The Original Jazzmaster!

One of the earliest Jazzmasters with a gold anodized guard, this guitar weighs just 8.20 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Solid alder body, maple neck, and slab rosewood fretboard with 21 frets and inlaid clay dot position markers. Individual Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons. Two hot Jazzmaster pickups (large white rectangular six-polepiece pickups) with balanced outputs of 7.66k and 7.64k. Original gold anodized metal pickguard. Two controls (master volume, master tone) with white plastic knobs plus three-way selector switch and jack socket on the treble side of the pickguard, two roller knobs (one volume, one tone) plus two-way slide switch on the bass side of the pickguard. Jazzmaster bridge and integrated tailpiece and tremolo. The varnish on the back of the neck has been mostly worn away by natural play. The thick slab Brazilian rosewood fretboard is in great shape and the original frets show remarkably little wear (a rhythm guitarist must have owned this one!). Inside the guitar, the solder joints are untouched, as is all of the wiring, and as are all of the small pieces of white tape used by the original assembler. The pots are dated "137 906" (CTS sixth week of 1959), and the neck has the pencil date of "3-59." This is by far the finest gold anodized guard Jazzmaster we have ever seen, with only a couple of small surface chips on the edges. Housed in its original Fender "tweed" hardshell case with orange plush lining (9.00). Complete with the original hang tag, instruction manual, and case key. If only this were a Stratocaster...

The most notable thing about Jazzmasters from 1958 to the summer of 1959 is the anodized metal pickguard. It is amazingly thick, at about .100 of an inch, which provides good looks, as well as shielding. Unfortunately, in the summer of 1959, Fender changed to a tortoiseshell/white/black/white celluloid pickguard (except on certain custom color Jazzmasters, which had white/black/white celluloid pickguards). We are not sure why this change was made, although the celluloid pickguards did wear better. Every one of the gold anodized pickguards we have seen has had the usual large wear spot in the middle. This exceptional guitar is the true exception! The pickguard is totally original and unmarked.

"The Jazzmaster first appeared in Fender sales material during 1958, and at some $50 more than the Strat it became the new top-of-the-line model...Immediately striking to the electric guitarist of 1958 was the Jazzmaster's unusual offset-waist body shape...For the first time on a Fender, the Jazzmaster featured a separate rosewood fingerboard glued to the customary maple neck...The Jazzmaster's floating vibrato system was new, too, and had a tricky 'lock-off' facility aimed at preventing tuning problems if a string should break. The controls were certainly elaborate for the time…A small slide-switch selected between two individual circuits, offering player-preset rhythm and lead sounds. The idea was a good one: the ability to set up a rhythm sound and a lead sound, and switch between them. But the system seemed over-complicated to players brought up on straightforward volume and tone controls. The sound of the Jazzmaster was richer and warmer than players were used to from Fender. The name Jazzmaster had not been chosen at random, for Fender was aiming this different tone at jazz players, who at the time largely preferred hollowbody electrics, and principally those by Gibson. However, jazz guitarists found little appeal in this new, rather difficult solidbody guitar -- and mainstream Fender players largely stayed with their Stratocasters and Telecasters" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of Fender, p. 26). Much to Fender's surprise, however, the Jazzmaster turned into the best surf guitar ever conceived.