"American Standard" Jazzmaster and Jag

[milanm]

Very interesting, guess I should hold off on buying the Classic Player

[rhythmjones]

I never liked the American Standard line. To me, "Standard" should indicate classic specs. (I feel the same about Les Paul Standards). I realize that's just semantics, but hey you know.

Ain't no way the specs on these will be anything I'm interested in. And, honestly, they'll feel like a downgrade from the 60's Classic Lacquers.

[parry]

Available in Sunburst, White, Candy Apple Red and...



THAT IS ALL

[Larry Mal]

I love the American Standards, no matter how you feel about the name, Fender knocked it out of the park with these guitars as far as playability and sound. The hardware is tolerable, also. I just really love the necks on them.

No idea what Fender will do with that lineup, a new name and a feature refreshment can't be a bad idea I guess. I doubt they'll just cancel it and leave nothing at that price point. I read somewhere that they are having trouble calling things "Made In America" under a new California law, and it's possible that Fender will drop that distinction and instead make products at various price points and not based on nation of origin. This might lead them to simply make guitars in a variety of places, at a variety of price points and features, and not even mention the sourcing at all and hope that the consumer just accepts all of those as "Fenders". You can well imagine that Fender would prefer this.

I base some of what I talk about on internet babble but also on this letter from the President of Schecter:

http://www.schecterguitars.com/internat ... -president" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And clearly I'm not saying I know what's going to happen with this law or Fender manufacturing. But from the viewpoint of Fender, it would seem very ideal to have a Standard, Pro, Elite, Vintage, Custom lineup (for example) and any of these guitars can be sourced from any factory at any given time, or multiple factories at any single time. That is, a "Pro" can be made in Mexico, and Indonesia, etc, and from there shipped regionally rather than having to make an "American Standard" and then fly that to Korea, while a Mexican made guitar is a "Standard", also flown to Korea, while Korean made guitars are a whatever the fuck they are and are flown to Mexico and the United States for sale there. That model makes no sense for an international corporation like Fender and you can well imagine that they'd want to get out of it.

How's that for a screed, Megan?

Like I say, I don't know what's going to happen. But if Fender can't actually call the American Standards "American" anymore, then maybe this is the time for them to just get out of that distinction altogether. You can't blame them.

Regarding the whatever it is Jazzmaster and such, I always said that if Fender makes an American Standard Jazzmaster then I would buy one, unless the fucked it all up. At this moment, I have no idea if any of that actually means anything, but it would be nice for them to come off a Jazzmaster and Jaguar that offers some modern appointments like the American Standard did with the Telecaster and Stratocaster and such, whether it's made in the States or what.

But if it's not made in the States, I won't personally buy it. I'm not that rabid about it but really don't need another Jazzmaster at all, my purchase would have been to reward Fender for doing the right thing by my favorite guitar, but if the whole concept is moot...

I'll be intrigued to see what the specs are, though. But truthfully, I can't see any reason to buy a new Fender. There's nothing really interesting there, and if I want a Fender, there's no shortage of great, used American Standards out there.

[BulletLee]

Is Phil a credible source in any way? I see that he has a fairly big YouTube presence but I've never really viewed him as a guy to watch for information. I never would link the guy to offsets.

[rhythmjones]

no matter how you feel about the name..

To me it was the implication that "Standard" meant six saddle bridges and two point trems and hot pickups and such. Those aren't "Standard" features on Fender guitars, they're modern ones. Words matter.

It's not an objective placement of value. I'm sure they're nice guitars. (But so are PRSes.) Some people prefer those specs. Good for them. I'm not interested, personally, in modern specs but that's irrelevant. The distinction should be made on the updated specs, not the traditional ones. That's all.

Same things with Les Pauls. The "Traditional" is the model that should be the standard. The "Standard" should be called "Modern" or whatever marketing term they come up with.

That word choice has always been irksome to me.

