This is a 2025 Fender FSR Dealer Exclusive American Vintage II 1966 Jazzmaster in Black Gloss nitrocellulose lacquer with matching headstock and 4-ply Tortoise Shell pickguard. Aside from the limited edition color there's a number of key features that really set this one apart from the standard American Vintage II '66 Jazzmaster model it includes a bound 3A Flamed Maple neck with Rosewood fretboard, 9.5" radius, medium jumbo frets and the exclusive hot Custom Shop Fat 60s Jazzmaster pickups vs. regular maple, 7.25" vintage radius, tall vintage frets and regular '65/'66 Pure Vintage pickups of the standard. While the tall vintage frets are cool and have been pretty prominent over the past decade, if you're like me and came of age with a Fender guitar with both 9.5" radius and medium jumbo frets, those two things alone really set this model apart. And as usual I had to get my hands on one and do my usual overhaul.

I acquired the guitar as an MIRC piece, which if you're unfamiliar with them they purchase blemished parts from Fender that are unable to be used on new guitars because at some point they got blemished, or had a finish issue, etc. Rather than be thrown out, their partnership allows them to be resold as refurbished parts but in many cases are perfectly usable fully functioning parts. In many cases there's also a "USED" stamp into the finish of the back of the headstock so that it cannot be resold as new. The one on here is very faint and not so deep which I filled in with nitro lacquer so it's even less noticeable, so If this doesn't bother you, it's the perfect opportunity to grab an awesome limited edition $3129 guitar for less plus my upgrades and appointments that you wouldn't need to worry about on top of that.

All that being said, condition wise there's a fair amount of light scratches and swirl marks, mostly on the back, which is already a losing battle with a black gloss guitar, as well as a few nicks here and there on the body. I tried to include a couple pics directly in the light and closeup so you can really see, but otherwise it's not so noticeable from afar and could be wet sanded and polished out if it really bothered you. The neck is in excellent condition with no fret wear or dings/dents on the back, etc. and fully functional. Overall this guitar is in very good condition.

If you've followed me over the past few years you know how much I love Jazzmasters and "Offset" Fenders in general. With the popularity of all the American Vintage II '66 Jazzmasters I've offered I was naturally going to do one of these and you can't argue with the results!

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 8.5 lbs

-Genuine Fender 4-ply Tortoise Shell one replacing the stock 3-ply Eggshell one. I'm generally a big fan of white/off-white pickguards on Jazzmasters over the typical Tortoise but decided to do the reverse here since it's a dark finish and is just classic. This looks especially stunning and really changes the look over the original. I also retained the stock colored Vintage White Witch Hat knobs and pickup covers.

-Fender Custom Shop Fat 60s Jazzmaster pickups. What makes this very different from the standard AV II 66 version is that instead of the Pure Vintage '65/AV II '66 gray bobbin pickups they come with hotter Custom Shop Fat 60s pickups black bobbin pickups only available on this model. The standard '66 pickups are rated around 6.8k / 3.2h while these are around 8k / 4.5h for a much throatier sound. Aside from the black bobbins and yellow lead wire on the bridge pickup they still share the plain enamel magnet wire, Alnico 5 magnets and vintage cloth push back wire. These pickups are awesome!

-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

-Revised 2018 American Professional Jazzmaster narrow spacing 9.5" radius bridge with Mustang style saddles (over $120 upgrade). Normally you would need the Johnny Marr bridge which is 7.25" but since this is 9.5" you need this one. It's 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 American Professional bridge (and stock bridge) had the vintage 2-3/16” (56mm) spacing and was almost unplayable in my opinion. Fender quietly made this update a couple years ago and essentially makes this a lot more like a Staytrem bridge (and same spacing as the Mastery bridge too). Like the original, it still has the Mustang style saddles and tighter threading screw posts so it doesn't sink down overtime when you play

-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 .033uf on lead circuit tone pot (.022uf rhythm circuit tone cap was retained). These are the traditional '62 Jazzmaster tone cap value and an upgrade over the stock .05uf 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 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)

-Retained the American Vintage Jazzmaster Tremolo with pop-in arm

-Kluson Supreme 18:1 Staggered tuners ($79 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

-Radius'd, Sanded, smoothed and polished the bone nut and sharp edges for a more comfortable feel exceeding that of even most American Fender necks. This is a lot more comfortable now and looks nicer

-Fender G&G style Deluxe Jazzmaster hard case in Black Tweed with black leather ends and red poodle plush interior. Keys inside the compartment case!

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 9.5" 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 5/64" 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 and at the same price as a new one. 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:

Tech Specs

• GENERAL
• Number of Strings6
• Left-/Right-handedRight-handed
• BODY
• Body TypeSolidbody
• Body ShapeJazzmaster
• Body MaterialAlder
• Body FinishGloss Nitrocellulose Lacquer
• ColorBlack
• NECK
• Neck MaterialMaple
• Neck Shape1966 C
• Neck JointBolt-on
• Radius9.5"
• Fingerboard MaterialRosewood
• Fingerboard InlayPearloid Blocks
• Number of Frets21, Medium Jumbo
• Scale Length25.5"
• Nut Width1.650"
• Nut MaterialBone
• HARDWARE
• Bridge/TailpiecePure Vintage Jazzmaster with Threaded Steel Barrel Saddles
• TunersFender Deluxe Pure Vintage
• ELECTRONICS
• Neck PickupCustom Shop Fat 60s Single-coil Jazzmaster
• Bridge PickupCustom Shop Fat 60s Single-coil Jazzmaster
• Controls1 x volume, 1 x tone, 2 x thumbwheel (neck volume/tone)
• Switching3-way toggle pickup switch, 2-way switch (lead/rhythm circuit)
• MISCELLANEOUS
• StringsFender NPS, .010-.046
• Case/Gig BagHardshell Case