This is a 2021 Fender Chicago Music Exchange (CME) Exclusive Jazzmaster in Pacific Peach with a Pau Ferro fretboard and matching color headcap/headstock. I modified two nearly identical ones a few years ago that were wildly popular so when I ended up with another similar case and the opportunity to get another of these guitars the world was clearly trying to tell me something lol. This one is by far the best of the bunch and I pulled out all the stops for it.

Condition wise, it shows some signs of light use like a little scratch or nick here and there but other than that it's in truly excellent condition with little use and no fret wear

Despite being part of the "Player" series, these Chicago Music Exchange exclusive models actually use Vintera series bodies and is very much a traditional Jazzmaster style body with rhythm circuit and 3-way toggle routes as well as the tremolo in the original location which is further back from the bridge, unlike many of the "Modified" or standard "Player" series Fender Jazzmasters where the tremolo is moved closer to the bridge and usually paired with an Adjusto-Matic or Tune-O-Matic style bridge (and a mismatched radius to that of the fretboard!)

Normally I would have swapped out the neck with a vintage style model Jazzmaster one but decided to keep it both for the matching peach headcap and modern radius 9.5" 22 medium jumbo fret neck and thought this would be the perfect project to really pair the best of modern and vintage features. Most of the Fender Jazzmasters, usually American models, that have both the 9.5" radius and original tremolo location are usually paired with narrow-tall frets, which are very popular today. While narrow-tall are nice, I still have a soft spot for medium jumbos but unfortunately the necks Fender make that are both 9.5" and medium jumbo are usually paired with those "Modified" bodies with the moved tremolo location. Fortunately this is not the case with this body but the neck also has 22 frets while the vintage style is 21. On top of that the grain on the Pau Ferro fretboard looks awesome!

If you've followed me over the years you know how much I love this model and Jazzmasters in general. And as with most all of the guitars I sell, you can be assured of the value and attention to detail I bring to it giving you a unique and incredibly playing instrument. You'll be hard pressed to find a more complete Jazzmaster out of the box with my usual treatment, I've seen many people copy but haven't perfected it like me.

These traditional and 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 (I know, they're absolutely gorgeous looking guitars, so probably form over function in most cases. Even the American made offsets have this same problem because of the same original location of the tremolo (further back), vintage style floating bridge and the lack of break angle on them. This on top of some mediocre hardware and electronics choices from the factory, I decided I would overhaul many of these issues so you can enjoy this guitar with a set of 10s and not have to string it up with bridge cables or use one of those Buzz Stops that not only changes the look of the guitar but the feel and tone as well. These modded ones of mine will hold their own against American models any day of the week

Please read further to see the list of upgrades as well as how the guitar was setup:

Nice balanced weight around 8.1 lbs

-Fender 3-ply mint green pickguard replacing the stock parchment one. The parchment color isn't bad with the Pacific Peach finish but I was feeling some very late 80's/early 90's vibes with the mint green on Peach and figured since I needed to replace the pickguard to restore the rhythm circuit anyway I would fully lean into that color scheme. It's not subtle and I absolutely loved how it came out. Most Jazzmasters are a lot more conservative I feel in how they look and this isn't like anyone I've every seen before

-Fender Aged White pickup covers and rare Aged White Witch Hat knobs. The stock covers were the lighter vintage white ones (in between parchment and aged white) but wasn't uniform with the aged white knobs. Then instead of keeping the stock Strat styled knobs I opted for these rare Fender Aged White Skirted Witch Hat Jazzmaster knobs. Not to be confused with the Pure Vintage '65 Jazzmaster knobs in the lighter Vintage White color used on many American Vintage, American Original and American Professional models.. These are not sold as parts and have only been used on a couple Fender models making this even more unique. Now the covers and knobs are both aged white and pair beautifully with the mint green pickguard

-Modified stock '65 American Vintage Jazzmaster pickups. These models came with the American Vintage '65 pickups which are great so I decided there was no reason to change them, aside from slightly modifying them. These are great vintage style Jazzmaster pickups that read in their expected range of 6.7k each. The slight modification I did was slightly raise the D string poles on each pickup to give it that hybrid stagger like on many Lindy Fralin pickups to help compensate for the drop off in volume when going from a wound D to unwound G that usually occurs when the pickups are not staggered for this.

-Gavitt 22 gauge vintage push back cloth wire. Built a new wiring harness and the original PVC wiring has been replaced with the vintage push back cloth wire and color coded just like in the American Vintage and American Original series

-Switchcraft 11 1/4" output jack. A significant upgrade over the cheap stock one and same as used on American models.

-Upgraded rhythm circuit and 3-way toggle switch restoring the traditional vintage Jazzmaster control layout. These are all genuine CTS mini pots (50k and 1Meg) and Fender roller knobs and Switchcraft toggle switch. Upgraded Orange Drop .022uf tone cap

-CTS 500K audio volume and tone pots retained. These are what really take vintage style Jazzmaster pickups to another level. Jazzmasters typically come with 1meg pots and 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.

