Its appearance is similar to the Fender Jaguar, though it is tonally and physically different in many technical ways, including pickup design, scale length and controls.

The Jazzmaster's contoured "offset-waist" body was designed for comfort while playing the guitar in a seated position, as many jazz and blues artists prefer to do.

Longtime Fender associate George Fullerton owned a 1957 Fiesta Red pre-production body coupled with an unusual and experimental fretboard manufactured in 1961 using vulcanised rubber — reportedly one of two ever made.

After years of dwindling sales, with instruments being pieced together from leftover factory stock, the Jazzmaster was officially discontinued in September 1980,[5] but has since then been re-released in many forms and modifications.

As the Telecaster and Stratocaster had done in other popular musical genres, Fender hoped to initiate a revolution in jazz guitar, at the expense of competitor Gibson.

While the Jazzmaster never caught on among its intended audience, they were most successful in the burgeoning Southern California-based surf music and instrumental rock scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Jazzmasters, along with Jaguars and their imitators, fell out of fashion among players during the 1970s largely due to their "old-fashioned" appearance and sonic characteristics.

The 70s rock sound meant "fat" humbucker tone and much sustain, so guitarists gravitated toward the Gibson Les Paul and its copies.

[citation needed] Just as Fender discontinued the Jazzmaster, Tom Verlaine of Television and Elvis Costello started giving the guitar a cult following.

Eko, Greco, Dillion, Univox, Epiphone, Yamaha, Framus, Teisco, Aria, Jansen, Harmony, and National are but some of the brands who released guitars in the spirit of the Jazzmaster, mainly to capitalize on the surf rock sound of the 1960s.

[citation needed] Most of these manufacturers took inspiration from the Jazzmaster, but made significant changes to their finished product before bringing them to market.

Foreign Jazzmaster inspired guitars with faithful pickup variants are rare, though examples of nearly identical tremolo systems were far more common.

[citation needed] It wasn't uncommon to see modern copy variants replace the Jazzmaster's signature bridge and tremolo setup with a Stratocaster-derived assembly.

The reissue was mostly true to the original 1962 Jazzmaster, featuring vintage-inspired pickups, hardware, a period-correct brown tolex case with a gold interior, and a variety of Custom Colors.

However, by the end of the model's production run, Fender offered only three colors: Black, Olympic White, and Three-Color Sunburst.

The new series featured more accurate vintage appointments, a new flash-finish method meant to create a thinner lacquer finish, and vintage-reproduction paperwork and manuals.

[34] Some improved vintage details included neck shape, thinner cases, decals, colors, pickups, tuners, and various production techniques.

The tailpiece was moved forward not for cosmetic or functional reasons, but to reduce the manufacturing cost of the Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitars in the same factory.

Other features include an alder body, maple neck with 9.5"-radius rosewood fretboard, 21 medium-jumbo frets, gloss polyester finish and chrome hardware.

Despite numerous modernising design changes, the Standard shipped with a vintage bridge, long lambasted for its instability and frequency to buzz.

[citation needed] In January 2013, Fender added the Carved Maple Top Jazzmaster HH to its premium Select series.

[38] In January 2018 the American Performer Jazzmaster was introduced, featuring Yosemite pickups with Greasebucket tone circuit and a vintage-style Stratocaster tremolo bridge.

Fender's 2017 "American Professional Series" includes a new version of the Jazzmaster which has a Deep C-shaped neck with 22 narrow-tall frets and features different controls and V-Mod pickups.

Other features include sealed locking tuning machines, chrome hardware and bone nut [40] In July 2007, Fender released the J Mascis signature Jazzmaster, in honour of the Dinosaur Jr frontman.

[42] After the Fender version was discontinued, Squier released a J Mascis Signature with similar specifications, in antique white with a gold anodized aluminum pickguard.

This signature Jazzmaster guitar features a solid walnut-stain finished alder body and a modified tremolo bridge for Costello's trademark "spy movie" sound.

In June 2009, Fender announced Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore signature Jazzmasters, in honour of the guitarists of Sonic Youth.

Moore's version features a Forest Green finish, a pair of Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Jazzmaster single-coil pickups and a Tune-o-matic bridge.

During the NAMM Show in January 2014, Fender debuted a Jim Root Signature Jazzmaster, based on the recommendations by the guitarist of Slipknot and formerly Stone Sour.

[45] During the same NAMM Show, Fender also unveiled a Troy Van Leeuwen signature Jazzmaster, in honor of the Queens Of The Stone Age guitarist.