The Fender Jazzmaster

Written by vintage on May 26, 2009 – 6:26 am -

The first Jazzmaster prototypes existed in pre-production form as early as 1957.

There were a small number of guitars that carry one of the features. Many had one-piece maple necks that feature a hybrid headstock shape, a combination of the first Stratocaster and Jazzmaster shapes.

Other early individual features are black pickup covers, black aluminum pickguards, Telecaster type knobs, and maple necks with rosewood fretboards.
By mid 1959, Fender had dropped the aluminum pickguard in favor for a celluloid one in a fake tortoiseshell pattern.
Custom color guitars often had white pickguards. Later an plate of aluminum was added to the back of the pickguard for electrical shielding.
The "offset-waist" contoured body was designed to be comfortable for playing the guitar while seated, as many jazz and blues artists prefer to sit when they performed. A full scale length (25-1/2”), a switchable lead and rhythm circuit with independent volume and tone controls.
The tremolo lock can be activated manually to stop the entire guitar from going out of tune if a string breaks, and it also had a longer tremolo arm than other Fender models.
The body is larger than that of other Fender guitars and had unique "soapbar" pickups that were unlike any other single coil. The pickups in a Jazzmaster are quite often mistaken for Gibson P90 pickups of the same era, but although their construction is similar they are not identical. The coil windings are flatter and wider, unlike Fender's usual style of a tall, thin configuration. This difference gives a warmer tone without losing the clarity of a single coil.
Jazzmaster guitars have a more mellow tone compared to a Telecaster or Stratocaster, although jazz musicians of the time weren't keen on using them. (except one notable exception, Joe Pass.)
Rock and surf rock guitarists took to the instrument however, and the Jazzmaster also played a part in the Indie rock scene, as well as being associated with Elvis Costello for the early part of his career.