Fender '62 Reissue Jazzmaster

Made in Japan in 1996. 21 frets. Solid top. Volume, tone, and 3-way switch for the bridge p.u. A vol, and tone for the neck, no switch. Two passive single coils with a special circuit for each pickup. Basswood body with an offset design. Fender's Jazzmaster "floating" trem tailpiece and bridge. Vintage tuners(with the holes in the top). Fat short scale neck. No accesories.

This is made for clean. It suits surf, jazz, rock and some blues so I'm happy with it. I use it with a Fender Hotrod Deville, a crybaby wah, and a boss tremolo pedal. It's not really noisy, actually the pickups are pretty cool. I totally love the sound. For the most part it's nice and full. On the bridge pickup circuit you can get some twangy country sounds, wild surf sounds, nice almost stratish neck sounds. With the 3-way all the way down it is a little thin, but roll the bass up on your amp and you'll be playing Dick Dale untill your fingers bleed! When you flip to the neck circuit it's pure jazz heaven. It doensn't have the hollow body character to it but if you like different sounds then this guitar is built for you. It's very vesatile. I like just about everything about the sound. The trem system is very cool. People say that theirs won't work but I can bend mine like nuts and it comes right back. The reason for that, I think, is that the bridge posts moved a lot causing the strings not to go back to their original position, but if you wrap some electrical tape around the posts, the bridge stays, and so do the strings.

Here's where they went wrong. The set-up from the factory sucked! The saddles were all out of whack, and the bridge moved like crazy. It was easy to figure out how to fix this thing on my own, so now it plays like a dream. The pickups were far too low. Bringing them up caused dramatic sound changes. The finish is beautiful, mine's a candy apple red with matching headstock. The only flaw was a couple of small dings on it, but they're really not noticeable. If it would have come set-up better it would have recieved a higher score.

This guitar will definately take live playing. The screws in the pickguard are rusting a bit, but everyting else is fine. The finish seems to be nice and thick. The strap buttons are nice and big, no problems there. I can depend on it, but I never gig withiut a backup.

I've played for nearly 10 years. I also own a Grestch Country Classic II, an epi Les Paul, and a Strat plus. If it were stolen I'd definately buy another. I love the trem system. I hated the saddles because the strings would easily slip out of them, but with a little filing they're great. I wish the pickups were a little hotter, but I'll probably get some seymour's for that.

i don't even know when mine was made, but its a nice Japanese axe. I do like the body, it has a nice feel, but i don't particularly like the basswood. and the hardware sucks. the saddles are cheap and if you strum too hard the strings slip off and go out of tune. and the vintage tuners are a pain in the ass. you have to stick the end of the string into a litle hole and wind it around the post, and i always break strings when i change them. i guess i don't know what the hell to expect from 1962, but still...

I use it through a Laney solid state amp (see my review on the Laney HC50R solid state 1X12) with a Bigg Muff reissue pedal and Morley Wah pedal. it definately isn't noisy, and for all the shit i've heard about the pickups, i think it has a nice sound. granted, if you want versatility, you should buy an American Standard Strat for just a little more money, but this guitar is nice and it has a distinctive look as well as sound. i think it feels great, and the only reason its my backup axe is that i just bought a brand new American Deluxe Strat which blows away anything on the planet.

cant comment because i bought it used. there was something sticky on the back of the body in one corner, but i wiped it off easily with a washcloth and a few squirts of Martin guitar polish, but the finish is great. i can't say that i like the neck finish (i'm spoiled by the expensive satin finish :), but it is indeed well done.

i would have given this a 10, but the bridge/saddle part has gotten screwed up twice since i got it like 3 months ago, which just required me to remove the strings and tighten some damn screw. but, other than that its a great guitar! and that was probably the fault of the guy that owned it before me.

couldn't tell 'ya. but hey, the way they make most of their guitars, who the hell needs customer support?

I've been playing for 4 years, and this is currently one of my 3 guitars (Jazzmaster, '98 American Deluxe Strat, Seagull S^ Mahogany Cedar acoustic). its a good guitar. i don't know if i would buy it again because i really love my new strat and i don't really need much else, but you never know. i do, as i mentioned before, hate the tuners, thats about it. but, drop me a line if you're interested in getting one of these things, or a Morley wah, Big Muff Reissue, American Deluxe Strat, Seagull acoustic, or Laney amp.

