Fender Jazzmaster

'62 re-issue manufactured around 1992. Made in Japan - where else?
21 frets, vintage, rosewood neck cambered fretboard small and tight. I have huge hands, but can pay jazz chords easily on this wonderful guitar.
Typical Jazzmaster setup - I prefer to switching set to the Jazz neck pup.
Original Japanese pups - great sounds with am set to about 2 on the bass dial and a little reverb on.

With the pickups selector set to the neck 'Jazz' switching - the sound is the best ever. To appreciate this guitar you have to be a player. You must be in love with the concept of taking chordwork and soloing to an altogether higher level.
Never use any effect as I like the gain circuit set to 7 and treble controls set to high.
Not too many sounds with this guitar. The setting using the two pickups together are for surf music and shrill type solos.
There nothing I dislike about this guitar. It could be improve, but there again, so could I.

Not factory setup. I set it up properly using steel rule etc,. The guitar has a quick smooth action and the pickups are set high.
Quality of build is outstanding. All contributors who own a Japanese Jazzmaster know exactly what I mean. The finish on this guitar is as good, or if not better than Fender USA.

This guitar is another Fender workhorse. It will play whatever you wish. It is very well constructed.

Never contacted Fender.

I have been playing 30 years. I prefer this guitar to any of my other ones. That incudes: Gibson 335 and Fender Strat.

1966 Jazzmaster, sunburst, mostly original. I had to change the two way switch, because it was broken. And I'm missing the volume knob (white witch hat, chrome topped). If anyone has one I'm interested.

wkuhns1@aol.com

I played with an old blues legend in Chicago (Eddie C. Campbell), who has an old 50's model that he loves - and so do I. I moved to the west coast and had to try to replicate that tone. I got pretty close with my '66.

I use it sparingly at gigs unless I can commit to keeping a close watch on it. Too expensive and too many thieves out there. I run it through Mesa Boogie or old Fender tube equipment and it always gets compliments.

Fortunately, I have a local shop in Laguna Beach that did a great set-up after it arrived. Everything checked out, everything works.

It's reliable, but I'm scared to take it solo to a gig. I guess I'm always safe ...

I tried to find my volume knob through Fender - what a joke.

It rocks. It's hard to bend strings on this one, because of the bridge set-up. Anyone have suggestions?

I have a 2004 MIA '62 reissue made in Fender's custom shop in Corona, CA. The thing ships with a hardshell case, which is good 'cause the Jazzmaster's offset body makes it a little hard to fit into some of the off-the-shelf cases.

The stock soapbar pickups are a little mellow for my tastes. I'm doing the unthinkable and having some Seymour Duncan humbuckers put it in. For non-noise cancelling pickups, the hum is hardly noticeable ... quite a relief compared to my Telecasters. Even with the mellow tone of the stock pickups, it's got a sound that's unique and cool.

This guitar's fit and finish, however, make this thing come alive every time you hit a string. This guitar just has a body and neck that work so well together that it's incredible. It's such a comfortable guitar to play, I've grown quite attached to it. I bought it after putting my had around the neck of a Jaguar ... from that time on, this guitar style haunted me until I bought one.

I've used it live and love it. With a guitar this good-looking, you just gotta be seen with it! It feels a little more delicate than my Telecasters, but that shouldn't suggest that it feels flimsy. Hadn't had a problem with it so far.

As car as backups .... I don't play any gigs without a backup guitar.

Never had to take advantage of service on my Telecasters, Mustang bass, or Squier Jagmaster. I don't feel as though I'll ever have to take advantage of it.

I just love this guitar. The ocean turquoise finish is just plain eye-catching. This thing feels like it was made to fit .. whether you're playing it sitting or standing. The neck is one of the most comfortable necks I've ever played on.

