Fender American Performer Jazzmaster

first play
19
SEPTEMBER 2019 GUITARIST
FENDER AMERICAN PERFORMER JAZZMASTER & MUSTANG
with the same Marmite ‘Dynamic’ vibrato
fitted on those vintage ’Stangs. The one
concession to modernity is a plastic sleeve
in the vibrato armhole to keep the wiggle
stick from wandering off when you need to
grab it. Not everyone loves the ‘Dynamic’.
It can suffer from tuning problems if not
set up correctly. That’s why Kurt Cobain
famously had his Mustangs tweaked
into hardtails. We actually like it. Tuning
stability, on this guitar at least, is great, and
the vibrato has a good range even if it’s
happiest providing a little shimmer. Why
didn’t the bods at Fender fit a Strat vibrato
like they did with the Jazzmaster? Simple.
The Mustang body isn’t deep enough to
support one. It was ‘Dynamic’ or nothing.
Feel & Sounds
Despite the differences in scale length,
these guitars feel quite similar. The ‘Modern
C’ profile is a great one-size-fits-all option.
It hits that magic sweet spot between fat
and thin. Most would never consider the
Jazzmaster and Mustang as lead guitars,
but the big frets and modern radius ’boards
make them as shreddable as any other guitar.
Where you do feel the difference is the
string tension. Both guitars come strung
with 0.009 to 0.046-gauge strings. While
3. While both guitars
feature bolt-on maple
necks with Modern C
profiles and 241mm
(9.5-inch) radius
rosewood ’boards, the
Mustang is short-scale
at 610mm (24 inches).
The Jazzmaster has
the classic 648mm
(25.5-inch) Fender scale
The Mustang has less
twang and sustain
than its longer-necked
brother… its pickups
work best with effects
FENDER
AMERICAN PERFORMER JAZZMASTER & MUSTANG
FENDER AMERICAN PERFORMER JAZZMASTER & MUSTANGFENDER
with the same Marmite ‘Dynamic’ vibrato
fitted on those vintage ’Stangs. The one
concession to modernity is a plastic sleeve
in the vibrato armhole to keep the wiggle
stick from wandering off when you need to
grab it. Not everyone loves the ‘Dynamic’.
It can suffer from tuning problems if not
set up correctly. That’s why Kurt Cobain
famously had his Mustangs tweaked
into hardtails. We actually like it. Tuning
stability, on this guitar at least, is great, and
the vibrato has a good range even if it’s
happiest providing a little shimmer. Why
didn’t the bods at Fender fit a Strat vibrato
like they did with the Jazzmaster? Simple.
The Mustang body isn’t deep enough to
support one. It was ‘Dynamic’ or nothing.
Feel & Sounds
Despite the differences in scale length,
these guitars feel quite similar. The ‘Modern
C’ profile is a great one-size-fits-all option.
It hits that magic sweet spot between fat
and thin. Most would never consider the
Jazzmaster and Mustang as lead guitars,
but the big frets and modern radius ’boards
make them as shreddable as any other guitar.
Where you do feel the difference is the
string tension. Both guitars come strung
with 0.009 to 0.046-gauge strings. While
3.
While both guitars
feature bolt-on maple
necks with Modern C
profiles and 241mm
(9.5-inch) radius
rosewood ’boards, the
Mustang is short-scale
at 610mm (24 inches).
The Jazzmaster has
the classic 648mm
(25.5-inch) Fender scale
that works okay for the regular-scale
Jazzmaster, they feel like wet spaghetti
on the Mustang. You can practically pull
off David Gilmour-style overbends on this
guitar without any real effort. We’d suggest
fitting a heavier set: 11s, 12s… or, at the very
least, a set of 10s.
We like the satin polyurethane finish on
the necks. Fender has been using this since
the American Standard stuff landed back
in the 80s. Yes, we’ll always have a soft spot
for the gloss nitro finish on old-school JMs
and ’Stangs, but there’s no denying the satin
finish offers way less friction.
The ‘Sounds’ section of this review would
be way longer if the American Performer
Jazzmaster and Mustang had the control
layouts of their ancestors. Allow us to
mansplain. Original Jazzmasters had a
lead and rhythm circuit. You could switch
between a regular circuit with a volume,
VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra
3
GIT450.rev_fender.indd 19 8/8/19 5:09 PM