1966 Fender Jazzmaster + OHSC
A tidy Jazzmaster from 1966. Some transitional features. ‘66 electrics and serial number with a Nov ‘65 neck with dot inlays, binding and small headstock.
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First launched in 1958 as Fender’s new top-of-the-line flagship model, the Fender Jazzmaster is rarely, if ever, seen in the hands of jazz players. Its radical (for the time) off-set solid body was perhaps considered too modern by jazz players used to playing more traditional hollow bodied archtop guitars. Instead the model initially found success as the guitar of choice of the emerging surf music players in the early 60’s. It then fell out of favour for a decade before being rediscovered by a number of new wave players in the 70’s, most notably Tom Verlaine of Television and Elvis Costello. From there the Jazzmaster has steadily built up a devoted following mainly among indie or alternative players and is now pretty much the de rigueur guitar in these circles.
This 1966 example is interesting in that it spans 1965 and 1966 and has some nice transitional features. Most of the electrics date to 1966 – the volume pot is dated 18th week of 1965, the tone pot is dated 31st week of 1966 and the pick-ups are dated Dec ’66. The serial number corresponds to 1966. The neck is stamped Nov 1965 and features the relatively rare combination of dot inlays, a small headstock and binding. These features were only produced for a few months towards the end of 1965 before being replaced with the larger ‘CBS’ headstock which the majority of bound, dot neck Jazzmasters feature. Later in 1966 the inlays would be replaced with block inlays.
The overall condition is very good. There are a few small nicks and dings mainly around the edges of the body and also a few to the front and back, but nothing major. There is some natural playing wear to the back of the neck and some light finish checking.
The neck has a nice comfortable medium C profile with a fairly even depth going up the neck, which is fairly typical of ’65 neck profiles. The fingerboard is a nice waxy dark rosewood. The original frets are the fatter frets used by Fender on these transitional bound necks and have plenty of life left in them. The original double-line Kluson tuners are all working fine and the top and bottom E tuners have a slight bend but function perfectly. There are small signs that the face of the headstock may have been re-lacquered at some point a long time ago and a version 1 transition decal re-applied. There are no signs of any repair work so if this is the case this would appear to have been done for purely cosmetic reasons. The heel of the neck has been shaved by 1 or 2mm so that it sits a bit lower in the neck pocket and has a better break angle. The neck height and break angle on Jazzmasters is a common issue that is usually addressed by players.
Sonically the two grey bobbin pick-ups have all the classic vintage Jazzmaster hallmarks. The bridge pick up is bright and warm with plenty of bite and definition and overdrives very nicely. The neck pick-up has that fat, woody but still distinctly single coil tone of classic vintage Jazzmasters. The middle position is full and chimey as you would expect.
The guitar is all original with the exception of the control knobs. A previous owner replaced the original witch hat knobs with a set of vintage ‘60’s Strat knobs as used on earlier pre-65 Jazzmasters. All the electrics are original with untouched solder and work perfectly.
Comes in its original hard shell case which is in good condition with all latches working. If you’ve been looking at vintage Jazzmasters over the last year or so, you’ll be fully aware of just how quickly these are going up in value. Here is a nice example of a transitional ’66 model.
Weight: 7lb 10oz
Pick up readings: Neck 7.48k Bridge 7.41k
