An Excellent Original Pre-CBS Olympic White Jazzmaster
This great surfing guitar weighs 8.00 lbs. and has a fat nut width of just under 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Solid alder body, one-piece maple neck, and veneer rosewood fretboard with 21 frets and clay dot position markers. Large headstock with matching Olympic White 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. 2,573,254 2,960,900 2,817,261 2,972,923 3,143,028 / DES. 186,826" Individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons. Four-bolt neck plate with serial number ("L62414") between the top two screws. Two large white rectangular six-polepiece pickups with huge outputs of 7.88k and 8.51k. Four-layer (tortoiseshell/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] JAN 65B." The pots are stamped: "137 6350" and "304 6450" (Stackpole December 1963 and CTS December 1964). The guitar has possibly been re-fretted, we say this only because there was a set "old frets" in a little bag in the case, although there are no visible signs of a re-fret job on the neck -- so if it was re-fretted we want to know who did it -- and give him a lot more work! Other than this small caveat, this guitar is in totally original and excellent plus (8.75) condition. There is a very light amount of belt-buckle scarring and an area of wear on the back of the guitar which in a couple of places is through to the wood. There are also a few small marks on the edges, some of which have been touched-up. The top of the "F" on the headstock decal has been rubbed away, but overall this forty-two year old example is in very strong excellent-plus condition. Housed in a later (seventies?) black hardshell case with blue plush lining (8.75)
"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.