Fender Custom American Vintage II '66 Jazzmaster White Blonde Ash 59 ThinSkn USA

Description: This is a 2024 Fender American Vintage II 1966 bound Jazzmaster neck with the revised period correct large headstock (from a 3-Color Sunburst model) with bar inlays on a rare 2019 Fender 2019 American Vintage '59 Thin Skin ash body in transparent White Blonde from Wildwood Guitars. Since Fender really didn't change anything with the bodies when it went from the American Vintage and American Original 60's Jazzmaster series to the current American Vintage II 1966 models, including the angled neck pockets, this is about as seamless a match you could do and basically as if it was actually offered from the factory like this. As usual, I love building these unique and custom offerings you don't find from the factory and this stunner is no different! If you've followed me over the past few years you know how much I love Jazzmasters and "Offset" Fenders in general and all the custom builds I've done. Offering essentially an American Vintage II 1966 in a color they don't offer in this model was a pretty natural evolution that I was going to do at some point. Love the new series but wish it was offered in White Blonde Ash and don't want to spend $5000+ going the Custom Shop route? Well here it is! Condition wise, there's some light scratches as well as a few chips on the body which is usual with the Thin Skin series which really lends itself to some characteristic aging and since this body is ash you can not only see the wood grain you can see how the nitro lacquer has also slighly sunken into the grain which looks amazing. Conservatively I'll say this guitar is in very good condition but it's easily excellent by most people's standard. The neck is essentially in excellent near mint condition. These Classic and American series vintage style "Offsets" from Fender sit on a great foundation, but I'm really surprised how they sell any of them because they're setup so horribly from the factory and buzz like crazy with anything less than a set of 12s. Starting with the prior American Original 60s Jazzmaster series, Fender started making the neck pockets angled which largely solved this problem and in most cases with those and this current American Vintage II series, you generally don't need to use shims anymore to increase the break angle on the strings after the bridge. Please read further to see the list of upgrades as well as how the guitar was setup: Weight is around 8.3 lbs -The original serial number neck plate from the body was retained as opposed to the neck plate from the neck. The '66 AV II neck hang tag with the original serial is also in the case compartment as well as the certificate of authenticity from the body and serial from the original neck) -WD Music 3-ply Parchment pickguard. Following the cue of the American Vintage II Dakota Red and Lake Placid Blue models with their 3-ply parchment pickguards, I replaced the stock Gold Anodized Aluminum pickguard with this custom made one from WD Music, which I had them trace a genuine Fender one to to ensure a perfect fit. The subtle contrast with the slightly darker Vintage White pickguard covers and knobs is a great touch and just looks so good on White Blonde. Much better than the Gold in my opinion and a lot more unique. The original pickguard shield was also retained -The stock '62 American Vintage Jazzmaster pickups have been retained. Despite what the original description for the American Vintage '59 Thin Skin Jazzmaster at Wildwood Guitars saying these came with the '65 American Vintage Jazzmaster pickups, this is incorrect. These actually came with the older discontinued American Vintage '62 Jazzmaster pickups which are similar but hotter output and in my opinion more versatile. They're great vintage correct Jazzmaster style pickups with 1/8" height coils, It has Alnico 5 magnets (beveled vs flat of the '65), black fiber bobbins (vs the gray bobbins on the '65), vintage cloth push back lead wire, plain enamel magnet wire with output around 7.9k/4.1h neck and 8k/4.2h bridge vs the 6.7-7k/3.1h on the '65 each. Much hotter and also look very cool with the beveled magnets! -CTS 500K solid shaft audio volume and tone pots. These are what really took these pickups to another level. The stock 1meg pots can sound a little shrill, so I bumped them down to 500K which make that top end a lot smoother but still plenty of highs on tap. I also switched to solid shaft to accommodate the new knobs -Revised 2018 Johnny Marr Jaguar modern narrow spacing 7.25" radius bridge with Mustang style saddles. This is the current updated version of the American Professional bridge that has the modern 2-1/16" (52mm) string spacing that brings the strings further away from the fretboard edge and a lot more comfortable to play. The original version of the Johnny Marr bridge (and most stock vintage style Jazzmaster bridges) have the vintage 2-3/16” (56mm) spacing and are almost unplayable in my opinion. Fender quietly made this update a few years back and essentially makes this a lot more like a Staytrem bridge (same spacing as the Mastery bridge too). Like the original