2023 Fender Japan FSR Heritage Jazzmaster (BLACK)
Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2024 4:59 pm
I picked this up recently, and thought I'd do a write up about it since I can't seem to find any info about it here or elsewhere, outside of the official page for the guitar on Fender Japan's website where it is listed as a "limited edition":
https://www.fender.com/ja-JP/electric-g ... 00306.html
According to Miki Gakki, this was an FSR for 2023 only sold at the Fender Tokyo Flagship store, with some guitars also sold through Miki Gakki's Americamura store. I can see just one sold through their site:
https://www.mikigakki.com/ec/pro/disp/C ... 944?sFlg=2
Here are the specs:
The Mid-60s C-shape neck is the best I've ever played on a JM - it's a medium C, not too thin or chunky. Close to the AVRI62 profile, but feels a bit nicer IMO. All the other specs are just what I was looking for (alder body, 7.25" radius, vintage frets, bone nut, lacquer finish, angled neck pocket, etc.). They say the nut width should be 41mm, but mine measures out at exactly 42mm, which is my favorite. Tuners are Fender single-line deluxe, same as on the AV65 guitars.
What attracted me to this model is it is basically a reissue of a Late '64/early '65 JM. A very cool "transition" period that Fender USA has never made outside of the custom shop. The pearloid dot inlays with clay side dots on this guitar is a combination only found on vintage JMs from late 1964 to Spring 1965. No other Heritage JM has this feature (the Sonic Blue FSR from 2023 just has white dot inlays):
Another feature I really liked was the matching headstock with the proper "Fender" gold logo (attached over the lacquer), just as we would see on a factory-black JM in Late '64:
It has CTS pots and a Switchcraft switch, along with black bobbin pickups wound with Formvar wire and cloth leads. The pickups are proper JM flat and wide (from what I could see, lightly potted in wax), and sound really nice. Not as full and "gritty"-sounding as the AVRI62 I sold a few months ago, but I like the middle and bridge positions better on this guitar (the neck pup on the AVRI62 was amazing though, and IMO superior to this one's). Fender says the pickups are scatter wound. Some have said the Heritage JMs have USA-made pickups, but that's not true: they are made and wound in Japan, but under the supervision/guidance of a Fender USA Masterbuilder.
Anyway, this is a really great JM, and far superior to the previous Japanese JMs I've owned (a 1993 and a 2015). It's light (3.41kg), the neck is amazing (fretwork is perfect), I love the look of it, and it sounds really great. I like it better than the AVRI62 I recently sold.
https://www.fender.com/ja-JP/electric-g ... 00306.html
According to Miki Gakki, this was an FSR for 2023 only sold at the Fender Tokyo Flagship store, with some guitars also sold through Miki Gakki's Americamura store. I can see just one sold through their site:
https://www.mikigakki.com/ec/pro/disp/C ... 944?sFlg=2
Here are the specs:
The Mid-60s C-shape neck is the best I've ever played on a JM - it's a medium C, not too thin or chunky. Close to the AVRI62 profile, but feels a bit nicer IMO. All the other specs are just what I was looking for (alder body, 7.25" radius, vintage frets, bone nut, lacquer finish, angled neck pocket, etc.). They say the nut width should be 41mm, but mine measures out at exactly 42mm, which is my favorite. Tuners are Fender single-line deluxe, same as on the AV65 guitars.
What attracted me to this model is it is basically a reissue of a Late '64/early '65 JM. A very cool "transition" period that Fender USA has never made outside of the custom shop. The pearloid dot inlays with clay side dots on this guitar is a combination only found on vintage JMs from late 1964 to Spring 1965. No other Heritage JM has this feature (the Sonic Blue FSR from 2023 just has white dot inlays):
Another feature I really liked was the matching headstock with the proper "Fender" gold logo (attached over the lacquer), just as we would see on a factory-black JM in Late '64:
It has CTS pots and a Switchcraft switch, along with black bobbin pickups wound with Formvar wire and cloth leads. The pickups are proper JM flat and wide (from what I could see, lightly potted in wax), and sound really nice. Not as full and "gritty"-sounding as the AVRI62 I sold a few months ago, but I like the middle and bridge positions better on this guitar (the neck pup on the AVRI62 was amazing though, and IMO superior to this one's). Fender says the pickups are scatter wound. Some have said the Heritage JMs have USA-made pickups, but that's not true: they are made and wound in Japan, but under the supervision/guidance of a Fender USA Masterbuilder.
Anyway, this is a really great JM, and far superior to the previous Japanese JMs I've owned (a 1993 and a 2015). It's light (3.41kg), the neck is amazing (fretwork is perfect), I love the look of it, and it sounds really great. I like it better than the AVRI62 I recently sold.
