Legendary guitar maker Fender is best known for its Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars, but the brand produces a number of other iconic models worth playing. One of these hidden gems is the Jazzmaster, a guitar with an offset body that initially debuted in 1958 and was later discontinued in 1980.
The guitar was re-released in ’84 from Fender’s Japanese factory (a ’62 reissue model) and then in ’99 as part of the American Vintage Series. Now, various iterations of the style are accessible across Fender’s range of guitars from affordable Squire instruments to collector-level Custom Shop guitars.
One of the latter instruments, a Custom Shop NAMM Custom Built ’63 Journeyman Relic Jazzmaster is now on sale at Guitar Center. The guitar has an alder body with an Olympic white lacquer finish, a tinted 21-fret “riff sawn” maple neck with a ‘60s Jazzmaster contour and a vintage-style floating tremolo. For electronics, this instrument has Custom Shop ‘60s Jazzmaster neck and bridge pickups controlled by a 3-way selector and a special 2-position slide (this engages either the lead tone circuit or the rhythm tone circuit). Appropriate to the era, it also includes a 3-ply mint green pickguard and a bone nut.
Currently, this Jazzmaster is reduced by almost $200 because it has an open box. Any discount on a mint-condition Custom Shop guitar is welcome, and it’s hard to argue with savings like this on such a detail-oriented axe.
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