Fender Jazzmaster
From Free net encyclopedia
The Fender Jazzmaster electric guitar was first introduced at the 1958 NAMM show and was designed as a more upmarket instrument than the Fender Stratocaster, which itself was introduced in 1954 as a higher-priced product than the company's Telecaster series.
The contoured body incorporating a snappy 25-1/2” scale length, the original lead and rhythm circuit switching with independent volume and tone controls, and the floating tremolo with tremolo lock were the keys to the Jazzmaster's character.
The Jazzmaster had a mellower tone than the Strat, which gave it a more jazzy sound, although it wasn't embraced by jazz musicians. (Joe Pass, however, used one during his stay at Synanon, as it was the only guitar he could get.) Instead, rock guitarists used the instrument, especially for surf rock. (The Ventures and The Fireballs were prominent Jazzmaster players.) Fender then recognized the need for a purpose-designed surf-guitar, and introduced the Fender Jaguar.
Both guitars fell out of fashion during the 1970s. Production of the Jazzmaster ceased in 1977, ironically, just before Tom Verlaine of Television, Elvis Costello, and, in live performance, Mick Jagger would start giving the guitars a cult following. Thus, they were later embraced by the American Grunge and Indie rock scene. Sonic Youth are well known for their love of both Jaguars and Jazzmasters, and for their unique customisation jobs (Jazzblaster). Kurt Cobain of Nirvana played a Jaguar customised with humbucking pickups. Robert Smith of The Cure, also used two Jazzmasters (called Black Torty & White Torty) for the majority of the Cure's early work. J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr is also a noted Jazzmaster player. The guitar has also had a large following in the "shoegazer" community. Kevin Shields and Belinda Butcher of My Bloody Valentine made liberal use of the Jazzmaster, and its picture is featured on the cover of their critically acclaimed album, Loveless.
With the increasing popularity of old Jazzmasters, and the prices of old Telecasters and Stratocasters soaring out of sight in the 1980s, Jazzmasters became highly valuable. Fender has sporadically reissued the Jazzmaster during the last 20 years.
Many guitar players find fault with the design of the original Jazzmaster bridge, which features saddles that have many grooves cut into them (similar to screw threads). The idea behind this design was that you could space your strings to best suit your needs. In reality, the strings would jump out of the grooves while playing with any sort of force. As a solution, many Jazzmaster players replace the Jazzmaster bridge with a Fender Mustang style bridge, which only has one string groove per saddle. Another common Jazzmaster modification is the addition of a "Buzz Stop", a bar that mounts above the tremolo system and increases the angle of the strings behind the bridge, supposedly increasing sustain while decreasing string buzz (another common problem with the original Jazzmaster bridge).
External links
- Guitar-Poll.com 1957 "prototype" Jazzmaster.
- Fender Jazzmaster site on the evolution of the guitar from prototype stages through the changes after the final designde:Fender Jazzmaster