Spotted this used for a solid price at Parkway Music, and used it as an opportunity to sell/trade some things towards it in an effort to downsize (I still have wayyyy too many guitars, but now I guess I have slightly less amplifiers I wasn't using). I wasn't looking for a Jazzmaster, and in fact, I think I scoffed at these when they first came out...seemed like Fender's response to the new Harmony models like the Silhouette. But in person I thought it looked striking. The unique touches like the black headstock, bound and blocked ebony fretboard, white button kluson style tuners, and the stealthy humbuckers that look like gold foils. With the flame on the neck that looked unlike any others I'd seen online, I had to jump on it.
The big complaints with these were quality control....there have been a few issues I corrected already - the bridge wire wasn't even tinned so I'm not sure how it was grounding, I think it might've just been pinched to the pickguard shielding or something. The pickguard was also warped so it spent a couple minutes in my oven at 200 degrees F to flatten it out. The B string in the nut was buzzing a bit open, I stuck a small piece of note paper under the string for the time being.
Parkway Music Rant:
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As pleased as I am with the guitar, the deal kinda made me feel sick. I was offered $200 for my 70's Kustom amp, which I made the mistake of disclosing a minor issue (the spring reverb tank was missing a spring but still works, the trails just aren't as long). When I brought the amp in a few days later, I was told by the same employee that they couldn't take it at all because of the issue they already knew about. I asked how much I would get if I ordered the tank and fixed it myself and was told $150 - $200 "as was discussed on the phone" (the original quote was in person). After some stressful arguing, they ended up giving me the $200 for the amp and I paid the difference for the guitar. I understand the market is changing with the tariffs, and they probably have to be more careful with trades than usual, but at least be transparent about it. As a customer for like 25 years, I don't think I'll be going back for a while.
