If You Can’T See Past The Teles And Strats In The Fender Catalogue, Check Out The Latest In The Offset Bloodline, With Their Vintage Looks And Modern Playability
It’s 1957. Fullerton, California. You’re Leo Fender. Within the last decade you and your team have invented the Esquire, Telecaster, Stratocaster, Precision Bass and the Bassman amplifier. Your competition is floundering. Compared with the Gibson Les Paul and the Gretsch Duo Jet, your Stratocaster guitar looks like it was beamed down from a passing flying saucer. Business is brisk. But you’re Leo Fender. The Strat is already three years old! You need to stay on top. The big question is: how do you follow a guitar like that?
Fender’s response is the Jazzmaster. Released in 1958, the new model combines important Fender trademarks (bolt-on maple neck, six-on-one-side tuner layout) with a recent addition to the Fullerton factory’s spec options – a rosewood fingerboard. The Jazzmaster is intended to be Leo’s flagship model. He regards the Tele and Strat as tools for the working musician. Now he wants to offer some luxury. The brief is a top-of-the-range looker that’ll hook the jazz cats and studio aces.
Fresh from the drawing board, the Jazzmaster is a handsome bugger and that’s no lie. The only problem is, no-one actually wants it. Where the Strat is lithe and lightweight, the Jazzmaster is a bit more cumbersome. The Strat has three pickups, its wiring loom is beautifully simple and the volume and tone controls fall easily to hand. That low-profile ‘Synchronized’ vibrato unit is a work of genius. By way of contrast, the Jazzmaster has two pickups, a complicated control layout, not to mention a spectacularly over-engineered vibrato unit and bridge setup. If Leo thinks the country jazz hotshots of the day are going to trade in their big hollowbody guitars for his latest flame, well, good luck with that.
Denne historien er fra September 2019-utgaven av Guitarist.
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Denne historien er fra September 2019-utgaven av Guitarist.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Sonic Shaper
Electro-Harmonix revisits the effect that launched the company with the LPB-3 Linear Power Booster and EQ
Platinum Blonde
PRS has updated its Texas-voiced David Grissom signature amp with more features, lower wattage and a more approachable price tag
TAN LINES
Many of us regard straps as a bit of an afterthought, but to find one that matches the quality of a custom or vintage guitar, Rod Boyes of Pinegrove Leather can help
ELECTRIC STRINGS
Your tone starts with your strings - strike a balance between sound, tuning and durability with six of our favourites
DIFFERENT WINDS
While there's no end to repros of all the classic pickup styles, more and more pickup makers are mixing things up to move forward - Cream T is a good example
Long termers
A few months' gigging, recording and everything that goes with it - welcome to Guitarist's longterm test report
Top Guns
Chapman's new factory move coincides with a bit of a rethink. We track down the key players all around the world
the Wishlist
Dream gear to beg, borrow and steal for...
Reach For The Star
Earlier this year Guild reorganised its 70s-era Polara range. We spent some time with this mid-range 2024 model: a modern pawn-shop prize or a copy too far?
HIGH FLYER
Adrian Thorpe of ThorpyFX remembers the flight path - and turbulence behind Chris Buck's Electric Lightning overdrive/boost, named after a fighter jet and packing a bona fide valve