I'm not entirely sure what year this guitar was made, although I know it is made by the good people at Fender Japan. I guess it doesn't really matter that much about the year cause all the reissues seem to be about the same from the mid '90s anyway. It has 21 Jumbo frets and a neck which is fairly thick compared to any other guitar I have owned.
It has one of the coolest, most versatile switching systems ever. Two switchable circuits with independant tone and volume pots for each and a 3 way pickup selector. The pickups are the probably the biggest single coils I have ever seen too which really shows in the sounds.
I'm told that the bodies on these guitars are made of basswood and that on the sunburst models the grain is actually photo printed on. This doesn't affect me though because mine is Candy Apple red. I really don't know what the neck is made of although is is very straight and woody which are in my opinion good qualities!
The actual bridge is probably my least favourite part of the guitar but more on that later. The tremelo on this guitar however is the best I have EVER played. It has adsjustable tension via a screw connected to the spring and a lock to stop it from going up in pitch although I think this is just for setting up. I always take the time to set the tension up properly though as per Fenders instructions on their website. Without proper setting up though I can imagine why people don't like this trem as it would never stay in tune!
The tuners look slightly cheap but they appear to work fine. What annoyed the hell out of me when I first got this guitar was that it had 9s on which felt like rubber bands. I usually use 11s which meant I had to file the nut grooves before they would sit properly.
I'm giving it 9 in the features because the trem is fabulous and the electronics are nicely designed giving good flexibility. It would be a 10 if the bridge was such a piece of ****.

This guitar probably wouldn't suit everyone. Stylewise I am influenced mainly by bands like My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth so this guitar couldn't suit me better. I did not buy it purely for this reason though and tried out many other guitars before eventually deciding on this one.
The amps I have tried it with are my Marshall JCM800 2204 with a Boogie Recto 2x12, my friend's Fender Twin and the weirdass Line6 Transistor amp in the shop. Inspite of my daisy chain of pedals (about 7 or 8 usually) the guitar itself still comes though quite quiet, unlike others I have tried which seem to have wierd earthing problems. After pulling out all of my effects from the chain the guitar was pretty much silent as far as I could hear.
Thanks to this guitars switching system a wide range of sounds are available. However, if you are used to using Les Pauls or similar muddier guitars this could be a bit of a shock. With new strings through a Marshall with the circuit selector in the down postion and the bridge pickup selected the guitar has enough treble to make your ears bleed! The treble is not quite as overpowering through the Twin but I don't like the overall sound as much as with the Marshall.
With careful tweaking however it is possible to get some truly beautiful sounds. Clean sounds are generally better then distorted ones but that is a good thing in my opinion. The neck pickup is my favourite, sounding big and warm yet glassy at the same time. The bridge pickup sounds quite twangy yet still very glassy and once you have calmed the treble is very cutting yet not unpleasent. The circuit selector switch is a really nice feature and allows you to go from big boomy sounds to big twangy sounds at the flip of a switch. The tone controls are fairly standard although for me the treble postion tone contol is a little honky.

