Probably The Finest Extant See-through Blond "Slab Board" Jazzmaster with Gold Hardware

This near mint see-through Blond "slab board" Jazzmaster weighs just 8.00 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Solid ash body, maple neck, and slab rosewood fretboard with 21 frets and inlaid clay dot position markers. Decal headstock logo with "Fender" in gold with black trim, "Jazzmaster" and "Offset Contour Body Pat. Pending" in black, and "With Synchronized Floating Tremolo" in black below and four patent numbers and a design number. Single "butterfly" string tree with metal spacer. Individual Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons (patent no. D-169400 stamped on inside). Two hot Jazzmaster pickups (large white rectangular six-polepiece pickups) with outputs of 7.90k and 8.48k. Four-layer (tortoiseshell/white/black/white) celluloid pickguard. Serial number 56138 on gold-plated neck-plate. Two controls (master volume, master tone) with white plastic knobs and gold lettering and numerals, plus three-way selector switch and jack socket on the treble side of the pickguard, two roller knobs (volume and tone) plus two-way slide switch on the bass side of the pickguard. Jazzmaster bridge and integrated tailpiece and tremolo, all hardware gold-plated. This guitar is as near mint as possible with only the following miniscule flaws: 1. The high E tuner peg shaft has been slightly pinched; 2. The gold on the tuner buttons is slightly tarnished; 3. There are three tiny marks on the back of the neck behind the ninth and tenth fret (two of them are approximately 3/16" long and the third is 1/8" long); 4. There is a minute hole on the edge of the bass bout near the strap button; 5. There is some slight surface abrasion on the back of the bass horn; 6. There is a small area of surface loss on the lower edge of the treble bout; 7. There is a minute mark on the top of the treble horn (near the three-way selector switch); 8. There is a minute mark on the top edge by the tremolo unit; 9. Minimal fretwear to the first five frets only; 10. The gilt is flaking away from the inside only of the bridge cover. There is no finish checking - this guitar is 100% original and as close to mint as you could ever wish for. A wonderful and totally original example -- the best "blonde" with gold hardware we've ever seen! The neck is dated "11-61." The pots are dated "304 61 19" and "304 61 21" (April/May 1961). Complete with it's original gold plated tremolo arm and gold plated bridge cover. Housed in its original Fender light brown Tolex case with brown leather ends and orange plush lining (9.25). Also included is the original Fender polishing cloth.

"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.