NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
- guitarsammy
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NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
Picked this up a few weeks ago for a good price on eBay, used but all original, with the case, etc. Ocean Turquoise Metallic finish.
First thing I did was swap out the pickguard. I'm no fan of tort at the best of times, but modern Fender tort isn't particularly great and I really don't think tort ever suits a greenish guitar. After much deliberation, I went for a Fender Pure Vintage guard in eggshell from an eBay seller in the US, which worked out cheaper than buying one here in the UK. These guards are expensive, but the bevel is more-or-less vintage correct, and the eggshell is a really nice subtle parchment-ish colour, not a stark white. It looks in keeping with an original '65 or '66 Jazzmaster.
The guitar is lovely. Under 8lbs and very loud acoustically compared to my other guitars. Everything works well, even the vintage-style bridge (which I'll keep on the guitar, I see no reason to change it, although I have put a bit of loc-tite on the grub screws).
The pickups sound great to me and can cover the whole spectrum, from warm and dark to thin and trebly. Switching between the pickups, and utilising the tone and volume controls, you can create a lot of sounds. The rhythm circuit is very usable too - actually only subtly darker than the neck pickup on the main circuit.
The fretboard is nice and dark, although with a subtle lightness on one side, which gives it some lovely character. I'm really enjoying the 9.5" radius and vintage tall frets - much easier to play than a 52 reissue Tele I had a while back. The neck has a nice taper, thickening up significantly towards the 12th fret. Pearloid dots and binding at an extra touch of class, and I actually prefer the non-matching headstock on this guitar - I think with the binding it would look a bit too bling for my tastes.
The finish has that hard-to-describe quality to it that nitro often has. It just looks 'classier' and more expensive than a poly finish. It's quite thin and pretty easily scratched/dented. I've added a photo below to show the first chip I've put in it, and I've no idea how or when this happened. I wonder if this finish will check at some point? One thing that's a bit disappointing on these modern nitro Fenders (and I think it's the same on the AV65s and the Marr Jaguars) is that they don't seem to have a white primer or base-coat under the metallics, so when they wear or chip they don't look quite the same as a real vintage Fender.
First thing I did was swap out the pickguard. I'm no fan of tort at the best of times, but modern Fender tort isn't particularly great and I really don't think tort ever suits a greenish guitar. After much deliberation, I went for a Fender Pure Vintage guard in eggshell from an eBay seller in the US, which worked out cheaper than buying one here in the UK. These guards are expensive, but the bevel is more-or-less vintage correct, and the eggshell is a really nice subtle parchment-ish colour, not a stark white. It looks in keeping with an original '65 or '66 Jazzmaster.
The guitar is lovely. Under 8lbs and very loud acoustically compared to my other guitars. Everything works well, even the vintage-style bridge (which I'll keep on the guitar, I see no reason to change it, although I have put a bit of loc-tite on the grub screws).
The pickups sound great to me and can cover the whole spectrum, from warm and dark to thin and trebly. Switching between the pickups, and utilising the tone and volume controls, you can create a lot of sounds. The rhythm circuit is very usable too - actually only subtly darker than the neck pickup on the main circuit.
The fretboard is nice and dark, although with a subtle lightness on one side, which gives it some lovely character. I'm really enjoying the 9.5" radius and vintage tall frets - much easier to play than a 52 reissue Tele I had a while back. The neck has a nice taper, thickening up significantly towards the 12th fret. Pearloid dots and binding at an extra touch of class, and I actually prefer the non-matching headstock on this guitar - I think with the binding it would look a bit too bling for my tastes.
The finish has that hard-to-describe quality to it that nitro often has. It just looks 'classier' and more expensive than a poly finish. It's quite thin and pretty easily scratched/dented. I've added a photo below to show the first chip I've put in it, and I've no idea how or when this happened. I wonder if this finish will check at some point? One thing that's a bit disappointing on these modern nitro Fenders (and I think it's the same on the AV65s and the Marr Jaguars) is that they don't seem to have a white primer or base-coat under the metallics, so when they wear or chip they don't look quite the same as a real vintage Fender.
