1964 Fender Jazzmaster Custom Color Black in New Hampshire

Have a 1960s Fender Jazzmaster in a custom color that you are interested in selling? Contact me

I was thrilled to have the chance to purchase this factory black Fender Jazzmaster in eastern New Hampshire a few days ago. Black has always been one of my favorite custom colors, and this reminds me why. I love vintage Fenders in any condition, but the amount of wear on this one is spectacular. It has enough finish wear to tell it has been lovingly played, but never abused. It was owned by the original owner for the majority of its life, and I’m thrilled to have it.

Fender Jazzmaster History

Fender introduced the Jazzmaster in 1958. They designed it to be popular among jazz players with its offset contour body since they often played sitting down. They preferred jazz boxes for the most part, so the Jazzmaster did not catch on much for its intended purpose. When the surf craze started in the 1960’s they got more popular, but after it ended, almost no one bought Jazzmasters, and they discontinued them in the mid-1970s. They remained wildly unpopular for a long time, and many were modified because no one wanted them. In the 90s, when Grunge/Shoegaze started to be popular, they caught back on, and they have become more popular since. They are incredible guitars when set up correctly, so it is nice to see them getting the love they deserve.

They have an interesting electronics configuration which can seem confusing at first, but is quite simple once you get used to it. It features a dual-circuit design with separate volume and tone controls. The lead circuit has a three-position pickup selector toggle switch, a volume control, and a tone control on the treble side of the guitar. The model also features a warmer, darker-sounding rhythm circuit, with its own separate volume and tone control wheels on the upper horn.

Pre-CBS Fender Custom Colors

Fender started officially offering custom colors in 1961. Custom colors before this are exceedingly rare, but do exist. The standard color was sunburst for the Jazzmaster, but for an extra 5% a color could be requested. The most popular colors were Candy Apple Red, Fiesta Red, Olympic White, and Lake Placid Blue, but there were other colors less often ordered, such as Black, Sonic Blue, Foam Green, and the excessively rare Shell Pink.

This one was ordered in Black, it’s a color that was not very popular for Fender guitars at the time, but it is one of my favorite Fender custom colors. When I showed up to buy it, I was excited to find all the features I needed to authenticate the finish for a late 1963 or early 1964 custom color.

1964 Custom Color Fender Jazzmaster Original Finish Authentication

When I showed up to inspect this Jazzmaster, I was happy to find everything I was hoping for in order to authenticate the original finish. To start, I removed the pickguard, and the tremolo plate. I saw the two nail holes I was expecting to find, one on the bass side of the neck pocket on the body, and one on the bass side of the tremolo route. First, the most important thing when looking at a pre-1964 custom color Fender is the nail holes. Fender put nails in the body before they painted them so they could help the paint set.  After the finish was done they pulled out the nails, leaving a few small holes in the body where there is no paint. Although this can be replicated on a refinish, most did not take the care to do so. Around 1963 Fender guitars started having a paint stick mark in the neck pocket instead of the fully painted neck pocket, apart from nail holes, the neck pocket is one of the most important things to authenticate an original finish.

I took off the neck and saw it said 4AUG63B. In Fender's case in the 1960's the first number is not actually the day of the month, but the model code. 4 was the Jazzmaster code before 1966 and 13 was the code after the beginning of 1966. Shown are two examples, on the left is this late 1963 example and on the right is an early 1966 I am lucky enough to have in the shop right now as well. AUG indicates that the neck was dated in August of 1963 although this guitar did not leave the factory until early 1964. B is the neck width, 1 ⅝ inches. There were 4 neck widths offered by Fender A, B, C and D. A was the narrowest and D was the widest.

Fender Jazzmaster Pickups and Electronics. 

Another thing I look at when determining the originality and value of a vintage Jazzmaster, or any vintage guitar is the pickups and electronics. On this one I found all original electronics, and grey bottom pickups with yellow ink date stamps which mean the guitar likely left the factory in spring of 1964. Before 1964 Fender used black bottom pickups.

Sell your Vintage Fender Jazzmaster

Wondering where to sell my vintage Fender guitar? My name is Charlie Spillane and I am a passionate buyer and collector of all Fender guitars made before 1975, especially Fender Jazzmasters. I am based in New Hampshire, but I serve sellers throughout New England, and nationwide. Have one you are interested in selling, or just wondering what it's worth? Contact me to sell a vintage Fender Jazzmaster