1965 A-size Jazzmaster Neck

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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jm707
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Re: 1965 A-size Jazzmaster Neck

Post by jm707 » Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:07 am

I've got two A neck Jazzmasters from 65 - The sunburst neck is dated February 64 and the white neck is dated Sep 64. As was common back then, A neck guitars were a special order item only so its common to see these guitars with neck dates that don't quite line up with the rest of the guitar, hence mine being 65s but with 64 dated necks. I was told by an expert at one point in time that these necks would often sit for a while in stock before being pulled out to put on a fresh order when one came in. It took me 5 years to find my first A neck Jazzmaster. They are super rare.

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Re: 1965 A-size Jazzmaster Neck

Post by JSett » Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:24 am

jm707 wrote:
Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:07 am
I've got two A neck Jazzmasters from 65 - The sunburst neck is dated February 64 and the white neck is dated Sep 64. As was common back then, A neck guitars were a special order item only so its common to see these guitars with neck dates that don't quite line up with the rest of the guitar, hence mine being 65s but with 64 dated necks. I was told by an expert at one point in time that these necks would often sit for a while in stock before being pulled out to put on a fresh order when one came in. It took me 5 years to find my first A neck Jazzmaster. They are super rare.
I love A necks.

One of the reasons you get a lot of 64 necks on 65 guitars (or 63 on 64 etc) is that the necks were dated right at the start of the process of neck manufacture and done in batches so could easily spend a few weeks from start to finish to build, then they were stuck on a shelf to wait for a body etc. That's why the proper way to date a Fender is to check all the dates (pots & pickups) and find the latest one and that'll be the closest to completion. I had a factory original Musicmaster bass with a 77 neck serial date and the body was a 79 so those necks could sit around for quite a while sometimes!
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Re: 1965 A-size Jazzmaster Neck

Post by caples » Thu Jun 16, 2022 10:28 am

Surfysonic wrote:
Tue Mar 17, 2020 7:40 am
My '65 Fender Mustang has a B neck and is very thin to me. In your decyphering efforts, is the B thinner or thicker than the A?

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My '66 Fender Mustang neck is a little fuller for these big ol' hands. Just checked photos of my '63 Jaguar - also a B and a perfect neck for my hands. My '63 Jazzmaster's neck has no A or B designation but feels like the '63 Jaguar neck. Were these A and B designations for short scale guitars only?
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Re: 1965 A-size Jazzmaster Neck

Post by Surfysonic » Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:18 am

caples wrote:
Thu Jun 16, 2022 10:28 am
Surfysonic wrote:
Tue Mar 17, 2020 7:40 am
My '65 Fender Mustang has a B neck and is very thin to me. In your decyphering efforts, is the B thinner or thicker than the A?

Image

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My '66 Fender Mustang neck is a little fuller for these big ol' hands. Just checked photos of my '63 Jaguar - also a B and a perfect neck for my hands. My '63 Jazzmaster's neck has no A or B designation but feels like the '63 Jaguar neck. Were these A and B designations for short scale guitars only?
i’m a sucker for the blue sparkle that thing is amazing.
It was quite a find! Mike (Mbene085) here on OSG is now its owner. :)
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Re: 1965 A-size Jazzmaster Neck

Post by Kinx » Mon Jun 20, 2022 6:39 am

How rare were A necks on 70s Jazzmasters ? I would say about 30% 70s Jazzmasters I saw online had them mentioned in the ad. My surely '72 has one (the neck heel stamp is long gone, but the dimensions are right).
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Re: 1965 A-size Jazzmaster Neck

Post by bluemonday » Tue Jun 21, 2022 4:02 pm

lemming wrote:
Tue Mar 17, 2020 7:51 am
Surfysonic wrote:
Tue Mar 17, 2020 7:40 am
In your decyphering efforts, is the B thinner or thicker than the A?
Based on what I've read, A is the thinnest.
Surfysonic wrote:
Tue Mar 17, 2020 7:40 am
Were these A and B designations for short scale guitars only?
Apparently not. From what I've read, Fender put these designations on bass necks as well. Based on what I've read, the sizes ranged from A (the thinnest) all the way to D.
I bought a '72 P-bass advertised as as "A" neck. It had a 1 1/2" nut width, same width as a standard Jazz.

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