-American Vintage Jazzmaster Tremolo with lock and push in bar with aged white tip ($150+ upgrade). This allows you to lock the tremolo if you break a string as well as more easily measure the string tension via the tremolo. It's a lot harder to properly set these guitars up when you don't have the lock to help you gauge this

-StewMac 0.25 degree full wood neck pocket shim. This is one of the main reasons why these guitars are never setup right from the factory and buzz like crazy and don't sustain with lighter gauge strings. This allows the bridge height to move up and increase the break angle after the bridge and give you enough tension to use lighter gauge strings without having to use a Buzz Stop or heavier strings while still retaining that classic Jazzmaster feel. The problem with using a Buzz Stop is that it increases the string tension so much that it starts to feel and sound more like a Strat or Tele and that more loose Jazzmaster magic is gone

-Revised 2018 American Professional Jazzmaster narrow spacing 9.5" radius bridge with Mustang style saddles (over $120 upgrade). 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 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

-American Vintage bridge thimbles. These have the wider standard diameter and are constructed better than the import version it came with stock (these are also wide enough to fit a Mastery bridge if for whatever reason you prefer those without worrying about changing the thimbles because it's already been done). When the neck pitch and break angle is setup properly on these guitars as I've done, I still prefer the American Professional bridge and also love the more traditional look over the Mastery

-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 tone cap. The stock was .01uf which for a lot doesn't roll off enough and more like a presence control

-Fully shielded the pickup and control cavities with copper tape for reduced noise and much quieter operation. These guitars can be quite noisy without

-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

-Fender/Schaller strap locks and buttons (locks inside case compartment)

-Fender Bone nut. Unfortunately the stock nut was not centered or cut properly, which I always use as an opportunity to upgrade to bone (in most cases if it's centered, cut and seated properly I will leave the stock nut, but that's an argument for another day). On top of simply replacing and cutting a new nut, I've also radius'd, sanded and polished, rounded and softened the sharp edges of the nut for a much more comfortable feel exceeding that of even the American models

-Replaced string tree with proper Fender vintage style one. During these years since the pandemic Fender has had all sorts of weird supply chain changes and one of them was using really bad new string trees on certain models that weren't even bent correctly and looked terrible. This is a correct looking one they would have normally used

-Fender Staggered 2x4 Classic Gear 18:1 ratio tuners. Stock it came with modern Schaller style tuners but I upgraded them to new Fender Staggered Classic Gear 18:1 tuners which not only has a finer ratio than the stock 14:1 but they also visually look like Vintage Kluson tuners which is typically what Jazzmasters, especially vintage and reissues models have. The E and A string posts are staggered and taller which is nicer when you're wrapping thicker gauge strings around them. The remaining posts are shorter and the same size

-Fender American Performer lightweight aluminum transistion Logo neck plate. These neck plates are about 0.5 oz vs the normal 2 oz steel plates and help with shaving some weight off

-Fender G&G Deluxe Jazzmaster hard case in brown tolex with brown leather ends/handle and gold poodle plush interior. These cases are classic, not to mention it's also a major upgrade over the cheap Pro Series case which these didn't even come with. It’s not only built better but slimmer, sleeker and a nearly $300 upgrade alone. Key included in the compartment!

On top of these upgrades, it has also been cleaned, polished, oiled and conditioned the pau ferro 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 CME Player or Vintera Jazzmaster 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 things like the well over $600 worth in 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 with an awesome hard case and come out ahead with a better feeling, playing and sounding guitar? :)

Below are the stock specs:

Tech Specs
Body: Alder
Body Finish: Gloss Polyester
Body Shape: Jazzmaster
Neck Material: Maple
Neck Finish: Satin Urethane Finish on Back of Neck with Gloss Urethane Headstock Face
Neck Shape: Modern "C"
Scale Length: 25.5" (648 mm)
Fingerboard: Pau Ferro
Fingerboard Radius: 9.5" (241 mm)
Number of Frets: 22
Frets Size: Medium Jumbo
String Nut: Synthetic Bone
Nut Width: 1.650" (42 mm)
Position Inlays: White Dots
Truss Rods: Standard
Truss Rod Wrench: 3/16" Hex (Allen)
Bridge Pickup: Pure Vintage 65 Reissue Jazzmaster
Neck Pickup: Pure Vintage 65 Reissue Jazzmaster
Controls: Master Volume, Master Tone
Pickup Switching: Series/Parallel 4-Way Select Switch
Electronics: Body routed for, but not outfitted from factory with, rhythm circuit. Ready to be installed with ease by your tech.
Bridge: 6-Saddle Vintage-Style Adjustable with “Floating” Tremolo Tailpiece
Hardware Finish: Nickel/Chrome
Tuning Machines: Standard Cast/Sealed
Pickguard: 3-Ply Parchment
Control Knobs: Aged White Plastic