1959/60 Fender Jazzmaster
This remarkable guitar has a bit of a backstory to it. A friend of a friend, while serving an LDS mission in the early 80's in Manchester, England, was given this guitar with original case by someone he came to know there (the person must have been suffering a stroke...). However, this friend of a friend realized the input jack didn't work (thus the guitar didn't work, in his mind), so he gave it to another friend of mine, who was also serving in the same mission. This second buddy wasn't a guitar player, but he wasn't a fool either, so he kept the guitar for the rest of his mission, brought it home, had a bit of electrical work done on it, and kept it for a few years until the guitarist in my college band played it for a few gigs back in the late 80's (he soon bought a new Rickenbacker 360 from Guitar Center for $600, yeah, it's been THAT long). Since that time, the Jazzmaster's had been sitting in my buddy's closet, doing nothing through a series of moves, etc. Recently, my buddy must have had something of an epiphany and decided to hand it over to me, given his awareness in my new-found hobby of guitar playing, and my subsequent desire to begin collecting. I was only too happy to take it off his hands. It need only a bit of attention (e.g., a few new riser screws for some missing ones in the bridge, a vintage correct bridge cover, the frets cleaned up) and... Wow!
This instrument is a class act. The best neck in my small collection, clear-as-a-bell electronics and pickups, some great looking wear on the body, original case, just friggin overall cool. Interesting that the pickups are dated to 1959, while the neck is 1960. This is likely due to Fender using some "last year's" necks on 1960 bodies, so technically, this guitar's a cross over from 59-60, so I call it a "'59/'60." $15,000.
This instrument is a class act. The best neck in my small collection, clear-as-a-bell electronics and pickups, some great looking wear on the body, original case, just friggin overall cool. Interesting that the pickups are dated to 1959, while the neck is 1960. This is likely due to Fender using some "last year's" necks on 1960 bodies, so technically, this guitar's a cross over from 59-60, so I call it a "'59/'60." $15,000.
