Information about Jazzmaster

Fender Jazzmaster
Manufacturer	Fender
Period	1958 — 1977; 1999 — present
Construction
Body type	Solid
Neck joint	Bolt-on
Woods
Body	Alder
Neck	Maple
Fretboard	Rosewood
Hardware
Bridge	"Floating" Tremolo
Pickup(s)	2 wide Single-coil, specially designed
Colors available
(American Vintage Series, as of 2005) 3-Color Sunburst, Olympic White, Black, Ocean Turquoise, Surf Green, Ice Blue Metallic (other colors may be available)

The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar that was first introduced at the 1958 NAMM show and was designed as a more upmarket instrument than the Fender Stratocaster, which was originally to replace the current Telecaster model. As its name indicates, it was initially marketed at jazz guitarists. It was later used by surf rock guitarists and, more recently, alternative rock artists.

Features

The 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 25-1/2” scale length, lead and rhythm circuit switching with independent volume and tone controls, and a floating tremolo with tremolo lock, were other keys to the Jazzmaster's character. The tremolo lock can be manually activated to keep the entire guitar from going out of tune if one string breaks. The Jazzmaster also had an extra-long tremolo arm to facilitate note-bending. The body is larger than that of other Fender guitars, necessitating a more spacious guitar case. The Jazzmaster had unique wide, white "soapbar" pickups that were unlike any other single coil. Many times they are incorrectly confused with Gibson P-90 pickups which are much higher gain and more aggressive in tone. It is also unlikely that Leo Fender would have copied a pickup that was considered a budget model at the time having been replaced by the PAF on most Gibson models at that time. Their construction and tone is completely different. The coil is wound flat and wide giving them almost the same string sensing area of a "humbucker". This gives them a warmer tone without losing their single coil clarity. The Jazzmaster has a mellower, jazzier tone than the Strat, although it wasn't embraced by jazz musicians. (Joe Pass, however, used one during his stay at Synanon.) Instead, rock guitarists used the instrument, especially for surf rock. The Ventures and The Fireballs were prominent Jazzmaster users. Fender then recognized the need for a purpose-designed surf-guitar, and introduced the 24" scale Fender Jaguar, with chrome decorations and more Strat-like pickups. The main aspect that deterred jazz players was the Jazzmaster's tendency to produce feedback, especially if the body cavity were left without magnetic shielding. More experimentally-minded rock artists like Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine later embraced this as a new way to color their music. The Jazzmaster was also the first Fender guitar carrying a separate rosewood fingerboard with clay dot position inlays glued into a 2-piece maple neck, although earlier examples came with a 1-piece maple neck/fretboard. Rosewood became a standard fretboard material on other Fender models around 1959. The Jazzmaster has given a bound neck with block-shaped position markers in 1965 and 1966. A optional maple fingerboard with black binding and block inlays was briefly offered in the mid-1970s. The Jazzmaster was discontinued in 1980 and re-introduced in 1999 as a 1962 reissue model after 19 years of absence.

Influence

Jazzmasters, along with Jaguars and countless other models, fell out of fashion among players during the 1970s. Fender continued to offer the Jazzmaster as part of its product line until 1980, however many collectors believe actual production ceased around 1976, with guitars sold after that period representing unsold inventory. Due to the unwanted, pawn-shop status of the guitars, upstart musicians were able to purchase the instruments very cheaply, securing the quality (albeit 'old-fashioned') guitars for little money. Just as Fender discontinued the Jazzmaster Tom Verlaine of Television, and Elvis Costello started giving the guitar a cult following. Thus, they were later embraced by the American grunge and indie rock scene. Sonic Youth are notorious for their hoarding of Jazzmasters while they were still affordable, and for their unique customization jobs (e.g. Lee Ranaldo's "Jazzblaster" with Telecaster Deluxe pickups). S.Y. were also famous for playing on the strings below the bridge (near the tailpiece) to get church-bell-like tones; this is sometimes referred to as 3rd Bridge technique. Ranaldo even has a pickup mounted in this unorthodox position on one of his guitars. Sonic Youth had nine Jazzmasters stolen from them in July 1999, along with dozens of other items. Robert Smith of The Cure used two Jazzmasters (which he named Black Torty & White Torty) for the majority of his band's work. J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr is a noted Jazzmaster icon, and as of 2007 Fender produces a signature J Mascis Jazzmaster model. The Jazzmaster continues to have a cultlike following in the "shoegaze"/ "dream pop" community. Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine used them as his main guitars, and bandmate Bilinda Butcher used them in addition to her Jaguars. A closeup picture of a Jazzmaster is featured as the cover of their critically-acclaimed album, Loveless (1991). One is also used as the cover of Band of Susans' Blessing And Curse EP (1987). Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies used a reissued Jazzmaster during the period of the band's second album, Maybe You Should Drive, and still occasionally uses it in studio.

Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo favors a Jazzmaster as well as other vintage Fender guitars, often playing behind-the-back solos in concert. Nels Cline, solo artist and current (2007) lead guitarist of Wilco, has also used the Jazzmaster as his main guitar for decades. Jazzmasters are popular with many other alternative and indie rock bands - Jesse Lacey of Brand New, Adam Franklin of Swervedriver, Emma Anderson of Lush, Mave Hinricks of For Against, Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips, Nick Salomon of The Bevis Frond, Russell Senior of Pulp, Takaakira "Taka" Goto of Mono, Sune Rose Wagner of The Raveonettes, Tim Gane and Mary Hansen of Stereolab, Jason Martin of Starflyer 59, Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Aaron North of Nine Inch Nails and Mike Einziger of Incubus all have used Jazzmasters.

Ric Ocasek of The Cars played a distinctive pink 1974 model. Jimi Hendrix regularly played a Jazzmaster in blues bands before becoming famous, and on his hit "Fire"; this guitar is now owned by actor Steven Seagal.

In 1958-1959 Leo Fender sent a white Jazzmaster to Luther Perkins (Johnny Cash's lead guitar player) who used it for about 2 or 3 years. This white Jazzmaster was one of his favorite guitars.

Imitation

With the increasing popularity of old Jazzmasters, and the prices of old Telecasters and Stratocasters soaring out of sight in the 1980s, Jazzmasters became highly valuable. Thefts of vintage Jazzmasters from Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, and The Raveonettes in recent years illustrate this. There are a wide array of budget-priced overseas Jazzmaster imitations, particularly from the 1960s and '70s. Dillion, Yamaha, Framus, Aria, Jansen, Harmony, National, and Demel are some of the companies who indulged, mainly to capitalize on the surf rock sound of the 1960s, and equally the alternative rock trend of the 1990s. Fender eventually got the offset-waist body shape patented. Fender has sporadically reissued the Jazzmaster during the last 20 years. Its Japanese facility is noted for the high quality of its offset-waist guitars. However, the "M.I.J." Jazzmasters are often criticized for essentially having narrow Stratocaster pickups inside the wide soapbar Jazzmaster housings, thus giving the guitar a Strat/Jaguar "honk" rather than the classic, mellow Jazzmaster sound. Since 1996, its Squier offshoot has manufactured a budget version called the Jagmaster, though its humbucker pickups give it a much different, "hard rock" sound.

Improvement

Many guitar players find fault with the design of the original Jazzmaster bridge, which features saddles that have many grooves cut into them (similar to screw threads). The idea behind this design was that you could space your strings to best suit your needs. In reality, the strings would jump out of the grooves while playing with any sort of force. As a solution, many Jazzmaster players replace the Jazzmaster bridge with a Fender Mustang bridge, which has one string groove per saddle. A cheaper and equally effective solution is simply to deepen the saddles with a file. More issue is found with the rocking bridge design, which can pivot forward and backward and can occasionally get knocked in one direction or another. This is similar in concept to a modern roller bridge and works well in concept, but many players fix the bridge by wrapping its posts with electrical tape. However, tuning can suffer when the trem is used.

Another common Jazzmaster modification is the addition of a "Buzz Stop," a bar that mounts above the tremolo system and increases the angle of the strings behind the bridge, supposedly increasing sustain while decreasing string buzz (another common problem with the original Jazzmaster bridge). Some, however, claim that such implements are not necessary, forcing the bridge forward on some examples, and the trem can often bind on the buzz stop.

Bridge buzz can be minimized, however, with a good setup. The most effective way is to raise the bridge, which will increase the break-angle of the strings, thus providing more downward force on the bridge. Raising the bridge will increase the 'action' or height of the strings from the fretboard, unless the angle of the neck relative to the body is also changed. Original vintage Fenders were usually sold complete with plastic 'shims' of varying thicknesses, which were designed to be placed between the neck and the body for exactly this purpose. The use of heavier gauge strings (10 gauge and above) also helps to keep a high downward force on the bridge. In the 50s, when the Jazzmaster was introduced, heavy gauge strings were common - the increased popularity of lighter gauges from the 60s to the present day has been attributed to Jimi Hendrix, amongst others.

Jazzmasters featured bound necks with pearloid inlays from 1966 until the end of their original run in 1977; the headstocks were also larger ("CBS-style") in this era.

Colors

The Jazzmaster is currently produced in the following colors:

• 3-Color Sunburst
• Olympic White
• Black
• Ocean Turquoise
• Surf Green
• Ice Blue Metallic

Their pickguards come in Mint Green or Brown Shell colors.

They have featured matching headstocks (headstocks painted the same color as the body) at several points, on and off, throughout the guitar's history. Matched-headstock versions generally fetch a higher price and are currently not in production.

In July of 2007, Fender released the J Mascis signature Jazzmaster, in honour of the Dinosaur Jr frontman. This model is much the same as previous Jazzmaster models aside from its Adjust-o-matic bridge (the Fender equivalent of the Gibson Tune-o-matic bridge), and its unusual purple sparkle finish. It is currently the only model of Jazzmaster in production with a matching headstock, and the only Jazzmaster model produced for a signature guitarist.^[1]

References

External links

• The Higher Evolution Of Offset Waist Guitars
• Jim Shine's Jazzmaster site on the evolution of the guitar from prototype stages through the minor tweaks in its design
• Guitar rigs of noteworthy Jazzmaster users at GuitarGeek