Good Enough For Jazz

With The Jazzmaster’S Underdog Image Rapidly Fading Into The Past, Guitarist Takes A Step Back In Time With Fender Historian Terry Foster, And Catches Up With Mike Long, Proprietor Of Vintage Specialists Atb Guitars In Cheltenham, To Touch On Its Future…

- Rod Brakes

Released as Fender’s top-ofthe-line electric Spanish guitar in 1958, the Jazzmaster was an instant misnomer. Although it ultimately gained appeal as a workhorse jack-of-all-trades instrument, it was generally shunned by the masters of jazz. Pitting it against the company’s arch(top) rivals in the traditional jazz world was an ambitious move by Fender, given the long-established series of benchmark designs already set by Gibson, beginning in 1922 with the L-5. “No more convincing proof of the extremely fine playing qualities and design features of the Fender Jazzmaster could be offered than its rapid acceptance and acclaim by guitarists throughout the country,” reads the Jazzmaster’s ’58 catalogue debut. Alas, for the likes of those bona-fide jazz players such as Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow and Johnny Smith, a great deal more in the way of “acceptance” and “convincing proof” was evidently required, as existing allegiances to Gibson continued into the 60s with the release of its new signature models.

“Fender failed to break into the jazz guitar market because it was already saturated,” explains Terry Foster, co-author of Fender: The Golden Age 1946-1970