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.
Development
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 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 are 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 AC 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.
CBS era 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.
From 1968 until the model was discontinued in 1980, it remained largely unchanged.
Discontinuation and resurgence 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.
Fender revamped their Jazzmaster offerings and makes the following models. Starting at the bottom with the Squier Affinity Series, a traditional Jazzmaster with Seymour Duncan-designed wide single coil pickups, Squier Classic Vibe 60's Jazzmaster and there is also the Mexican Classic Player series which have a vibrato-unit closer to the bridge, a reworked bridge and hot P90 pickups, the Classic Lacquer series with AV65 pickups and the traditional appointments, and the American Special, and American Professional series which both omit the rhythm-circuit, opting for a single circuit layout.
Influence
Fender intended the Jazzmaster to represent a solid body alternative to the hollow body archtop guitars that were then ubiquitous among jazz guitarists. As the Telecaster and Stratocaster had done in other popular musical genres, Fender hoped to initiate a revolution in jazz guitar, at the expense of competitor Gibson. While the Jazzmaster never caught on among its intended audience, it was most successful in the burgeoning Southern California-based surf music and instrumental rock scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Fender headquarters were located in Southern California, and Leo Fender himself actively solicited local players' input and guidance in designing the Jazzmaster's followup, the Jaguar.
Jazzmasters, along with Jaguars and their imitators, fell out of fashion among players during the 1970s largely due to their "old-fashioned" appearance and sonic characteristics. The 70s rock sound meant "fat" humbucker tone and much sustain, so guitarists gravitated toward the Gibson Les Paul and its copies. Fender continued to offer the Jazzmaster as part of its product line until 1980.
Just as Fender discontinued the Jazzmaster, Tom Verlaine of Television and Elvis Costello started giving the guitar a cult following. Consequently, the Jazzmaster would soon be embraced by the American indie rock scene.
Notable players Neko Case plays a 1960 Jazzmaster previously owned and played by Pops Staples. Nels Cline of Wilco plays "WATT", a 1959 Jazzmaster once owned by Mike Watt of the Minutemen and Firehose. Elvis Costello Jessica Dobson of the Shins and Deep Sea Diver plays a Jazzmaster. Sam Fender Adam Granduciel of the War on Drugs Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins Inoran of Luna Sea uses his signature "Road Worn" model Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo Jesse Lacey of Brand New Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens Of The Stone Age Clara Luciani J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. Tomo Milicevic of Thirty Seconds To Mars Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons Grant Nicholas of Feeder Ric Ocasek of the Cars David Rhodes, guitarist with Peter Gabriel, Random Hold and Blancmange Russell Senior of Pulp Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine Robert Smith of the Cure played a Jazzmaster with a Woolworth Top 20 guitar pickup installed. Pops Staples of The Staple Singers Chris Stapleton, singer, songwriter and guitarist Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys Tom Verlaine of Television Don Wilson and Bob Bogle of the Ventures Ian Fowles of The Aquabats Madison Cunningham Thom Yorke of Radiohead Adam Franklin of Swervedriver
Imitations and Fender reissues
There are a wide array of budget-priced Jazzmaster imitations, particularly from the 1960s and '70s. Eko, Greco, Dillion, Univox, Epiphone, Yamaha, Framus, Teisco, Aria, Jansen, Harmony, and National are but some of the brands who released guitars in the spirit of the Jazzmaster, mainly to capitalize on the surf rock sound of the 1960s. Most of these manufacturers took inspiration from the Jazzmaster, but made significant changes to their finished product before bringing them to market. Foreign Jazzmaster inspired guitars with faithful pickup variants are rare, though examples of nearly identical tremolo systems were far more common.
It wasn't uncommon to see modern copy variants replace the Jazzmaster's signature bridge and tremolo setup with a Stratocaster-derived assembly. This modification is in the 1990s Japanese Squier Vista Series Jagmaster guitar. Fender has since introduced more faithful recreations of the original Jazzmaster, with genuine Jazzmaster bridge and tremolo assemblies. There are also several manufacturers of high-end Jazzmaster-styled guitars, such as Danocaster, Nash, Bilt, Rhoney and Kauer.
American Vintage Reissue 1962 Jazzmaster American-made Jazzmasters were out of standard production entirely from 1980 to 1999. In 1999, Fender expanded the American Vintage Reissue (AVRI) series to include two offset models, one of which being a reissue of the 1962 Jazzmaster. The reissue was mostly true to the original 1962 Jazzmaster, featuring vintage-inspired pickups, hardware, a period-correct brown tolex case with a gold interior, and a variety of Custom Colors. The Custom Color Jazzmasters in this line did not feature matching headstocks, a feature that was a hallmark of the original Custom Color Jazzmasters in the 1960s. Originally, the model was offered in an array of Custom Colors, such as Candy Apple Red and Sherwood Green Metallic. However, by the end of the model's production run, Fender offered only three colors: Black, Olympic White, and Three-Color Sunburst. With the exception of the discontinuation of color options, the model remained largely unchanged from its introduction in 1999 until it was discontinued in 2012.
American Vintage Reissue Thin Skin Jazzmasters