I purchased this mid-90's MIJ Fender Jazzmaster a short time ago. As far as I can tell all parts are stock (haven't opened up the pickguard to see what's inside, though). From what I've researched, the body is alder and the fingerboard is rosewood. It's painted in a very nice looking CAR w/ matching headstock and a "spaghetti" Fender logo. As of now there's nothing hugely special about it that would really seperate it from other Japanese Jazzmasters. However, I really dig the features that are present. The rhythm circuit is fun to play around with, although I haven't found any serious use for it yet. Currently I just use it as a fourth pickup configuration, so that the three toggle selections are Bridge, Both, Neck (all w/ vol:10 and tone:0) and the rhythm circuit is neck with full volume and tone at 0. The trem-loc system seems like it could be useful after a bit of research and proper set-up, but I haven't snapped any strings yet to get to try it out. Again, there's nothing really stand-out about this jazzmaster that would make it superior to other jazzmasters, but I really like many of the stock features and think it's a very well-featured guitar out of the box. I can't think of anything else I'd really want it to have (well, other than a better bridge), so I'm going to give it a 10.

I've used it with a small number of amps so far, first on an old Silverface Fender Vibrolux Reverb (in-store). On the tremelo channel the guitar sounded like a dream. There was some amount of twang on the bridge p/u, but it was warm and sounded very lush. The bridge pick-up sustained very well, and had very piercing mids and defined lows. I didn't play as much with the both p/u selector, as on that amp it wasn't nearly as interesting of a sound as the bridge or neck individually to me. After taking the guitar home, I found that it sounds very nice on (believe it or not) a novelty Fender Mini Tone-Master amp that I purchased a while ago for kicks. The bridge p/u sounds very thin without the aid of some reverb (as played through some cheap no-name practice amp), while the bridge is still very satisfyingly warm and sustain-y. Unfortunately, I have no high-quality tube amps or large solid-state amps at home, so I can't do much more testing as to the sound. It sounded great through that old vibrolux, though. The signal responds fairly well to pedals, though I haven't put it through a big workout on the wah-wah or stereo poly-chorus yet. It responds very well to some distortion. I'm going to give it a 9 on sound due to the bridge pick-up being a bit thin on lower quality amps. For most people with the money to shell out to buy and properly modify a jazzmaster, getting a good amp should be no problem.

I can't comment on the factory set-up, as I bought it used. However, the set-up from the store was excellent. I've had to make two minor changes to the set-up so far; one of the height adjustment screws on the bridge slipped, and the tremelo bar holding mechanism got a loose bolt shortly after I got the guitar. Both were very simple, 5 minute fixes. The action is very smooth and low (especially considering the 7.25" radius). Frets are dressed well, the truss rod is well adjusted, the pick-ups are raised properly, All the tuners function well, and the trem-loc was not too far off from where it should be to work properly. I don't know who did the set-up on this guitar (perhaps it was the shop owner or a tech there), but I would love to congratulate them. It's well done.

As for the fit, the jazzmaster body is probably the most comfortable guitar that I've played. It's a bit heavy (7-8lbs), but the offset waist contoured body feels great. Whether in a sitting position or standing, it forms to my body and feels very natural to play. None of the switches seem prone to me accidentally toggling them while strumming vigorously, but also all of the important switches, knobs, and toggles are easy to access without looking.

The guitar does have a few flaws, all easily explained by the fact that it isn't a new guitar. There are some minor dings along the body, most notably one in the crook of the upper waist, which is about a 1cm ding with wood visible. Beyond that, there are two other small dings on the back and a few creases on the neck, headstock, and lower horn. It's a decade old guitar, though, so I would consider that normal wear. The finish is starting to develop lengthwise ripples near the bridge, most likely due to moisture or some humidity the guitar was stored in. For the most part it seems like it was gently played and stored well, though.

I haven't gigged with this guitar (nor do I intend to in the nearby future). The hardware all seems like it's sturdy enough, however I would probably like to replace the bridge and perhaps look at switching the p/us (especially the bridge p/u) to something with hotter output, such as the Seymour Duncan JM p/us. The tuners have done a good job of staying in tune so far, all the other hardware doesn't seem very prone to breakage. After some bridge modification I'd probably consider it gig-worthy, with a back-up. The finish seems thick enough that I'm not worried about it wearing off, though the ripples developing near the bridge probably indicate that it might crack under bad atmosphere conditions.

I've had no problems with the strap buttons, they seem solid enough with my simple leather strap. I'd probably at least consider strap-locks before gigging it, just in case.