As I said before the guitar came with 9s which felt like rubber bands to me. I barely left them on long enough to see whether it was set up well or not. How anyone could play this guitar with 9s anyway is a mystery to me. I'm afraid this means i'm gonna deduct a point as Fender should realize that this guitar (especially with repect to the tremelo) feels, plays, and sounds better with heavier strings.
After this as you can imagine the setup was awful and the neck had a huge bow. However after I adjusted the neck, filed down the nut and adjusted the intonation and action (which I have to admit was a pain in the ass) the guitar played like a dream. I also had to file a notch in the saddles on the low E and A strings as they kept popping out when I strummed.
One thing I really must mention as it is a BIG problem is the crappy bridge. On early reissues like the 80s Jaguars the saddles and bridge appear to be slightly different. It is unfortunate that they didn't quit while they were ahead with this design as the saddles and bridge on the current reissue Jazzmasters and Jaguars really let them down.
As you are playing the grub screws in the saddles work themselves loose. After one gig I usually have to set the whole bridge up from scratch. The little pointy ended screws that the bridge float on also have this problem meaning that at the end of a gig my floating bridge has dropped about 1mm and the saddles are all over the place (sometimes the screws in the saddles actually fall out if you don't keep an eye on it whilst playing). A small problem is also that the trem arm fitting sometimes works lose if you are the kind of person that holds the arm constantly whilst strumming. This means you have to disassemble the trem system to fix it but it's not that hard to do.
My advice on these two matters is-
Throw the bridge away and put a Mustang bridge on as it has no grub screws, deeper cut saddle grooves and also doesn't suffer from the dropping problem for some reason. The fact that you can't adjust the action height sounds bad I know but if you had been through the hassle I have been though you would be greatful for the fact that you can't adjust it!
Get some liquid threadlock (available from Radio Controlled Car stores) and spread it on the threads of the trem fitting after tightening it up. This stops it working loose and is easy to scrape off if you need to later on.
Obviously the matters descibed here WILL effect this rating as a nice guitar with a crappy bridge is effectively a crappy guitar until fixed!
The Candy Apple red finish is beautiful. I found a few small cracks around the neck joint but these aren't visible from the front and don't really bother me that much. I am a bit scared of denting the paint and varnish though as it seems quite soft and easy to do by accident.

I don't think the finish will last long live. I am also shocked that Fender put the crappy bridge on as this certainly doesn't last live!
The strap buttons are fine and I don't know why people complain about them in relation to the problems in the bridge department!!
Before I put on a Mustang bridge and threadlocked the trem arm assembly I have to admit that I was a little scared of using this guitar without backup.

I never bothered going to Fender. I figured that they probably work the same as most other big corparations and that if I sent my guitar to be fixed they would just assume there is something broken send back a new one set up with 9s again with exactly the same problems. I have to applaud my local Fender dealers though for their experience and support. They were the ones that advised the Mustang bridge (which one shop did a very good deal on for a 70s one he had lying around).

I have been playing for about 5 years. This guitar is probably the most expensive I have ever bought and the only one I have ever bought new. My opinion of Fender has definately gone downhill as I really thought that on such a substantial investment they would take the time to make sure the design is right. I have been playing a 70s strat up until now. This guitar is hassle free and hasn't needed setting up once since I bought it!
I am willing to concede that after screwing around to get the Jazzmaster to behave the overall playability of the Jazzmaster is better then the Strat but I am still shocked that Fender is making such dodgy stuff at the moment and I dread to think what problems lie in wait on their other new guitars.
In the store I bought this guitar because I liked the flexibility of the sound, the tremelo, the look and the way it played (I hate it with 9s but I could still tell it was nice). I'm not sure whether I would have bought it if I knew about the problems that needed fixing. Having said that I really love Jazzmasters. If it ever got stolen I think I would spend the extra time and money to find a decent Vintage one though as the reissue is beyond a joke unless you have a lot of time and patience to spend on it.

My guitar is a '62 Reissue Jazzmaster, which was made in 1996. It has a candy apple red finish with matching headstock. Everyone has already posted the standard features, so as a quick summary: Two passive single coil pickups Rythm and Lead circuits Vintage style tuners and strap buttons Locking Tremolo System

I fell in love with this guitar for many reasons, one of which is the sound. I play alternative/grunge style songs and this guitar is awesome for my songs. I use it through a Fender Princeton Chorus. My effects are a Boss DS-1 Distortion and a Crybaby Wah. I feel this guitar has one of the most versatile sounds that I've ever seen. My other guitar player in my band likes to do a lot of metal, and though this guitar isn't really designed for such, it can hold its own in the style (just sounds a little different).

I can't say anything about the factory settings. I bought this guitar used. Barely used, but used none the less. The finish is beautiful, and one of the things that attracted me to this guitar. The previous owner had the guitar set up with a lot lower action then usual, and the guitar plays like a dream. Everything looks and sounds in order. Only problem was that the piece that holds the trem bar in (does it have a name?) loosened up, and I had to take the trem plate off to get it out and put screw it back in.

