Fender Jazzmaster, Sunburst L40689 (1965)

1965 Fender Jazzmaster in original Sunburst finish just into the shop!

First impressions aren't always anything, but they sure carry a lot if weight when it comes to vintage guitars. This is one of those Jazzmasters that you pick up, plug in, and go "yea, this is it". This '65 hits the mark.

This Summer of '65 offset is classic mid 60s in looks, vibe, and sound, but for whatever reason it just seems to have a little extra going on. The pickups are really the star(s) of the show - just the perfect mix of jangle and fidelity with a great bouncy response that makes these guitars so fun and inspiring to play. The great ones can really turn a Jazzmaster into a much more formidable electric than many folks are lead to believe.

It's also one of the earliest we've seen with its factory wide frets! Set into a rich, dark Rosewood fingerboard, Fender was just getting into offering a larger fretwire than what they'd been using for nearly 15 years. A foreshadowing of sorts? Who knows, really. Fender did have a sense of what the guitar-buying public was looking for, though. Gibson was using a much larger fretwire by this point, nearly 6 years into their shift from smaller fretwire. The point is- it does impact the feel of a vintage Fender, and we like to think it's quite positive. This JM didn't go without playtime, so the crown of the frets are a little lower. It's a nice balance between having bigger wire under your fingers but still getting nice contact with the board. We're loving it!

The 3-Tone Sunburst has aged beautifully, with some nice natural patina, fading, and contact wear. All without losing its true character, it remains quite vibrant and striking against the original celluloid pickguard and aforementioned dark fingerboard. The older white amp knobs that got added at some point years back look right at home on this one, too.

The guitar had its tone pot changed out in 1983 along with those knobs, but otherwise remains stock throughout. Our repair staff dialed in the setup, restrung it with 11s and installed a proper shim in the neck pocket to maximize setup geometry. We also replaced the dried up pickup adjustment foam to get those great pickups balanced out properly. It's playing and feeling as good as any vintage Jazzmaster we've had in inventory, and arguably one of the more impressive examples we've had for ANY 1960s Jazzmaster.