[Nick and the Noise]

Well, standards change (for better or for worse), so I don't think it's a bad name. People expect a flatter radius on guitars nowadays as standard just as they expect electronic windows on a car. Traditional or Vintage are good names for older specced units.

He said the new line will be the same price but I think the "Made in USA" label will indeed be removed.

[Larry Mal]

no matter how you feel about the name..

To me it was the implication that "Standard" meant six saddle bridges and two point trems and hot pickups and such. Those aren't "Standard" features on Fender guitars, they're modern ones. Words matter.

I mean, I don't love the name, and I always kind of resented Fender's implication that the vintage specs that, you know, made their guitars at all interesting to anyone in the first place were some relic of the past of something. The American Standard came out in the age of shred and I guess that Fender needed to reposition themselves to compete with that at least on some level, but the whole concept has always been kind of dumb.

Can't argue with the results, though. I always wanted to hate the Fender "modern" specs since I love the "vintage" Fender specs so much, but I really can't argue with the results. Fender just makes super-playable guitars at all levels from what I can tell.

But I can't let myself get too worked up about the bullshit that guitar makers call their instruments. Believe it or not, there is a limit to what minutiae I can concern myself with.

Hey, Mitch, I don't know if I ever gave you a proper thank you for that Stew-Mac shim, by the way. That was very kind of you and I think I rudely got caught up in my own bullshit and never thanked you properly. The reason I remember it is, I ended up giving it to a friend of mine to use with his new American Standard Telecaster!

[rhythmjones]

Hey, Mitch, I don't know if I ever gave you a proper thank you for that Stew-Mac shim, by the way. That was very kind of you and I think I rudely got caught up in my own bullshit and never thanked you properly. The reason I remember it is, I ended up giving it to a friend of mine to use with his new American Standard Telecaster!

That's hilarious.

You're welcome. Glad it went to good use!

[marqueemoon]

*edited* Said pretty much the same thing below.

[JustLo]

Is Phil a credible source in any way? I see that he has a fairly big YouTube presence but I've never really viewed him as a guy to watch for information. I never would link the guy to offsets.

The guy owns a guitar store and is licensed to sell fender.

[arkivel]

The Johnny Marr Jaguar is essentially the "American standard". All it needs is a Mustang bridge with proper string spacing and 9.5" radius neck and something between vintage and modern medium jumbo fret wire to be called "modern". Then again this is the Jaguar we are talking about. It doesn't make much sense as a "modern" guitar because of the scale length and vibrato system and it attracts a more of a vintage loving demographic anyway.

Fender really just needs to make a decent Mustang bridge. We're talking about barrel saddles with slightly different dimensions. There should be a petition or kickstarter campaign.

[marqueemoon]

I dig my American Standard Tele, 6 saddle bridge and all. It is a fine if not sexy instrument that's ready to play out of the box and has been rock solid.

I'd like to see a new rocking bridge design that gets the radius and string spacing right and sucks a little less and truss rod adjustment at the headstock.

[BulletLee]

Is Phil a credible source in any way? I see that he has a fairly big YouTube presence but I've never really viewed him as a guy to watch for information. I never would link the guy to offsets.

The guy owns a guitar store and is licensed to sell fender.

Not calling the guy out, he seems like a "know it all" blow-hard. More on your point, I've worked at a retail shop for the past decade, my boss's knowledge pales in comparison to his employees. This whole thread just seemed like a rumor mill that started chugging full steam ahead because someone mentioned an "American Standard" offset.

[indiandysummer]

This is cool. I hope we get:

-varied colors
-9.5" fretboard and modern frets blah blah
-mustang type bridge
-traditional trem placement
-AV65 pickups
-series/parallel and bass cut switch linked in series/parallel like in the Marr guitar. this is so useful. no rhythem circuit.
-also 4 way switches on both. i dunno. whatever they wanna do there.
-maple / rosewood option

we will probably get TOM with the trem moved. black/sunburst/white/red. hot pickups. toggle switch wherever its most likely going to get beat up.