A Near Mint and Totally Original 1965 Sea Foam Green Jazzmaster

This ultra rare custom color "Sea Foam Green" Jazzmaster weighs just 7.90 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Asymetrical double-cutaway solid alder body, contoured on the bass side. One-piece maple neck with a wonderful medium profile Veneer rosewood fretboard with 21 original medium-to-thin frets and inlaid clay dot position markers. Headstock with 'Transition' logo with "Fender" in gold with black trim, "Jazzmaster" and "Offset Contour Body Pat. Pending" in black, "With Synchronized Floating Tremolo" in black below, and "PAT 2,573254 2,960,900 2,817,261 2,972,923 3,143,028 / DES 186,826" below that. Single "butterfly" string tree with nylon spacer. Individual 'two-line' Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons and "D-169400 / Patent No." stamped on the underside. The neck is stamped: "4 [Jazzmaster] NOV 63B. Serial number "L61468" engraved on neckplate between the top two screws. Two Jazzmaster pickups (large white rectangular six-polepiece pickups) with outputs of 6.82k and 7.53k. Each of the pickups is dated on the underside in black marker "3-25-65". Four-layer (tortoiseshell/white/black/white) celluloid pickguard (totally crack-free) with thirteen screws. 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 (volume, tone) plus two-way slide switch on the bass side of the pickguard. The potentiometers are stamped "137 63 50" and "304 6508" (CTS, December 1963 and Stackpole, February, 1965). Jazzmaster bridge with six individually adjustable threaded saddles and integrated tailpiece and tremolo. There is a miniscule amount of belt-buckle scarring on the back - this has not broken the surface of the paint and is really quite difficult to see. There are a few very small surface chips on the edges but overall, this is a near mint and totally original example -- in fact the only "Sea Foam" Jazzmaster that we've ever seen! Complete with the original bridge cover and original tremolo arm. Housed in its original Fender black hardshell case with black leather ends, dark orange plush lining and no logo (9.25).

"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.