Fender Jazzmaster

The Jazzmaster is an electric guitar. It is made by the U.S. maker of musical instruments Fender since 1958. Originally planned as a successor to the Stratocaster and top model of the guitar line, the Jazzmaster fell short of high expectations of CEOs and inventor Leo Fender. After declining sales and production setting, the Jazzmaster witnessed by their popularity among musicians of grunge and alternative rock since the 1990s, a renaissance.

History

In the 1950s, the market for electric guitars developed rapidly. The fledgling Fender company, which had already successfully launched the Telecaster and Stratocaster models on the market, developed the Jazzmaster guitar as a top model in the line. She was introduced to the public at the 1958 Musikmesse NAMM show ( National Association of Music Merchants ) in Anaheim ( California). The Jazzmaster was elaborately designed and aimed its warm sound and their name on the market for jazz musicians who still preferred the instruments of competition Gibson up to that point. This had, in contrast to Fender a dark rosewood fingerboard and larger pickups, which was acquired by Leo Fender Jazzmaster for ado.

The sales figures remained despite massive marketing ( Fender Jazzmaster used the times even as a logo on official headed paper ) fell short of expectations. Ancestral Fender players preferred the brighter sounding models Telecaster and Stratocaster, jazz musicians were usually already uncomfortable with the modernist design of the Jazzmaster and stayed with the traditional archtop and Les Paul models of the company Gibson. In contrast, however, the group of surf and rock ' n' roll scene discovered the qualities of the instrument itself.

After sales declined steadily, it came in 1982 to the complete cessation of production and the Jazzmaster disappeared from the stores. In the late 1980s, it was rediscovered by the musicians of the grunge and alternative scene: Looking for good, cheap instruments, the musicians roamed the hand stores and found in the almost forgotten Jazzmaster a cheap way to play a real Fender. Further, the exotic design may have contributed to the popularity in the alternative rock scene, that way you could also visually stand out from the prevailing rock and pop musicians themselves.

With this new popularity, the Jazzmaster is now restored in appreciable numbers. The products range from cheap models produced in Japan to elaborate in custom fender custom shop. The production figures are, however, still far below those of the other models.

Construction

The Jazzmaster follows as already the Telecaster and Stratocaster to the basic design principle of the Fender company: At a massive body made of alder or ash wood, a neck made ​​of maple wood is screwed with a scale length of 648 mm. The tuning machines are located in a line on the upper side of the asymmetrical headstock. The electrical system is mounted on a mostly consisting of plastic pickguard, which is located under the strings on the body.

Unlike the other models of the company Fender electrics the Jazzmaster consists of two large, built only with the Jazzmaster single-coil pickups that produce a warm, bell sound. Switching is done via a rocker switch with three positions in which either bridge, neck or both pickups are activated. The sound is controlled by a tone and a volume knob. As a special feature the Jazzmaster has another slide switch and two roller knobs that a second sound can be set for the neck pickup. This is accessed independently of the normal sound adjustment by the sliding switch. Originally these alternative sounds were meant to be able to produce the dark warm sound of jazz guitar at your fingertips. Since the adjustable tone colors are actually rather dull and " queasy ", a few musicians continued it into practice. Often one encounters instruments that are equipped with humbuckers. These represent almost invariably represent modifications of musicians to achieve a punchier sound. Since the milling of the pickups are very large, this modification is usually possible without elaborate woodwork. Chance of emerging Jazzmaster with three single-coil pickups are also likely to represent subsequent modifications.