- Bradley-Jazz
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Re: NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
Nice guitar! Good choice on the scratchplate!
All the cheeses....
- marqueemoon
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Re: NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
Looks great.
- jdr1014
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Re: NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
Congrats! Like that pg much better than tort with that color.
- Tafarel
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Re: NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
Agreed. Picks up the fretboard binding nicely. Congratulations -- it looks fantastic. I'm sure it sounds great, as well.
"I'm nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday. I've begun reminiscing events before they even occur. I'm reminiscing this right now. I can't go to the bar because I've already looked back on it in my memory, and I didn't have a good time."
- blunderbuss
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Re: NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
I appreciate the vision you had to imagine that with a different pick guard. I’d totally discounted this color but this just looks so much better. Really cool and co congrats.
Ryan
- Maggieo
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Re: NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
Very nice!
Needs tort.
Needs tort.
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I am not an attorney and this post is for entertainment purposes only. Please consult a licensed attorney in your state for legal advice.
I am not an attorney and this post is for entertainment purposes only. Please consult a licensed attorney in your state for legal advice.
- krossfader
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Re: NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
It looks fantastic with that guard. I agree on the modern Fendy nitro finishes - it would be nice to have something under the paint other than barr wood.
- Mechanical Birds
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Re: NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
So dumb that they didn’t just make these with matched headstocks! This is a pretty one, though, for sure. I was obsessed with putting tort on my Thin Skin AV65, and have done so, but I think it might just look objectively better with white/mint/parchment
- Mojo Johnson
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Re: NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
Nice score! The headstock on yours’ looks nice and tinted/aged. The ones I’ve seen online all have really light maple necks and headstocks.
- koiom
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Re: NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
White pick guard is a master stroke
Looks way better than the stock dodgy tort
I'll echo a previous sentiment in that it's a shame the AO's don't have matching headstocks
I owned the IBM version for about 3 weeks and wished the whole time it had a matching headstock
In the end I sold it but that was because I just didn't gel with the 9.5" radius
Looks way better than the stock dodgy tort
I'll echo a previous sentiment in that it's a shame the AO's don't have matching headstocks
I owned the IBM version for about 3 weeks and wished the whole time it had a matching headstock
In the end I sold it but that was because I just didn't gel with the 9.5" radius
- guitarsammy
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Re: NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
Thanks, man.Mechanical Birds wrote: ↑Sat Sep 19, 2020 6:04 pmSo dumb that they didn’t just make these with matched headstocks! This is a pretty one, though, for sure. I was obsessed with putting tort on my Thin Skin AV65, and have done so, but I think it might just look objectively better with white/mint/parchment
Got to say, though: I definitely like matching headstocks, and I think they almost *always* look better on Jaguars. But I'm 50/50 on them for Jazzmasters, and I think they can look busy with binding (even more so with blocks thrown into the mix).
- Nick and the Noise
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Re: NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
Great pickguard combination indeed! Don't worry about the chip, it makes it more human and unique. Poly can be too indestructible, although I agree this aging is not the same as the vintage Fenders.
- algeriet
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Re: NGD - American Original Jazzmaster
Killer guitar, happy to hear you like it.
I went with a similar route on the AO60's Ocean Turquoise and parchment guard:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=115868
Mine has an almost identical ding on the body because I accidentally dropped the vibrato arm.
I'd love to recommend that you put the arm in a vice and bend it so it get's that vintage curve that older JM's used to have.
I went with a similar route on the AO60's Ocean Turquoise and parchment guard:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=115868
Mine has an almost identical ding on the body because I accidentally dropped the vibrato arm.
I'd love to recommend that you put the arm in a vice and bend it so it get's that vintage curve that older JM's used to have.