1965 Fender® Jazzmaster™ Sunburst, Excellent, Original Hard, $4,650.00

Summary: This all original 1965 Jazzmaster is one of the cleanest old Fenders we’ve seen! While its looks belie it’s age, once you play it you’ll see it’s the real deal—pure vintage tone and feel.

Body: Two-piece Alder offset contour body. Three-tone sunburst finish.

Neck: One-piece Maple bolt-on neck. Gold “transitional” Fender decal on headstock. Unbound veneer rosewood fretboard with pearl dot markers. 25.5” scale. 7.25” radius. 1 5/8” nut.

Pickups/Hardware: Two original Jazzmaster single-coil pickups in white plastic covers. Three-ply tortoiseshell plastic pickguard. Original Jazzmaster bridge and vibrato assembly with arm. Selector switch for rhythm or lead tone circuit. Three position pickup selector for lead circuit. Volume and tone roller controls for rhythm circuit. Jazzmaster-style “witch hat” volume and tone knobs, white with chrome tops, for lead circuit. Chromed hardware. Kluson Deluxe tuners, six in a line.

Cosmetics: This guitar is in very clean condition and looks impressively young for its age. The original nitrocellulose finish is still vibrant and shiny with no worn-down spots. The plastic tortoiseshell pickguard shows a small amount of shrinkage where it has lifted in a few spots, but these are negligible compared to what we commonly see on old Fenders. There are a few very minor superficial play marks on the back and on the front upper cutaway. The neck finish is without dings and has no noticeable wear. All metal parts are shiny and all plastic parts are bright white. The Fender decal is intact and unworn. The rosewood fretboard has no dings or digs and there is only a small amount of wear to the first fret. This guitar was played sparingly and babied in its downtime. They don’t come much cleaner than this.

Playability: Fretboard is buttery smooth, with no buzz or dead spots. Action is low and the bridge is stable with no sign of the buzz or string-popping problems that are endemic to this bridge style. The vibrato works smoothly and maintains tuning. The big Fender soap-bar single coils sound great, warm and jazzy in the rhythm position, strident and surfy in lead. Both tone circuits work as they should and electronics are in excellent shape.

Mods/Repairs: Missing chrome bridge cover.

Weight: 8 lbs, 2 oz.

Case: Original hard shell case (one broken latch).