Fender Custom 60s Jazzmaster Sonic Blue Rosewood MAJOR American UPGRADES USA CME

Description: This is a 2023 Fender Chicago Music Exchange (CME) Exclusive Player Jazzmaster in Sonic Blue alder wood body with a 3-ply Mint Green pickguard paired with a 2016 Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster Special neck with the long discontinued Rosewood fretboard If you've followed me over the past couple of years you know how much I love Jazzmasters and "Offset" Fenders in general. Since there's a general lack of proper "vintage style" Sonic Blue Jazzmasters available I thought this would be a good opportunity to build one. For those of you skeptical or wary of "Partscasters" I'll stop you right there and assure you that this one consists of the highest quality components and attention to detail. As my feedback shows and past customers would expect, this guitar is no different and held to the same high standards. Please read further for all the details as it is well worth your time so you know exactly what you're getting: I love nods to tradition but am in no way a purist and always appreciate subtle modern touches which is exactly what I was going for when I paired this body and neck. Despite being part of the "Player" series, these Chicago Music Exchange exclusive models actually use Vintera series bodies and is very much a traditional Jazzmaster style body with rhythm circuit and 3-way toggle routes as well as the tremolo in the original location which is further back from the bridge, unlike many of the "Modified" or standard "Player" series Fender Jazzmasters where the tremolo is moved closer to the bridge and usually paired with an Adjusto-Matic or Tune-O-Matic style bridge (and a mismatched radius to that of the fretboard!) While keeping the body traditional I decided to go more modern on the neck with a 9.5" radius one. Most of the Fender Jazzmasters, usually American models, that have both the 9.5" radius and original tremolo location are usually paired with narrow-tall frets, which are very popular today. While narrow-tall are nice, I still have a soft spot for medium jumbos but unfortunately the necks Fender make that are both 9.5" and medium jumbo are usually paired with those "Modified" bodies with the moved tremolo location, which was the case with the original body this neck came from. The other issue is I wanted a rosewood fretboard and both the stock Player and Vintera necks and the current production Classic Player Jazzmaster Specials and replacement necks Fender sells use Pau Ferro since 2017 because of CITIES regulations and Fender stopped making the rosewood versions after that. So I had to find the neck of an older model which I was able to do. Pairing it with this body gave me exactly what I was looking for, so this is a rather unique combination for Fender production guitars unless you go Custom Shop. Condition wise, the neck has some nicks and scratches on the headstock and I've also touched up a few necks on the back of the neck as well with the drop-fill technique so you can no longer feel them, but other than that the neck is in excellent condition with almost no fret wear and nice shiny frets. The body is in excellent near mint condition with very little signs of use These traditional and vintage style "Offsets" from Fender sit on a great foundation, but I'm really surprised how they sell any of them because they're setup so horribly from the factory and buzz like crazy with anything less than a set of 12s (I know, they're absolutely gorgeous looking guitars, so probably form over function in most cases. Even the American made offsets have this same problem because of the same original location of the tremolo (further back), vintage style floating bridge and the lack of break angle on them. This on top of some mediocre hardware and electronics choices from the factory, I decided I would overhaul many of these issues so you can enjoy this guitar with a set of 10s and not have to string it up with bridge cables or use one of those Buzz Stops that not only changes the look of the guitar but the feel and tone as well. These modded ones of mine will hold their own against American models any day of the week. Please read further to see the list of upgrades as well as how the guitar was setup: Weight is nice and balanced right around 8.1 lbs -WD Music 3-ply Mint Green Jazzmaster pickguard. This is just a classic combination with Sonic Blue for that classic 60s look -Fender Aged White pickup covers and rare Aged White Witch Hat knobs. The stock covers were the lighter vintage white ones (in between parchment and aged white) but wasn't uniform with the aged white knobs. Then instead of keeping the stock Strat styled knobs I opted for these rare Fender Aged White Skirted Witch Hat Jazzmaster knobs. Not to be confused with the Pure Vintage '65 Jazzmaster knobs in the lighter Vintage White color used on many American Vintage, American Original and American Professional models.. These are not sold as parts and have only been used on a couple Fender models making this even more unique. Now the covers and knobs are both aged white and pair beautifully with the mint green pickguard -Fender Vintera 60s Modified Jazzmaster pickups. These are similar to the stock '65 American Vintage Jazzmaster pickups but with a hotter and more balanced bridge pickup. These are highly underrated vintage style Jazzmaster pickups that read around 7k neck and 8k bridge (unlike the lower output 6.7k range of both the neck and bridge stock '65 pickups). Like the 65's they're vintage correct Jazzmaster style pickups with 1/8" height coils, Alnico 5 magnets, fiber bobbins, vintage cloth push back lead wire and plain enamel magnet wire with output. Really just great overall and again, highly underrated Jazzmaster pickups in my opinion that build on the sweetness of the '65 with the hot bridge -CTS 500K audio volume and tone pots. These are what really took these pickups to another level. The stock 1meg pots can sound a little shrill, so I bumped them down to 500K which make that top end a lot smoother but still plenty of highs on tap. I also switched to solid shaft to accommodate the new knobs -Treble bleed circuit (.001uf cap and 1/4w 150k resistor in parallel) to allow the highs to remain when you turn the volume pot down and not get muddy. Also great if you wanted less heat for a sound more like the stock '65s -Orange Drop .033uf and .022uf lead and rhythm circuit tone caps. This is the same value as stock but generally considered an upgrade -Fully shielded the pickup and control cavities with copper tape for