Because of the bridge being a bit undependable, it will lose points in this category. However, from my research it's a very fixable solution (mustang bridge or saddles, Tune-O-Matic bridge with filed-to-radius saddles) that won't set you back too much money to do if you shop around a bit.

I haven't dealt with Fender about this guitar, and probably won't any time soon. The customer service at Guitar Crazy was amazing, though, and I would definately shop there again.

I've been playing for nearly 4 years now, and this is my third guitar. I started out with a student guitar -- a Peavey Raptor Plus. It's pretty close to a strat clone. My other guitar is an acoustic, and doesn't get pulled out much. My Jazzmaster is without a doubt the highest quality instrument I own. The neck feels great to play on, the finish looks very classy, the body is shaped excellently. If I happened to lose my instrument, I'd either hunt another down or find another offset waist guitar, such as a mustang or a jaguar. However, if I had one of those, I probably would not enjoy it as much as my jazzmaster. The warm pickups and full scale length (25.5") made the guitar initially much more appealing to me than the 24" scale mustangs and jaguars (even though all of that chrome on the jag looks very awesome).

I really love the jazzmaster's sound (even though due to the MIJ pickup winding it has a mix of strat sounds and jazzmaster sounds... you should be able to find the website detailing that easily enough). It's different from the more common Fender instruments, and in a good way. Also, the offset waist contoured body is an absolute treat. When the Jazzmaster was first released, they had the body shape spot on for comfort, and the Japanese remake is no different. The matching headstock is a great bonus to me as well, I much prefer the looks of them. With the competant set-up my guitar recieved, it plays very smoothly and I don't have to fight with the instrument to coax notes out of the higher registers, like I did with my previous guitar.

As for what I dislike, the biggest thing that I don't like is the bridge. That's a simply fixed problem, and I don't feel like going into detail on the subject again. Beyond that, most of the things that others might consider as problems, I consider as quirks that greatly add to the character of the instrument, such as the tremelo (which despite being very simple compared to, say, a strat trem, is often very misunderstood). Also, the bridge pickup is at times undesirable, with its sometimes thin and too trebley sound.

I don't think I could pick out a distinct favorite feature, but perhaps a top 3.

1. Great feeling body and neck
2. Warm, distinct sound
3. Unique, distinct, subtle tremelo system

The Jazzmaster I have is made in Japan. I bought it new about 12 years ago. Paid about $550 for it. Maple neck, rosewood fret board. Photo flash finish. I couldn't stand the bridge and the E string kept coming off ,so of course, I fixed it. I took it to my local guitar geru and had him put Schaller stop bar bridge, which meant redrilling the holes and filling the old one and I had him put EMG Humbuckers under the soap bars, they will just fit. This worked wonderful. I eventually took the Humbuckers out and replaced them with EMG strat pickups. This works equally well. The tremlo obviously went south with the new bridge, but what a nice playing guitar. The neck is sooooo nice and no hum or noise and the bridge is solid and it retains the look of the jazzmaster. I eventually by passed the upper vol and tone controls so it is now one vol, one tone, and a 3 way switch. I get a lot of questions about the sound. Players just shake their heads.....

I have been playing for about 45 years, so I've owned way too many guitars. I keep about a dozen. This Jazzmaster is one I've kept. I've gig with it quite a bit. It is always a nice instrument to revisit and always feels good to play. I play a little bit of everything. This guitar is so comfortable to play and it just fits.

This guitar has the best neck and it came from the factory well set up. Maybe that 22nd fret would be nice ocassionally, but that's asking a bit much.

I take very good care of my instruments.

N/A

I have a couple of the new Epi elite guitars which if you can live without the Gibson headstock are as good as the real thing, Replace the PU with Stock 57's and WaLa. I have a strat, 3 tele's,a Gibson 333, Epi LP Custom and Epi LP Std, 2 Peavy EXP series (good guitars, replaced the PU's. and 2 Fender showmasters and an Ibanez Art Star. That's about it.

My Jazzmaster was made in 1972-21 frets, yellow with a tortoiseshell pickguard and a bound neck (YEAH!!) Standard config otherwise.

