ShortScale.org

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:

Parkway's listing with some photos in better lighting

http://parkwaymusic.com/products/fende ... ter-used-1


The FLAME:

What an amazing thing! Well jealous here. Enjoy.

I dig the look with the bigsby. I wouldn't have thought of putting a warped pickguard into the oven, that's ingenious. Plastics also tend to change the shape or break due to drying up. Apparently you can "moisterize" them by applying olive or similar oil. My sunglasses broke over the winter because the plastic had dried up. I glued them back and applied some lemon oil over night. Didn't notice any increase in toan but they have been solid for now.

I like it, I think. I know what you mean, though, about scoffing when they first came out. There's something a bit awkward or cringe, but they also look awesome. One of those guitars that I wish I could look at through through the eyes of 14 year old me, when I'd just focus on it being a Jazzmaster but somehow even cooler as fuck. Instead, 37 year old me wants to know where it fits in some bullshit guitar forum lore.

I'm also enjoying your ongoing quest to down size your gear collection by going to shops and doing deals for more gear. You've been at this for, what, 20 years now?

sunshiner wrote: Sun May 04, 2025 9:21 am I dig the look with the bigsby. I wouldn't have thought of putting a warped pickguard into the oven, that's ingenious. Plastics also tend to change the shape or break due to drying up. Apparently you can "moisterize" them by applying olive or similar oil. My sunglasses broke over the winter because the plastic had dried up. I glued them back and applied some lemon oil over night. Didn't notice any increase in toan but they have been solid for now.

I'd be careful with olive oil, it will go rancid.

Lemon oil is just mineral oil with scent added. Mineral oil is much, much cheaper, but I tend to use lemon oil for stuff because it's what I usually have to hand from guitar stuff.

sunshiner wrote: Sun May 04, 2025 9:21 am I dig the look with the bigsby. I wouldn't have thought of putting a warped pickguard into the oven, that's ingenious. Plastics also tend to change the shape or break due to drying up. Apparently you can "moisterize" them by applying olive or similar oil. My sunglasses broke over the winter because the plastic had dried up. I glued them back and applied some lemon oil over night. Didn't notice any increase in toan but they have been solid for now.

I had done the oven trick successfully once before on an OLP Music Man 5 string with a severely warped guard. This time I couldn't find the exact video or forum post I referenced the first time, so I did it from memory. If you ever try it yourself, only leave it in for a minute or two. I did about 4 minutes this time and it was definitely a bit too long and softened the plastic more than expected. No glaring issues after it dried, but it did shrink ever so slightly, as the screws on opposing ends don't fit into the bevels exactly. Makes it slightly "relic'd" consistent with the era it's inspired by, but if it ends up bothering me long term I'll just fill and redrill those holes.

It wouldn't bug me for sure, but yeah, making new holes is always an option

I've had similar impressions of these you had going in; I'd love to check one out in person though! Great score.