An Exceptionally Fine 1959 'Slab-Board' Jazzmaster with the Original Hang-Tags.

1959 Fender Jazzmaster.

This early two-tone Sunburst "slab-board" Jazzmaster weighs 8.00 lbs. and has a nut width of just under 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Solid alder body, one-piece lightly "flamed" maple neck with a very comfortable medium profile. Slab Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 21 original thin frets and inlaid clay dot position markers. Headstock with Fender "Spaghetti" logo in gold with black trim, "Jazzmaster" in black beside it, and "With Synchronized Floating Tremolo" below that. "Offset / Contour  / Body / Pat. Pending" decal at the ball end of the headstock. Single "butterfly" string tree with metal spacer. Individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons stamped on the underside "D-169400 / Patent No.". Four-bolt neck plate with serial number "54815" between the top two screws. The neck is not dated, which is quite usual for 1959. The body is dated in pencil "12/59" in the bridge pickup cavity. Two hot Jazzmaster pickups (large white rectangular six-polepiece pickups) with very outputs of 7.99k and 8.47k. 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 pickup selector switch and jack socket on the treble side of the pickguard, two roller knobs (volume, tone) plus two-way circuit selector (rhythm/lead) slide switch on the bass side of the pickguard. The pots are dated "137 926" and "137 937" (CTS, June and September 1959). Jazzmaster bridge and integrated tailpiece and tremolo. This totally original guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00+) condition, with just some very light belt buckle scarring (nothing through the finish) on the back and a few small surface chips on the edges of the body. This is certainly one of the cleanest examples that we ever seen! Complete with the original bridge cover, original tremolo arm, original Fender black leather guitar strap., original Fender  folding hang-tag with matching serial number written in blue ink, and original Fender Jazzmaster Instruction Manual 12 page hang-tag booklet. Housed in its original Fender light brown Tolex case with brown leather ends and orange plush lining (9.00).

"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.