Fender American Vintage '65 Jazzmaster RW Aztec Gold

American Vintage

The American Vintage series introduces an all-new lineup of original-era model year guitars that bring Fender history and heritage to authentic and exciting new life. With key features and pivotal design elements spanning the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, new American Vintage series instruments delve deep into Fender's roots—expertly preserving an innovative U.S. guitar-making legacy and vividly demonstrating like never before that Fender not only knows where it's going, but also remembers where it came from.

The American Vintage Series has long presented some of Fender's best selling guitars (their early-'80s introduction, in fact, was one of the first signs that Fender was "back" as the CBS era ended). Today, Fender has boldly cleared the slate to make way for a fresh American Vintage series with new features, new specs and the most meticulous level of vintage accuracy yet. Rather than just replacing the previous models with different ones, we've completely and comprehensively re-imagined the entire vintage-reissue concept—restoring original tooling dies, voicing new pickups, reformulating vintage colors and more—based on actual vintage guitars we tracked down to make sure we had it right. We did the work, and it shows, because there's pure tonal magic in each new American Vintage instrument.

The American Vintage '65 Jazzmaster® takes you back to the middle of that musically momentous decade, when the reverb-drenched surf had largely receded and the Jazzmaster began its steady decade-long ascent toward alternative indispensability for subversive new generations of iconoclastic guitarists. It had also acquired some elegant new design features by 1965, such as a bound round-laminated rosewood fingerboard with larger pearl dot inlays, and distinctive white "witch hat" control knobs. Available in Three-color Sunburst and limited Aztec Gold finishes.

To take the American Vintage series forward, we needed to return to the source and go back in time. We zeroed in on a goldmine of unbelievable original vintage specimens, and we spared no detail in painstakingly dissecting and documenting each phenomenal original-era instrument. We made the journey. We did the work. We dived deep. Every detail was scrutinized, studied and honed.

After exhaustive research, we restored existing '50s-era tooling to the glory of its prime. We created new tooling to craft parts even more authentically. Manufacturing processes were upgraded and refined. New pickups were voiced for each guitar and bass. And much more. Watch the videos and look at the images to see some examples of the journey we took in researching these vintage instruments to make our newest American Vintage models.

"Flash-Coat Lacquer" Finish

The finishes on most new American Vintage guitars and basses consist of three coats: sealer, color and a topcoat, all of which are 100-percent nitrocellulose lacquer and are hence quite thin. This is a vintage-style finish treatment that lets an instrument "breathe" with a more natural resonance since it doesn't "constrain" the instrument's body as much as thicker and more confining modern finishes.

The term flash-coat lacquer refers specifically to the quickly applied thin and final "flash" of topcoat lacquer applied to most new American Vintage instruments. In addition to the sonic advantage noted above, the composition of and method of application for this final finish layer imparts a more authentically vintage appearance to these new instruments.

UNIQUE FEATURES

Bound round-laminated rosewood fingerboard with larger pearl dot inlays.

White "witch hat" control knobs.

Three-color Sunburst and limited Aztec Gold finishes.

All-new pickups wound to period-correct specs and sound, with classic dual-circuit wiring and controls.

Vintage-style floating tremolo with lock button.
In-Case Extras and Accessories
65 Jazzmaster

Vintage '65 Jazz strap, cable, and cloth; flatwound string set, '60s Jazz information kit, bridge cover, vintage and modern owner's manuals.