REVIEWED
Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster HS FENDERBlacktop
The Fender Blacktop series is an affordable series of ‘customized’ guitars made in its Mexican manufacturing facility. Comprising Fender’s cornerstone models the Stratocaster and the Telecaster plus two indie favorites the Jaguar and the Jazzmaster, the Blacktop series operates on the premise that these instruments are ‘vintage’ guitars that have been skillfully hot-rodded with high output pickups, beefing them up to easily cope with high gain modern rock and metal.
All that Jazz
A long time favourite with alternative and indie guitarists, the Fender Jazzmaster is an ideal candidate for the Blacktop treatment, whose purposeful edge updates the Jazzmaster without straying too far from the ‘pawnshop’ vibe that doubtless first attracted the likes of Tom Verlaine of Television, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore and, of course, Kurt Cobain; all of whom played a pivotal role in transforming the
FENDER Blacktop Jazzmaster
Black Sunburst ACT
£599.00 £647.00
All prices include VAT CONT
Fender GBI T:
W: 0142 331700
www.fender.co.uk 28 3pickup
Fender Jazzmaster from a half- forgotten ugly duckling into a powerful symbol of alternative rock. Leo Fender originally designed
the offset Jazzmaster body with the guitarist’s role in a traditional small jazz combo or big band in mind. Played whilst sat down the Blacktop Jazzmaster feels as comfy as a favourite pair of jeans. Standing up with the guitar slung around your neck on a strap the Jazzmaster doesn’t feel anywhere like as well balanced, at least until you adjust the strap until the guitar is suspended somewhere in the vicinity between your belt buckle and your knees! This low-slung rock and roll stance seems to re-address the balance; all you need to complete the correct look is a pair of battered Converse trainers and a tatty cardigan and you’re in business.
Pickups and hardware The Blacktop Jazzmaster HS comes armed with two Duncan-Designed pickups: a large single coil soapbar pickup occupies its traditional spot at the neck position but a modern high-output humbucker now lurks ominously at the bridge. As an alternative, Fender also offer a Blacktop Jaguar HH model with two high output covered humbuckers and a fixed bridge for a slightly different vibe. The Traditional Jazzmaster control layout with its separate lead and rhythm circuitry has also been sidestepped in favour of a simpler and arguably much more user- friendly control set: a pair of rotary master volume and master tone controls fitted with traditional Fender skirted amp-type knobs are teamed
up with a simple three-way pickup selector, everything falls to hand nice and easy. Part of Leo Fender’s intention when he designed the Jazzmaster in 1958 was that it was eventually going to replace the Strat as Fender’s top of the range model and the floating vibrato unit reflected his insatiable quest for perfection. Trouble was that Mr. Fender was possibly a bit out of touch with prevailing musical trends and the Jazzmaster never really appealed to its intended target audience, although it did briefly prove popular with many early 1960s surf / instrumental bands, probably more by accident than design. Whereas the Strat’s Fender
Synchronized vibrato comprises of a single compact unit the Jazzmaster floating tremolo is more complex. The extra long whammy bar operates the vibrato mechanism located beneath the large triangular plate and the actual vibrato effect is caused by the mechanism gently rocking the
Jazzmaster HS
Fender treats its venerable Jazzmaster to an extra injection of supercharged grunt…
Words: Tim Slater
bridge back and forth. The floating tremolo action, whilst smooth, is nowhere near as wild or expressive as a vintage Strat vibrato, delivering instead a fairly mellow undulation. The Blacktop’s six meaty-looking stainless steel bridge saddles represent a marked improvement over the original Jazzmaster design. Now the strings enjoy a much- improved purchase against heavy picking than the original’s multi- grooved saddles, whose shallow grooves meant that the strings would regularly jump off the saddles once the player began to really gave the guitar some serious welly! Neither does the Blacktop’s floating vibrato tailpiece feature the string lock mechanism fitted to the original tailpiece. The lock was intended to hold the tailpiece in place to help the guitar remain in tune should the guitarist break a string but the Blacktop’s vibrato nevertheless feels fairly stable, if somewhat limited performance. PM
SHOULD I BUY ONE?
The Blacktop Jazzmaster is a vibrant sounding guitar that is a lot of fun to play. The bridge humbucker is a real sledgehammer that packs plenty of punch without burying the characteristic brightness and elasticity that is such an important hallmark of the classic Fender tone, complemented by the neck single coil’s rounder less aggressive tonality. Shredders might find the whole setup a bit too retro for their tastes but whether you prefer your guitar to scream, roar or jangle the Blacktop Jazzmaster HB should definitely induce a big silly grin virtually from the moment that you plug in, without forcing you to go cap in hand to your bank manager! Even players who don’t necessarily worship at the temple of indie rock but who nevertheless fancy owning a cool alternative rock guitar should find that the Blacktop Jazzmaster is the gateway to your own personal nirvana!
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