Marr bridge, it still has the Mustang style saddles and tighter threading screw posts so it doesn't sink down overtime when you play, which is also a major upgrade over the stock threaded saddles -Treble bleed circuit (.001uf cap and 1/4w 150k resistor in parallel) to allow the highs to remain when you turn the volume pot down and not get muddy. -Orange Drop tone caps, .033uf on lead circuit tone pot and .022uf for the rhythm circuit tone cap. These are the traditional '62 Jazzmaster tone cap value and an upgrade over the stock .01uf in my opinion -Lock washer added to the 3-way toggle and also turned the switch 45 degrees so it's at an angle and easier to switch than side to side -Additional pickup and control cavity shielding. While the American Vintage/Original series improved with things like the angled neck pocket, the shielding actually got worse because they stopped shielding the walls of the pickup and control cavity (which the American Vintage II series also continued) so the guitar still had more noise than I would have wanted. I went ahead and applied additional shielding to the walls in addition to the existing plates which gave it a much more thorough shielding job like in the older original American Vintage series. A definite improvement over stock with even less noise -Fender/Schaller strap locks and buttons (locks inside case compartment) -Has older rounder style tremolo lock button. Sometime last year, I'm assuming due to supply chain issues with Fender, but the lock button on these American Tremolos (across all their lines) got more flat and sharper around the edges and just doesn't look as good to me. On an American Vintage II '66 model I recently sold I changed the button out with the older nicer rounder and smooth button just like it has been on literally all of the modern American models dating back to the actual vintage models from the late 50s, 60s, 70s, etc. Luckily I didn't have to on this one since the body is older but I wanted to point this out that this is also a plus over the ones on a new AV II model. I know this is minor, but it's not minor to me haha -Kluson Supreme 18:1 Staggered tuners ($60 upgrade). These are the best vintage style Kluson replacement tuners out right now and still retain that same classic look, but with a much finer tuning adjustment over the stock 14:1 tuners and also a better break angle over the nut on the D and G strings for better sustain. Not to mention these are genuine Klusons while the stock ones are not -Retained the original stock Brown Fender G&G Deluxe Jazzmaster hard case with brown tolex and brown leather ends/handle and gold poodle plush interior. An undeniably classic look. Also included is the original case candy pouch and matching '66 neck hang tag, original '59 body CoA, care manual, etc. On top of these upgrades, it has also been cleaned, polished, oiled and conditioned the rosewood fretboard and fully setup with brand new D'Addario EXL110 (10-46) strings with enough relief in the neck balanced for both lead and rhythm and a light touch (5/64" string height on the low E and 4/64" on the high E strings). The saddles have been perfectly intonated and the bridge already has the 7.25" fretboard radius. The nut slots have been cleaned and filed for optimal contact and take off points for better sustain. The neck and bridge pickup heights are adjusted to 5/64" on the bass side and 4/64" on the treble side. I fully stand by the work and believe this guitar is going to feel and play better than any other stock American Vintage II '66 or other American model you're going to pull off the shelf new at the store or find NOS and will put it against any of the American Vintage, Original, etc. versions any day of the week, all because of upgrades (which doesn’t even include the labor) and attention to detail in the setup. You're just not going to get that from a new model unless you perform all of these upgrades and do or pay for the work yourself. Why not just be done with it, have all the upgrades already completed and come out ahead with a better feeling, playing and sounding completely unique guitar? :) Below are the original stock specs for the AV II '66: Tech Specs GENERALNumber of Strings6Left-/Right-handedRight-handedBODYBody TypeSolidbodyBody ShapeJazzmasterBody MaterialAlderBody FinishGloss Nitrocellulose LacquerColor3-Color SunburstNECKNeck MaterialMapleNeck Shape1966 CNeck JointBolt-onRadius7.25"Fingerboard MaterialRosewoodFingerboard InlayPearloid BlocksNumber of Frets21, Vintage TallScale Length25.5"Nut Width1.650"Nut MaterialBoneHARDWAREBridge/TailpiecePure Vintage Jazzmaster with Threaded Steel Barrel SaddlesTunersFender Deluxe Pure VintageELECTRONICSNeck PickupPure Vintage '66 Single-coil JazzmasterBridge PickupPure Vintage '66 Single-coil JazzmasterControls1 x volume, 1 x tone, 2 x thumbwheel (neck volume/tone)Switching3-way toggle pickup switch, 2-way switch (lead/rhythm circuit)MISCELLANEOUSStringsFender NPS, .010-.046Case/Gig BagHardshell CaseManufacturer Part Number:0110340800

Price: 2999 USD

Location: Washington, District Of Columbia

End Time: 2025-01-06T15:35:57.000Z

Shipping Cost: 120 USD