The Introduction of the Solid Jazzmaster

In the mid 1950s, the Jazzmaster was introduced to meet the needs of guitar players.

During this period, the Telecaster and Stratocaster were gaining much recognition in the market. But through all this popularity, they did not meet every guitar player's needs. So the the Fender Jazzmaster was introduced into the market.

The design of this new Fender guitar model had all the advantages and disadvantages of the solid body design. It had pickups that had wide and flat coils. The wider coils had broader tonal content but had less bite and different attack than the earlier pickups.

Most of the serious musicians during that time were into Jazz as it was the in thing during that period. The instruments they used were the Gibsons, which had large deep bodies and had the tonal equivalent of the acoustic guitar and the advantage of an electric guitar. To tap into the high end market and to compete with Gibson, Fender introduced this new guitar model into the market for the pop and jazz players.

Built by Leo Fender and Freddie Tavares, this guitar was meant to be a direct competition for Gibson as Gibson had a strong hold over the guitar market at that time. In comparison to the Stratocaster, it had a larger and more curvaceous body. It had a wide-aperture and was fixed with single-coil pickups and had a unique tone control that allowed switching between two preset tones without adjusting the knobs. The feature of having the floating vibrato bridge system allowed the bridge to be moved by the vibrato's motion and this helped to ease the string friction on the saddle.

A lock was fixed into the system which could immobilize the vibrato anytime. The type of string gauge used did affect the bar and this caused the strings to come out of the saddle grove. This instrument was popularized by Bob Bogle of the Ventures and Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys. The Fender Jazzmaster was in production till 1982 when it began to taper off and since then it had very few superficial changes done to it.

In 1959, there was a change from the anodized aluminum to plastic pickguards. In 1965, a bound fretboard was introduced and in 1966, the inlays were block styled. Being the first of the Fender guitars to incorporate two separate tones and volume circuits, it also had other new features like the floating bridge and the trem-lock. The floating vibrato system had the strings go over the bridge and it was attached to a separate anchor tailpiece.

The length of the strings played apart in cutting the guitar's sustain and by this, it enhanced the jazz tone. The trem-lock worked by stopping the vibrato block which allowed the strings to be changed individually or simultaneously.

By doing this, detuning was prevented when a string broke. Its vibrato was designed for heavy guage strings. While the Stratocaster and Telecaster had that rock and roll sound, this instrument had a mellow sound and thus was suitable for all types of music.

Jazz musicians like Roy Lanham, Pops Staples, Buddy Merril and Neil Le Vang played on this guitar. Joe Pass, a true jazz artiste recorded with a Jazzmaster. Due to the rock and roll era and the teenage sub-culture, many of these instruments were marketed. Those with limited skills saw the opportunity to raise their musical abilities to a higher level with this guitar.

In the early 70's, unknown punk groups and big names like Elvis Costello played on Jazzmasters. In the 90's, grunge bands started getting into the scene. The Ventures and the Beatles were the most copied groups. Many aspiring musicians would emulate their idols and this helped push the Fender guitars to an acclaimed position. The hit tune "Walk, Don't Run," by the Ventures was played by Bob Bogle on a Jazzmaster. This melody had a rock-jazz type feel and it brought out the guitar's jazz-less tone and vibrato effects. After using a Stratocaster, Don Wilson of the Ventures changed to using a Jazzmaster. Although the Ventures were instrumental in endorsing the Mosrite guitars, they were also instrumental in leading many guitarists to Fender guitars.

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