The Only Slab Board Firemist Silver Jazzmaster!

This great surfing guitar weighs just 7.60 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, one-piece maple neck, and slab rosewood fretboard with 21 frets and clay dot position markers. Large headstock with matching Firemist Silver finish and decal with Fender logo in gold with black trim, "Jazzmaster" and "Offset Contour Body Pat. Pending" in black beside it, and "With Synchronized Floating Tremolo" and five patent numbers in black below it (in two lines): "PAT. 2,960,900 2,972,923 3,143,028, 2,741,146/DES. 186,826." Single "butterfly" string tree with nylon spacer. Individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons. Four-bolt neck plate with serial number ("81815") between the top two screws. Two large white rectangular six-polepiece pickups with outputs of 9.58k and 7.85k. Three-layer (white/black/white) celluloid pickguard. Two master controls (one volume, one 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 neck is stamped: "4 [Jazzmaster] JUL 62B." The pots are stamped: "304 61 14," "304 61 18," and "304 61 19" (Stackpole April and May 1961). The heel of the neck is stamped "F M Silver/1115" between the four bolt holes. This exceptional custom-color guitar is in remarkable and almost unfaded condition, with only a small amount of belt buckle scarring on the back and a few small marks on the body and the edges, the most noticeable ones being a small (3/8 x 1/8 inch) indentation near the three-way switch and a small (1/2 x 1/4 inch) chip on the lower treble edge. Housed in its original Fender light brown tolex hardshell case with brown leather ends and orange plush lining (8.50).

This actual guitar (81815) is listed on p. 27 of Werner's List as follows: "81815 Jul 62 J-Master Firemist Silver."

According to Vintage Guitars Info (http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fenderc.html), the "big number stamp" seen on many custom color instruments (large, 1/2 inch numbers stamped deeply into the wood under the pickguard on a body, and also usually on the heel of a neck between the four bolt holes) indicates that a guitar has had some factory repair work, usually refinishing. This guitar has the "big number stamp" on the heel of the neck, but no stamping on the body of the guitar. Internally, no solder joints have ever been touched and there is no paint in the nail holes. There is no evidence that there has ever been another finish on this guitar.

Apparently, this guitar was made in 1962 (the slab board ceased in 1962), but wasn't finished and didn't leave the factory until late 1963 or early 1964. We have examined this guitar inside and out under a black light, and we are absolutely certain that this is the original factory finish from when it first left the factory.

According to all of the reference books we have checked, Firemist Silver wasn't offered as a custom color by Fender until 1965. However, we do know of at least one 1963 Firemist Silver Stratocaster, and more than one other 1964 guitars in Firemist Silver. (Fender based their custom colors on automobile colors, and Firemist Silver was a 1964 Cadillac color.)

In addition, the headstock decal is a transitional decal, which doesn't match any of the headstock decals shown at Vintage Guitars Info (http://guitarhq.com/fender/djazzma.jpg). It is closest to the 1962-1964 decal, except that the "Fender" logo is not the spaghetti logo, and the patent numbers are in two lines rather than in one line.

"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.