Jazzmasters are so underrated-More versatile than given credit for-It's great for the experimentalist due to its unusual layout and tremolo-The bypass and the neck pu give a very warm sound, the bridge pu is very trebly. I've had great luck with this guitar when doing a solo electric gig, as it's great for rhythm and open-tunings really breathe. If you're a slide player, give this a shot! On the other hand, I can see why these instruments are not for everyone. It IS noisy even by single-coil standards, and there are not a lot of "in-between" sounds. The volume decreases dramatically when rolled off, and the tone control isn't terribly interactive. The pickups are somewhat microphonic (maybe due to age, or design). But, it does what it does really, really well, and some things that one wouldn't think it would do well.

I got this used at a time when I needed to sit down to play due to an injury-This was the idea behind the JM's design. Very comfortable to play and well-made. Contrary to popular belief, the tremolo stays in tune very well. I LOVE the bound neck on this guitar and the large headstock works well on the model (and only on this or a Jag). It is somewhat high-maintenance, and I have had issues with the pickup selector, grounding and pickups needing to be reinforced to prevent falling into the guitar. Also, the high E string tends to fall out of the nut no matter how it is adjusted, and due to the bridge's design, strings can move about. But, it's old and has been ridden hard...

My JM has been pounded, and it shows!! It fell face-down on a street once and left only a ding or too, one busted string and was IN TUNE!! Other than the above-mentioned electrical issues this guitar is indestructible. I would not use it without a backup as it is a somewhat temperamental instrument that HATES interference.

I've been playing nearly 30 years--a variety of styles, situations and instruments. The Jazzmaster I have has been through a lot, and it has a special place among my instruments. There are some things it does really well, and some areas where it falls short. But it has "the vibe." and is a great guitar for the player who wants something a little different or explores sounds and styles that are outside the norm.

i bought a 1962 blue laminated top jazzmaster. the neck is quite nice for alternative. not for hendrix bends. ya. 3 way selector and rythym or lead toggle. Passive electronics i think. I believe it was maple. floating tailpiece. (shit.) strange vintage tuners. like the real 1962 ones.

mostly i play rock or incbusy type songs. a lot of distortion. i use my marshall half stack with it and sometimes a boss-ds1. it does have a buzz when u put it in the rythym treble position and most others exceot if you place the toggle in the middle. this sucks if u use distortion but it can be fixed for a hundred bucks and it takes a week. not on my agenda. the sound really varies unfortunately its not good. it can be good, but when there is distortion on it it sounds like a dying squaling elephant whos nuts just got kut off. a ripple sort of sound. if u have any idea of what i mean.

the action was fine and mostly everything was fine except for the sound problems and the bridge. the bridge sucks monkeys nuts. it rattles non stop which makes u insane. and the strings come out of place every couple of minutes which makes it out of tune. the tuning pegs were ok but it would barely tune right. you have to tune it every ten minutes. it was glazy which i did like.

im sure it will last long but dont use it live. it sucks everywhere. if u wanna be different and use one ur stupid. because you could play the same price for a strat which is nicer more reliable and better sound 2 if u get it with a humbucker. go with the american strats though. trust me.

i dont even know man i had it for 2 weeks. returned it. got an american highway 1 strat. thats how you roll man.

overall. ... . .get a strat. its pointless unless you have oodles of time and money to spend on a ridiculous guitar collection and repairing, and improving. most rock stars do this. dont follow their foot steps unless u are 1

1960 or 1961 fender vintage jazzmaster made in usa. 21 frets.
ash body. see thru blonde finish. gold kluson tuners.
have the orig. case, hang tags

SOUNDS REAL GOOD

got it 40 + yrs since it was built

has for 40 yrs

never used

playing for 13 years. have several other guitars. a 1990 prs custom 24. a 1999 prs mccarty soap bar. a 1990's fender us strat plus. takamine 12 string acoustic. vox xc 30 amp with a 4x12 fender tonemaster cabinet. i really like the jazzmaster. i want to know if anyone knows what this guitar is worth? is it a rare model? i have only seen 1 like it and it was a 59 model jazzmaster. the serial # is 48530 and the neck date is 1-61. thanks for any help. e mail me at sga03705@allstate.com or loungeflys@aol.com.

1964 Fender Jazzmaster....made in the US of A. Usual number of frets and features...rosewood fingerboard with clay dots - no binding. Neck is stamped 4APR64B.

