Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster Jaguar - The Test

In the beginning God created the Leo Telecaster. Keith and Bruce were happy. The second day, Leo has created the Stratocaster. Jimi and Eric were in ecstasy. In the following days, Leo has created the Jazzmaster and Jaguar, which, although it was intended for jazz, surf music, the followers of the scene of the '60s and '90s rock scene. Today we are testing the 2008 edition of this guitar legend ...

A little history lesson ...

Japanese Rock Band

The history of these two modelsis not trivial. In 1958 Leo Fender decided to take the father of the famous Telecaster and Stratocaster, the benefits of his reputation and trying to logically called jazz guitarist with a Jazzmaster model seduce. With rosewood fingerboard, vibrato floating new pickups and a warmer sound than the Stratocaster, Leo thought he would like to jazz musicians of the time. Unfortunately, his tendency to feedback prompted them to ignore it. However, the master of jazz players in the movement began to surflike The Ventures and the fireballs. Leo, always looking, took advantage of that interest, and came up with a model specifically designed for the surf-music scene in 1962: the Jaguar. With a shorter scale (24 inches), single-coil Stratocaster pickups, 22 frets, a spring elastic dumb and notched side plates that made it less prone to interference, was the ultimate surf guitar. Unfortunately, the surf music scene went out of fashion in the '70s and the production ofJaguars and Jazz Masters 1980 has been stopped
These models were then set aside for a few years, indie-rock bands of the early '80s as Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine examined this guitar (at the time that was convenient and gave lots of feedback), a good opportunity to present their experimental sound to satisfy cravings. From strumming the strings behind the bridge, you could get a single beep and sympathetic resonance to produce to break down the angle on the bridge. Following thisRediscovery introduced the Jazzmaster and Jaguar in the Fender catalog 1986 1962 Reissue with Japanese models once again.
2008 saw the birth of the "Classic Players" series, and relatively low prices in Mexico. To celebrate its 50 th anniversary as a "revision" was in order ... This test will be a Jazz Master, with a Jaguar and a Jaguar single-coil humbucker.
Face Lift
For those who have never hands on a Jazzmaster or Jaguar, the setThe first characteristic is the size of his body is asymmetrical, larger than that of a Stratocaster or Telecaster. However, the balance is perfect, because it was destined to play the guitar sitting down, (the jazz musician, remember!). The main differences between the two traditional models are both a short-scale Jaguars (24-inches to 25.5 inches on the contrast Jazz Masters) and several Pickups: single coil P-90-type on the Jazz Masters Stratocaster only differences from those of aon Jaguar. The pickup at the Jazz Masters, in fact, a warmer sound and round the jaguar, the brightest.
Regarding the changes go, there are new pickups (single coil Jazzmaster Special Design Hot Jaguar and the Jaguar HH for the Enforcer humbucker) with a higher level of output and fatter sound than the original models. Note that the pickups have to adjust the height of the jazz masters, such as the P-90 pickups. A Tune-O-Matic bridge type triggerThe "Jumping Strings" and give voice to the issues of previous models. In addition, the floating tremolo is moved closer to the bridge and the angle of the strings from the bridge is now bigger. This increases sustainable and reduce sympathetic resonating strings behind the bridge. You lose the distinctive sound that rings a little (loved Sonic Youth, the sound) to strum the strings behind the bridge was obtained. With this new bridge and the tremolo is the fact thatwas moved in close, it loses a little 'character of the original guitar, but gains in accuracy and stability.
For the maple neck, Fender has a form "C", rosewood fingerboard, a 9.5-inch-radius (flatter than the original), 21 medium jumbo frets (for the master of jazz and 22 for the Jaguars ) elected. The body is alder for all three models and hardware Fender / Ping vintage style.
What seems to be aware that the Jazzmaster available in black or sunburst finishes with a 4-layerBrown Shell pickguard, the special Jaguar (single coil), in red or sunburst, and Jaguar HH (humbucker), white or sunburst. Finally, the guitars are delivered in a gig bag, and chrome hardware.
Sound and playability
As for the electronics, the two independent circuits Jazzmaster (lead and rhythm guitar) through a 2 position selectable, each with its own volume and tone. And 'the classic three-position switch for selecting the pickups (neck, bridge, or both). The Jaguarsingle coils replaces the 3-position switch with a system combining three 2-position switches. The first two switches enable/disable the bridge and neck pickups respectively while the third switch activates a high-pass filter. This filter lets you easily pierce through a mix! Lastly, the Jaguar with humbuckers has even more possibilities! There's, in addition to the adjustments mentioned above, a master kill switch that lets you completely cut the sound of the guitar, and two controls to mix the humbucker sound with the split sound( Humbucking/Single-Coil Blend Control), and this for each pickup. The sonic possibilities of this guitar are enormous!
The craftsmanship on these guitars seems flawless and there weren't any intonation issues during the test. The neck is agreeable to play and one will quickly find their bearings, while the hardware seems built to last. As for controls,only the Jaguar HH may pose some problems at first: for novices, the number of knobs/switches takes some getting used to, especially in gigs where stress can complicate things.
Once plugged in, one is surprised by the power delivered by the pickups. The Jazzmaster has a sweet sound but which is quite thick and with a significant output level for single coils. It allows you a bit of versatility in terms of sound with good clean tones that are rich and full.
The few sound samples were recorded with a Sennheiser MD 421 microphone in front of a Brunetti Mercury EL34 amp. Here's a sample of the "clean" sound palette of the Jazzmaster: clean1, clean2, clean3, clean4, cleanchords and cleanfunk. And three examples in overdrive: ovd1, ovd2 and ovd3.
The Jaguar with single coils is similar to a Telecaster with its chimey sounds; true happiness for clean-sound lovers! Nevertheless, distorted/overdrive sounds are also quite nice: it's got that twang that we all know and love! Examples: dist1, dist2 and dist3.
Lastly, the Jaguar HH, with two humbuckers, is the overdrive king. It's simply a joy to play in drop D with the distortion pedal on! It's heavy and fat with sparks flying everywhere (ex1, 2 & 3)! Cobain fans will be thrilled. The opportunity to mix in the split pickup sound gives some interesting results in clean and overdrive (ex1, 2 & 3) and, as said before, gives the guitar enormous sound possibilities. The knobs can certainly be difficult to master at first, but it's worth the effort.
Conclusion
It's difficult to to be picky when confronted with these guitars! They look and sound great and are a joy to play. The only criticism that can be made by Jazzmaster/Jaguar traditionalists might be about the changes made to the bridge and tremolo location. While they facilitate adjustments and improve intonation to some extent, they slightly change the original character of these models . But for an average price of around 0, Fender delivers high quality guitars. Yes, they're made in Mexico, but hold their own when compared to certain more expensive models. It's a good reason to take the plunge and buy one of these mythical guitars!
[+] Look
[+] Finish
[+] Neck
[+] Pickups
[+] Intonation
[+] Price
[+] Changes that bring the guitars up to date ...
[-] ... But slightly change their original character
[-] I'm hooked. I want one now!
Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster & Jaguar - The Test