Well, I haven't gotten a chance to use this guitar live yet, because my band still in the forming process. However my friend borrowed it for a gig because his Jazzmaster needed a new bridge. It worked fine, and from my use of it I think that I would definitley not be afraid to gig without a back up for this guitar. The finish seems rock solid. I have accidentally bumped into stuff with it, and I still don't see any marks on the finish. A lot of people seem to complain about straps falling off, but I've never had that problem. These people probably just didn't realize there straps were a little over used, and should probably be replaced.

Sorry, no help from me here.

I've, admittedly, only been playing for a short time. About a year and a half. But I have taken the time to learn as much about guitars in general, as well as playing them as I could. I used to have a Squier strat, which I learned on, but I traded that in with my old practice amp (Fender Frontman 15R) in order to knock the guitar's price down to $350. I am completely satisfied with this purchase. From the minute I touched this guitar, almost four months ago, I knew it was the guitar for me (it helps to know the owner of the music store). I would definitely buy another Jazzmaster if this guitar was ever lost or stolen. It has an awesome sound, it plays great, and its very durable. Not much I hate. The bridge could be a bit better, but I'll have to wait til I'm a big rock star (or at least have a lot of money) so I can order a variation from the Fender Custom Shop. I'm also thinking of replacing the pickups with the Seymour-Duncan Antiquities Jazzmaster pickups (they're supposed to get the vintage sound right on the money). I've been to guitar shows and played many guitars, and this is still by far the best guitar for me, in my opinion. Some people don't like Jazzmasters, but I think they are some of the best made guitars ever

The '62 Jazzmaster repro is made by Fender Japan. My particular instrument was made (according to the final inspection tag) in April of 1998. The body is solid basswood, the neck a beautiful piece of maple, with a rosewood fretboard. Jazzmaster classically has 21 frets. The main circuit is two single-coil passive pickups controlled by toggle switch, and with the Fender Jaguar, this instrument shares the secondary rhythm circuit, controlled by a slide switch on the upper bass side of the pickguard, (down for main, up for secondary). tone and volume for secondary circuit are large rollers, mounted almost flush with the pickguard. It is a full-scale (25.5") neck, somewhat thinner, (as I recall) than the original Jazzmasters of the '60's. Neck finish and fretwork is perfect. A standard business card cannot be slipped into the space of the neck/body join, indicating a snugly well-fit neck. The tuners are described in the literature as "vintage", but while the shafts, rear caps and posts are steel, the buttons and post collars are not - they appear to be "chrome-ized plastic" - yeech! Nonetheless, they seem sturdy, and don't look or feel "chintzy'. I purchased the guitar because of fond memories of playing rock instumental and surf music on a friends in the '60's, which I still do. For this type of music, the Fender "Floating Vibrato" is perfect - for "dive bombing", it isn't. I frequently drop a tone and a half on the vibrato, and have never - repeat: NEVER - put the instrument out of tune with it. On the other hand, I took the time to set the vibrato assembly up per Fender's instructions - I wonder how many people do? I also purchased a traditional Fender hardshell case with the instrument. This particular Jazzmaster is finished with a bulletproof-thick polyester laquer finish in Candy Apple Red - matching headstock. Finish is perfect. Only flaw on delivery was a tiny v-shaped "nick' near the top of the pickguard at the edge. The bridge uses a 1.5mm allen wrench for adjustments.

As stated above, for '60's instrumental and surf rock, this guitar is perfect. I run it through a Crate G60XL, with a Boss Tr-2 tremelo. At any output level below insanity, the sound is smooth and clean. Not quite as warm as through a Fender amp, (no Crate amp has a particularly "warm" sound), but very nice. I also use the plate reverb in a Korg A-5 in preference to the amps reverb, which is noisy. The sound is pure Fender, but not *exactly* like the Jazzmasters of the '60's. I am told, (don't really know), that the pickups are not wound exactly the same. The difference is not large, though. This guitar is true Fender tone (to my ears),through a Crate - I'd love to hear it through a '64 Super Reverb. The tonal range of the instrument is vast, especially using the secondary rhythm circuit. A very acceptable *jazz* tone can be made with careful adjustment. I've owned many excellent electrics, and the Jazzmaster has the most distinct sound between individual pickups (and combiuned), I've heard. Master tone control (a treble rolloff) is typical, but works fine. Volume control when using bridge pickup only gets a dab "edgy" on ten, backing off to 9 cleans it up completely. I would like to give Fender credit for one thing that I probably should give to Elderly Instruments in Lansing, however - the guitar was *perfectly* set up when I recieved it. Elderly says it sets up every instrument it sells - new or used - before it leaves the store, and I'm sure I have them to thank for that.

