiometers on their guitars. The Jazzmaster's lead circuit uses 1MΩ potentiometers instead, contributing to its unique tonal characteristics. As a concession to its more conservative audience, the Jazzmaster was the first Fender guitar carrying a rosewood fingerboard instead of maple. The fingerboard had "clay dot" position inlays and was glued onto the maple neck.
Some early pre-production/prototype examples came with a one-piece maple neck, others with an ebony fingerboard, or a black painted aluminum pickguard. Longtime Fender associate George Fullerton owned a 1957 Fiesta Red pre-production body coupled with an unusual and experimental fretboard manufactured in 1961 using vulcanised rubber — reportedly one of two ever made. Rosewood became a standard fretboard material on other Fender models around 1959. The walnut 'skunk stripe' which covers the truss-rod channel on the back of one-piece necks, is absent where the truss-rod was installed from the top, and the rosewood fretboard glued on afterwards.
As with many other Fender models, there are significant differences between pre-CBS models and models made after the CBS acquisition of Fender. The changes implemented by CBS after their purchase of Fender were largely universal, and the Jazzmaster was no exception.[citation needed]
From 1968 until the model was discontinued in 1980, it remained largely unchanged.
After years of dwindling sales, with instruments being pieced together from leftover factory stock, the Jazzmaster was officially discontinued in September 1980, but has since then been re-released in many forms and modifications. The Jazzmaster was re-introduced in 1986 as a 1962 reissue model from Fender's Japanese factory, with a 1966 model existing parallel to it (with block inlays and binding, but paired with a small pre-CBS headstock). The American Vintage Reissue Series version was introduced in 1999, also based on the 1962 model. In 2007 Fender released a 'thin skin' Jazzmaster reissue with thinner vintage nitrocellulose finish. The 1962 model was discontinued in favor of a 1965 model which was equipped with a bound neck and a veneer fretboard when the American Vintage Series were revamped in 2012.