The guitar is all original apart from a refinish, a new trem arm and the changed pickguard (the old one was split so I had it taken off)

Style wise, this is a perfect guitar for me. I also have a 1967 Jazzmaster (currently being refinished into Black). I play mostly alternative stuff, but jam along to anyhting usualy.

I'm using this with a Fender Musicmaster Bass Amp.

My current effects setup is: Zvex Machine > MJM China Fuzz > NVN Bronto Jr. > Zvex SHO > Boss DM3 > Boss RV2.

I also plug in a Boss TU12H tuner to the dry output of the DM3

all of the above pedals and the tuner are powered by an ADL Juicebox.

The guitar has the usual single coil buzz on the neck only, and bridge only pup positions...the buzz goes away in the middle position like in all Jazzmasters (hum cancelling position)

The bridge pup is weaker than the neck one...the neck pup is full and bassy, and with both pups on the sound is amazingly shimmery and warm....the pups on my 64 compared to my 67's are considerably hotter...they got a lot more balls to them.

The guitar loves effects, especialy my MJM China Fuzz.

To my ears it sounds like what a good Jazzmaster should sound like, so I give a ten on this one.

Well, I have no idea how the factory setup was, since I got it secondhand. The action was ok...but the guitar had been stripped of it's initial sunburst colour, and had the usual 70s style "natural look"

*sigh*

What was worse, was that someone had carved a few names on the top, and also the guitar looked like it had been left by a window having the sun hitting it for years - the tortoise shell pickguard had faded considerably, and the knobs, pup covers etc had yellowed a lot. The pickguard had also warped (common thing) and also shrunk - not to mention the split it had - so I decided to put a mint green repro on it.

Thankfuly, everything else on the guitar was original, so I decided to get it refinished into one of my favourite colours - Firemist Gold...admitedly, this colour shouldn't be on a 1964 guitar (isn't period correct - it's a CBS era colour), but I liked the colour, so I had it done anyway.

For this job I contacted a luthier in Tunbridge Wells, just outside London. You can see the guitar being restored step-by-step on his website www.ron2e.com

Just click on "1964 Jazzmaster" on the left hand menu.

You will see what an amazing job was done to it (he's also currently refinishing my 1967 Jazzmaster). When it was returned to me, the guitar not only looked amazing, but played better than any Jazzmaster I've ever played! :)

so a 5 for the state I got it in, and a resounding 10 for the restored product!

The guitar will definetely withstand live playing, and everything else thrown at it...it is 40 years old already and going strong...I can't see why it wouldn't make it to 100!

I get no buzz from the bridge or anything...all is well with 10s on.

I'd always have a backup for gigs, but I don't think I'd use it.

Pre-CBS...never dealt with them....but I thank them for making it!

I have now been playing for 12-13 years or so...I also own a 1967 Jazzmaster an Epiphone J200 and a bunch of pedals.

If it was stolen, I'd cry just like I did when my 1967 one was stolen (but then recovered!). There's nothing I hate about it...it sounds great, playes well, is comfortable, and also looks great!

I don't really like comparing different guitars...it's like comparing apples an oranges.

I will one day get a nice Tele, and SG, and probably a Les Paul with P90s....but the Jazzmasters will always be my #1 favourite guitars....I've played them for such a long time.

1964 Jazzmaster
Sun Burst finish with original hard shell case

Its a little tight for me - I'm a part-time player

I bought this guitar 20 years ago. It belonged to a woman who took lessons as a teen-ager. Her dad bought her the guitar new. She took a few lessons and quit. It has zero fret or neck wear. I grew up playing Gibsons, so the neck stretches my hand beyond my comfort level, so I play it very little. I also got a Deluxe Reverb amp with the guitar. It has the best surf sound I've ever heard. I play some jazz too and that also sounds great.
This guitar is 100% factory issue. It holds a tuning better than any other guitar I've ever owned - '54 Les Paul Special '71 Les Paul
'76 Les Paul Epiphones, Harmonys, Silvertones, Melody Makers.
The only feature I don't like is the chromed cover on the bridge. It rattles, so I remove it. I'm not a performer so this instrument sits in its case. I've always thought it should belong to a professional who can use it to its potential.