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Jazz on a Jazzmaster??

Faber

By Faber
in Electric Guitars

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Snail_killer Newbie

Snail_killer

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Fender intended the Jazzmaster to represent a solid body alternative to the hollow body archtop guitars that were then ubiquitous among Jazz guitarists. As the Telecaster and Stratocaster had done in other popular musical genres, Fender hoped to initiate a revolution in Jazz guitar, at the expense of their arch-rival Gibson. While the Jazzmaster never caught on among its intended audience, Jazz guitarists today are as likely to be playing a solid bodied Strat or Les Paul derivative as the large fully hollow "Jazz boxes" of yore.

 

Where Jazzmasters were most successful was in the burgeoning California-based surf music and instrumental rock scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Fender headquarters was located in Southern California, and Leo Fender himself actively solicited local players' input and guidance in designing the Jazzmasters followup, the Jaguar.

 

Jazzmasters, along with Jaguars and their imitators, fell out of fashion among players during the 1970s largely due to their "old-fashioned" appearance and sonic characteristics. The 70s rock sound meant "fat" humbucker tone and lots of sustain, so guitarists gravitated toward the Gibson Les Paul and its copies. The Jazzmaster's short sustain and warm piano-like tone was not favored. Fender continued to offer the Jazzmaster as part of its product line until 1980, however many collectors believe actual production ceased around 1976, with guitars sold after that period representing unsold inventory. Due to the unwanted, pawn-shop status of the guitars, young musicians were able to purchase the instruments very cheaply, obtaining the high quality guitars for little money.

 

Just as Fender discontinued the Jazzmaster, Tom Verlaine of Television and Elvis Costello started giving the guitar a cult following. Thus, they were later embraced by the American grunge and indie rock scene. Sonic Youth are notorious for the hoard of Jazzmasters they acquired starting around 1988 while the guitars were still affordable, and for their unique customization jobs (e.g. Lee Ranaldo's "Jazzblaster" with Fender Wide Range pickups). S.Y. were also famous for playing on the strings below the bridge (near the tailpiece) to get church-bell-like tones; this is sometimes referred to as 3rd Bridge technique. Other bands, such as Yes picked behind the nut to achieve similar sounds (on other guitar models), but in a Guitar World interview, Sonic Youth rejected this practice as "art rock". Ranaldo even has a pickup mounted behind the bridge on one of his guitars. With the increasing visibility of old Jazzmasters, and the prices of collectible Telecasters and Stratocasters soaring out of sight in the 1990s, Jazzmasters became highly valuable. Thefts of vintage Jazzmasters from Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, and The Raveonettes in recent years illustrate this. Sonic Youth had nine Jazzmasters stolen from them in July 1999, along with dozens of other items.

 

Robert Smith of The Cure used two Jazzmasters (which he creatively named Black Torty & White Torty) for the majority of his band's early work. J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr is a noted Jazzmaster devotee, and as of 2007 Fender produces a signature J Mascis Jazzmaster model. Mascis uses a Tune-o-matic bridge, however. The stock Jazzmaster continues to have a cultlike following in the "shoegaze"/ "dream pop" community, which values the buzzing, otherworldly sounds made possible by Leo's bridge design. Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine uses them as his main guitars, and bandmate Bilinda Butcher used them in addition to her Jaguars. A closeup picture of a Jazzmaster is featured as the cover of their critically-acclaimed album, Loveless (1991). One is also depicted on the cover of Band of Susans' Blessing And Curse EP (1987), although the band is more noted for their use of G&L guitars. Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo favors a Jazzmaster as well as other vintage Fender guitars, often playing behind-the-back solos in concert. Nels Cline, solo artist and current (2007) lead guitarist of Wilco, has also used the Jazzmaster as his main guitar for decades. J Mascis, Nels Cline, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo (of Sonic Youth) all performed at a tribute to the Jazzmaster in New York on September 12, 2008

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alfsboy Newbie

alfsboy

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There is no such thing as a jazz guitar only a guitarist who plays jazz on it .I think you can play jazz on virtually anything .Mostly its a matter of turning down the tone knobs on amp and guitar or whatever suits you .Sure some guitars are made for it but the greats used what was around at the time and they could get . Just think of Charley Bird on a nylon or Ed Bickert on a tele,both humbucker and single coil.I am sure Django could show us a leg on an EMG equipped pointy if forced to, like most other greats . As a non great, I play jazz on a tele,a Dot ,and a spanish flamenco .I am thinking about getting one of those Crafter sold electro nylons ,I bet some good jazz can come out of one of those .I find the normal flamenco Spanish a bit wide neck wise for my little fingers .suit you sir

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Cool Hand Luke Newbie

Cool Hand Luke

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As the Snail_killer stated above the Jazzmaster was indeed intended for jazz use. I believe Fender designed the Jazzmaster and also the Jazz Bass with the offset waist to make it more comfortable to play while sitting down. That doesn't explain the tremolo or the funky high pass filter, though.

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Kap'n Newbie

Kap'n

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Jazzmasters, along with Jaguars and their imitators, fell out of fashion among players during the 1970s largely due to their "old-fashioned" appearance and sonic characteristics.

 

 

Well, that's part of the reason.

 

Other than their association with surf music - the only genre that really took to them, the real killers for the Jazzmaster were

 

 

 

Also not to be discounted is the fact that the earliest imported guitars from Italy and Japan tended to be heavily inspired by the Jazzmaste, with similar wierd wiring, veg-o-matic buttons, and other monstrosities. The low quality of these items probably helped drag down the Jazzmaster. Oddly enough the fact that there are few survivors of this import era - and resultant 'cool factor' by people who don't actually play them, helps raise the Jazzmaster's image.

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