The tremolo unit consists of a bridge (bridge) and a separate tailpiece. The string holder consists of a base plate and an L-shaped metal plate, which is rotatably mounted in the articulation to a metal edge. At the shorter side of the L -shaped sheet, which protrudes from the base plate, the strings are suspended. The longer side is located under the base plate, where a spring counteracts the train of the strings. In a sleeve here also the tremolo arm is inserted. The bridge rests on two height adjustable screws and is mounted so that it can mitkippen in use of the tremolo ( " swiveling action" ). The strings themselves run over threaded sleeves. The tremolo of the Jazzmaster is quite in tune with the right setting, but allows only a small area of the pitch change (approx. / - two semitones). A disadvantage of complex design are rattling noise caused by resonating metal parts of the tremolo or bridge. This is due to the lack of pressure of the string on the bridge by a too shallow bend angle of the string. Play harder, there is also the danger that the strings (particularly the bass strings E and A) slip or jump off the dock. Leo Fender had already planned this elaborate design for the Stratocaster, was persuaded by his staff, however, a simpler (and ultimately successful ) to keep track approach. A common modification (especially in the so-called signature models) is therefore to use the bridge of the Mustang, as they must be placed only instead of the original bridge in the space provided, identical brackets and to have reasonable compared to other solutions is.

The tremolo has a slide button that allows you, it - can detuning free block in the initial position - assuming optimal setting. This is particularly useful if it is often retuned on stage or during the concert a string breaks: By changing the string tension would under normal circumstances, the entire atmosphere will be lost because the system of string tension versus return spring gets out of balance. This can be effectively prevented by blocking.

The Jazzmaster in music

The Jazzmaster was the beginning is preferably in the rock ' n ' roll or surf scene used. The music in these styles preferred clear, bell-like clean sound (called " Twang " ) is able to produce the Jazzmaster. Next can be added to a typical " shimmer " by the tremolo sound which is also suitable for these styles. Famous guitarists who used the Jazzmaster in this context, were, among others, Bob Bogle ( The Ventures ) and Carl Wilson ( The Beach Boys), as well as Luther Perkins (Johnny Cash's Tennessee Three) used over a longer period Jazz Masters.

In later years, the grunge and alternative scene discovered the guitar itself. Well-known musician who used the Jazzmaster and use, include Elvis Costello, Robert Smith ( The Cure ), Patrick Walden ( ex- Babyshambles ), Lee Ranaldo, Thurston Moore ( Sonic Youth both ), J. Mascis ( Dinosaur Jr.), and Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher (both My Bloody Valentine ). In order to achieve the sometimes very experimental sounds, the required use / these bands, the instruments were often heavily modified. In Germany, Jazz Masters are used, among other things, by the bands Tocotronic and Tomte.

Other features

• Although musicians especially appreciate about the Fender Jazzmaster and the Jaguar successor to the comfortable playability while standing, Leo Fender has the asymmetrical body with offset waist specially optimized for playing while seated. Fender believed that " real" musicians (where " right" especially classical music and jazz meant ) play sitting down. That rock musician, who were among the main customers of Fender, stood on the stage, was Leo Fender matter: He did not like rock. In fact, can be seen on the patent applications of the Jazzmaster a sketch on the man the guitar in the classical playing position (sitting, the guitar on the raised left knee) uses. Employee of Fender report that Leo Fender held to this view until the 1980s.

• Coinciding with the introduction of the Jazzmaster started the cooperation of the Fender company with the paint and coatings manufacturer DuPont. This was known at the time mainly for its colorful car paints. This has made it possible to paint tools in addition to traditional wood colors in all the other colors that you knew from cars. This may be the reason why just turns up the Jazzmaster in a variety of colors and combinations.

• With the introduction of the Jazzmaster necks were offered for the first time at Fender, passed their fingerboards made ​​of rosewood. Older Strat and Tele models had invariably stems from a piece of maple ("one -piece maple - neck" ) at no extra aufgeleimtes fingerboard. Fender introduced the neck production at this time for economic reasons completely on rosewood fingerboards, so as not two different necks had to be produced. Before Leo Fender experimented with different materials that could be used as a fingerboard. A rare prototype of the Jazzmaster is known from the 1957 which has a fingerboard made ​​of black plastic.

• As in the 60's the sound of twelve string guitars became popular by bands like the Beatles, Byrds and The Ventures, added some guitarists its Jazz Masters added two to three additional strings. These are usually used to double the high strings ( G, H, and E) and so as to imitate the sound of twelve strings. The additional tuning machines mounted on the lower side of the headstock. Similar modifications are also known from the Stratocaster, which also provides space for additional tuners on its headstock.