Covered above.

The instruments ruggedness seems top-flite, especially as regards the finish, as mentioned. I question the long-term appearance/reliability of those tuner buttons, though - not the whole tuners, just the buttons. I have had a recurrent problem with the strap "popping off" the lower strap button - going to replace that with a lock-type strap button. And yes, I would gig with it without a backup.

I have not yet dealt with the Fender company as a customer in need of assistance.

I've been playing 33 years, and also currently own a Gretsch Country Gentleman, and a Martin HD-28. If I lost this Jazzmaster, I'd unhesitatingly replace it with the same, simply because of the price. My "Holy Grail" is the Mosrite Mark I Ventures model, but it's unlikely I'll ever own one of those - the so-so used ones start at about $1200, and they go up - way up - from there. The Jazzmaster is the closest thing, and an instrument Semie Mosely admitted the design of the Mosrite was heavily indebted to. For the price, it's a steal.

The particular Jazzmaster I own was probably made in 1995 at Fender's Japan factory. It's got 21 'vintage' frets as per reissue specs, these are thin or medium sized frets. It has a basswood body that has the Orginal Offset Contour body, and a tinted maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. The finish is a three tone Antique Fotoflame Sunburst (looks like a AAA grade flamed maple body, but it isn't) . Jazzmasters have two circuits, lead and rhythm, the latter one having only a tone and volume control. The lead circuit has master tone and volume pots and a three way pickup selector switch, and there is a slider switch to toggle between the two circuits. It has two passive single coil pickups, which are of the typical (and very odd) Jazzmaster style. These pickups have wide but flat coils which are inherently suceptible to hum. The Jazzmaster shares the same tremolo system as the Fender Jaguar. the 'synchronised tremolo' is located under a large plate at the far end of the guitar with the strings pass over a 'floating' bridge (that resembles a Tune-O-Matic in some ways) to the plastic-repro Kluson tuners. This guitar is one hell of a bitch to keep in tune, and is just as impossible to intonate correctly, but if you have the patience it'll pay off to work on it yourself.

I play mainly blues and classic rock, so the Jazzmaster's brittle sound doesn't exactly fit into the generic 'heavy' catagory. My philosophy is that everyone's got to have their own sound, even though this is my backup/at home guitar, I like the fact that it's unique in sound. Besides, if Hendrix busted his fingers on one it's good enough for me... At the moment I'm running it through my Fender Princeton Chorus amp, and sometimes a JD Crybaby 535 wah. The bridge pickup on this guitar is absolute crap, it's noisy and it squeals on high gain/volume settings. The neck pickup is a whole other story; it sounds perfectly balanced in terms of eq, rich and full (no brittleness, a warm bell-like tone). I've gotten it to sound convincingly SRV with the neck pickup in the lead circuit. The bridge pickup can handle the trashy alt-rock sound with little trouble. The one thing I really dislike about this guitar is the tremolo system and the bridge pickup. The low E string keeps popping out of place (really messes up the tuning), I tried filing down the notch that it sits in, but to no avail. I might try replacing it with the Mustang bridge, which has single deeper notches. I was about to order a custom made humbucker from Seymour Duncan, but then I fell short of cash.

This guitar was the epitome of clean workmanship when I bought it. The hardware was all fitted neatly, the frets were seated properly with no juts, and the finish was immaculate. After figuring out how the heck to work the circuits and controls I found out that some settings didn't work. I ended up having to take off the pick guard and resolder some stuff to remedy the problem. At the same time I decided to set up the guitar to my own specs which payed off quite a bit. I lowered the action and intonated the bridge which really helped the tuning stability. I must say that the quality of the parts used was questionable, the switchs and pots were scratchy within two months. Overall it was made quite well indeed.