reduced noise and much quieter operation. These guitars can be quite noisy without -Gavitt 22 gauge vintage push back cloth wire. Built a new wiring harness and the original PVC wiring has been replaced with the vintage push back cloth wire and color coded just like in the American Vintage and American Original series -Lock washer added to the 3-way toggle and also turned the switch 45 degrees so it's at an angle and easier to switch than side to side -American Vintage Jazzmaster Tremolo with lock and push in bar with vintage white tip. This allows you to lock the tremolo if you break a string as well as more easily measure the string tension via the tremolo. It's a lot harder to properly set these guitars up when you don't have the lock to help you gauge this -StewMac 0.25 degree full wood neck pocket shim. This is one of the main reasons why these guitars are never setup right from the factory and buzz like crazy and don't sustain with lighter gauge strings. This allows the bridge height to move up and increase the break angle after the bridge and give you enough tension to use lighter gauge strings without having to use a Buzz Stop or heavier strings while still retaining that classic Jazzmaster feel. The problem with using a Buzz Stop is that it increases the string tension so much that it starts to feel and sound more like a Strat or Tele and that more loose Jazzmaster magic is gone -Revised 2018 American Professional Jazzmaster narrow spacing 9.5" radius bridge with Mustang style saddles. This is the current updated version of the American Professional bridge that has the modern 2-1/16" (52mm) string spacing that brings the strings further away from the fretboard edge and a lot more comfortable to play. The original version of the American Professional bridge (and most stock vintage style Jazzmaster bridges) have the vintage 2-3/16” (56mm) spacing and are almost unplayable in my opinion. Fender quietly made this update a couple years ago and essentially makes this a lot more like a Staytrem bridge, which is no longer available outside of the UK (same spacing as the Mastery bridge too). Like the original, it still has the Mustang style saddles and tighter threading screw posts so it doesn't sink down overtime when you play -American Vintage bridge thimbles. These have the wider standard diameter and are constructed better than the import version it came with stock (these are also wide enough to fit a Mastery bridge if for whatever reason you prefer those without worrying about changing the thimbles because it's already been done). When the neck pitch and break angle is setup properly on these guitars as I've done, I still prefer the American Professional bridge and also love the more traditional look over the Mastery -Fender/Schaller strap locks and buttons with white felt washers -Fender American Vintage tuner bushings replacing the narrower and cheaper stock ones -Kluson Supreme 18:1 Staggered tuners ($50 upgrade). These are the best vintage style Kluson replacement tuners out right now and still retain that same classic look, but with a much finer tuning adjustment over the stock 14:1 tuners and also a better break angle over the nut on the D and G strings for better sustain. Not to mention these are genuine Klusons while the stock ones are not -Radius'd, Sanded, smoothed and polished the nut and sharp edges for a more comfortable feel similar to the American guitars. A lot of these Mexican Fender guitars have almost no refinement finishing on parts of the guitar like the nut or fret ends. This is a lot more comfortable now. -Fender American Performer lightweight aluminum transistion Logo neck plate. These neck plates are about 0.5 oz vs the normal 2 oz steel plates and help with shaving some weight off -Johnny Marr Jaguar Fender G&G style Deluxe hard case from a '23 model in grey speckle tolex with black leather ends/handle and blue poodle plush interior. These cases are classic and a must have for a guitar like this IMO (over $300 value alone). Key included in the compartment On top of these upgrades, it has also been cleaned, polished, oiled and conditioned the rosewood fretboard and fully setup with brand new D'Addario EXL110 (10-46) strings with enough relief in the neck balanced for both lead and rhythm and a light touch (5/64" string height on the low E and 4/64" on the high E strings). The saddles have been perfectly intonated and the bridge already has the 9.5" fretboard radius. The nut slots have been cleaned and filed for optimal contact and take off points for better sustain. The neck and bridge pickup heights are adjusted to 5/64" on the bass side and 4/64" on the treble side. I fully stand by the work and believe this guitar is going to feel and play better than most Jazzmasters you're going to pull off the shelf new at the store and will put it against any of the American Vintage, Original, etc. versions any day of the week all because of things like the quality components and attention to detail in the setup. You're just not going to get that from a new Fender production model unless you perform all of these upgrades and do or pay for the work yourself. Why spend over $2000 on an American Vintage Jazzmaster that'll still need work and not play as well? Why not just be done with it, have all the upgrades already completed with an awesome hard case and come out ahead with a better feeling, playing and sounding guitar? :) Below are the stock specs of the original CME guitar the body is from: Tech Specs Body: Alder Body Finish: Gloss Polyester Body Shape: Jazzmaster Neck Material: Maple Neck Finish: Satin Urethane Finish on Back of Neck with Gloss Urethane Headstock Face Neck Shape: Modern "C" Scale Length: 25.5" (648 mm) Fingerboard: Pau Ferro Fingerboard Radius: 9.5" (241 mm) Number of Frets: 22 Frets Size: Medium Jumbo String Nut: Synthetic Bone Nut Width: 1.650" (42 mm) Position Inlays: White Dots Truss Rods: Standard Truss Rod Wrench: 3/16" Hex (Allen) Bridge Pickup: Pure Vintage 65 Reissue Jazzmaster Neck Pickup: Pure Vintage 65 Reissue Jazzmaster Controls: Master Volume, Master Tone Pickup Switching: Series/Parallel 4-Way Select Switch Electronics: Body routed for, but not outfitted from factory with, rhythm circuit. Ready to be installed with ease by your tech. Bridge: 6-Saddle Vintage-Style Adjustable with “Floating” Tremolo Tailpiece Hardware Finish: Nickel/Chrome Tuning Machines: Standard Cast/Sealed Pickguard: 3-Ply Parchment Control Knobs: Aged White Plastic

Price: 1899 USD

Location: Washington, District Of Columbia

End Time: 2024-08-17T15:58:57.000Z

Shipping Cost: 90 USD