60s Jazzmaster Modified
The new wave of surf…
It’s not just a clever name, you know. When Fender launched the Jazzmaster in 1958 it was designed to lure jazz cats away from their big-bodied guitars. Unfortunately for Fender, the jazzers hated it and the new model didn’t find an enthusiastic audience until the surf guitar craze of the early 60s.
Our Vintera version might look like a doppelgänger of those early guitars but this is the Modified version. That means you get a rounder Modern C neck profile with a flatter 241mm (9.5") radius Pau Ferro fingerboard and fatter medium jumbo frets. The back of the neck has a satin finish to keep you out of sticky situations. It’s available in 3-Colour Sunburst and Surf Green finishes.
The Alder body is classic 60s Fender but here you get an anchored Adjusto-matic bridge instead of the flimsier original. The floating vibrato unit is almost identical to the original
50s/60s design. The upgrade is a screw-in arm. The original models had a push-in effort that flapped all over the place.
On its launch, the Jazzmaster was the top-of-the-range Fender model. Despite the company’s best intentions it became a cult guitar. These days we associate the thing with the likes of J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, not to mention Slipknot’s Jim Root and his heavily modified version.
Our Vintera model has higher output pickups than an original 60s Jazzmaster. Clean, it’s all tingly treble, just the thing for reverb-soaked surf stuff. Add some dirt and you’ll get some great fuzz tones with plenty of bite.
Typical of the breed, our Jazzmaster has two wiring circuits. You get a standard volume, tone and three-way switch for the single-coil pickups. Look closer and you’ll find an additional two-way slider switch and roller ‘thumbwheel’ controls for the neck pickup only. This system allows you to switch between two preset sounds. It’s a bit complicated but, like the over-engineered vibrato unit, it’s actually pretty useful when you get used to how it works.
It’s good to see that modernising this Jazzmaster hasn’t stripped it of any of its iconic quirkiness.
clean, it’s all tingly treble… Add some dirt and you’ll get some great fuzz tones with plenty of bite