I've used this guitar for one or two live gigs, and have recorded with it once. Each time the tuning has gone off kilter, which really ticked me off. I've stuck to my custom Strat for everything but playing at home since then. The hardware seems stable enough, although I really want to change the bridge. I have since changed the strap pegs, which were originally of the 'vintage' style, to the Fender/Schaller strap lock types. This was after it had slipped of my strap a couple of times. The fotoflame finish has a pretty thick layer of a hard finish. I've banged it one some stuff and the finsh seems to have cracked or something, but it's a really durable finish in general. Like I said, this is my backup guitar and it's failed the gigging test, but if I spent more time working the little problems out I would make this my number one guitar. The only qualms I have are the pickups and the damned tuning.

I've dealt with Fender regarding my Strat, but they pulled the huge corporation attitude and sent me a pretyped letter referring me to my local dealer. My local dealer monopolizes the musical instrument sales in my city and their employees are all bastards. No warranty since it's an export version. All the repairs I have done by myself, which is cheaper and makes me more confident if I have to step on stage with it.

I've been playing for about four years now and I own a Fender American Custom Stratocaster. My amps are a Princeton Chorus and a FAT Deluxe (Fender). I wish I'd had a little more knowledge when Id bought this guitar (my first year playing), I kinda regretted it at first but now it's nice to have variation from the Strat. I'm at the stage where I know I want a humbucker/solid body combo electric as my next guitar so I wouldn't buy it again if it got stolen or lost. I love how this guitar plays, it sits really well against my body and I can reach the up frets easily. If I ever make it famous I'm going to order a Jazzmaster body with a Hard Tail Big Apple Strat setup from the Custom Shop, that's how much I love the body. If you want to stand out from the crowd this one attracts a lot of attention, just because it looks and sounds so... different. There's no other way to put it.

This is a '62 Jazzmaster this is the best guitar I've played it has two passive revesed wound single coils. It has two channels a rythem which has a volume and a tone knob and only the neck pick-up is on, with the lead channel it has a volume, tone, and a 3 way selector. I think it's basswood but I'm not sure the fret board is rosewood, and has jumbo frets, it is also a duble cutway.

Like I said this is the best guitar I've played. I play thourgh a hughes&kettner tri-amp and it is good for the music I play wich is havey stuff like deftones and korn. It's a littel noisy when the bridge pick up is on but it is a very good guitar.

The guitar is pefeict and there were no flaws at all. It is 3 tone sunburst and looks butifull. The pick ups there perfict to.

I've only had one problem I was playing on the tremolo a littel to hard and I had to get it fix but other than that it is very good. I've alread giged with out a back up and had no problems.

Cann't say.

I've had it for 3 years and love I would trade this thing for any thing in the world. The guitar I would be a nother one just in case 'cause you can never be to sure.

This guitar is a reproduction of the 1962 Jazzmaster, unfortunately has a reproduction brigde on it, which needs slight modification, so as not to go blazingly out of tune on you. Also, the tuning pegs feel a bit cheap. That is the extent of my bitching... other than that, this guitar is the guitar I have been looking for for a long time. I really wanted one of those cool tweed Fender cases, but the Strat case didn't fit, so I had to settle with a plain black, aftermarket case. There aren't really to many "features" to speak of... 2 single coil pickups, 3 position switch, 1 volume, and 1 tone knob.

The sound is AWESOME! Full, rich rounded tones... I play, mostly, surf and istrumental. I don't dive bomb the tremolo, but if I did, I'd be very disapointed, the tone only drops about 1/2 to 1 full step, fully depressed, but, then again, thids isn't Eddie Van Halen's choice "axe". It's a tad buzzy with one of the two pickups on, but thats to be expected... real quiet with both on. There is a wide expance in sound between the three pickup positions, not to mention the added varience with the additional tone selector switch and knobs to the north of the neck pickup.

The finish is beautiful. Mine is a dark metallic red with a matching, painted headstock. Action is higher than I'm used to (scince I used to own an SG). All the hardware shines with beautiful chrome. Beautifuly finished in every way, the neck is smooth as glass

This guitar feels like it needs to be played with finnesse... you can't hammer on it like some others. I've only owned it for three months, but I feel quite confident with it. It feels rock solid.

3-year warranty, and the backing of Fender. But I haven't had to deal 1-on-1 with them.

The only thing I have major complaints about is the cheesiness of the tremolo, aside from that I am totally pleased with this guitar