OffsetGuitars.com

Like many of you I'll often spot when Zhivago has posted new photos in his thread - this morning I spotted some new ones and a stunning 1958/59 gold guard.

Recent posts/purchases of 1958 or 1959 Jazzmasters (whether originals or refins) got me thinking about custom colours. I've seen quite a few photos of custom colours from 1960 onwards - yet I can't recall seeing a single custom colour from the 1950s on a Jazzmaster. In fact, from the top of my head the only one I know or have seen is Nels Cline's 1959 black Jazzmaster (custom colour after all).

So - do any of us here on OSG have an original custom colour 1958/59 Jazzmaster?

custom colors were much rarer from Fender in the 50s in general. I haven't seen too many custom color gold guard JMs either.

That's what I was thinking Brad - I was just curious whether any of us had managed to snag one before they started to command crazy prices.

If I recall things correctly, Nels Cline's 1959 black JM is indeed a 1960, but I might be wrong.

I always thought that Nels' guitar was a refin, but on the 50s Custom colours, yes they are pretty rare...I remember the alleged Fullerton prototype that was red, if I remember correctly...

Legend has it that they'd use an auto shop down the road to spray any odd requests.

And then there's the legendary tale of the "San Marino Blue" Jazzmaster...it's like a yeti...some claimed to have seen one, but no pics have ever appeared...

The Legend of The San Marino Blue Jazzmaster hails back to the dark ages of the FDP

There's an old topic that runs parallel to this; here that mentions blonde, green sparkle and possibly gold 50s JMs. I'm pretty sure there are a few black ones kicking around too, although I can't say for sure where I've seen them. The Japanese guitarist Inoran has a gold guard black JM which I assume is original, but it may be a pimped Squier for all I know.

Alright, straight from my archives...and this is from quite a while ago (the files have a date of 2010).

This is a metal flake '59, supposed to be original...I only have these three pics:








Original?

You guys be the judge

I was looking for both the Jazzmasters you've listed, Yannis.

Couldn't find shit!!

Your archives are clearly a whole lot better than mine.

Holy shit! That bill of sale is from Amro Music, Memphis, TN.....

That's where I bought the strings for my very first guitar; I used to go in there and stare at the electric guitars and pine for them. Sadly, they only sell pianos and band instruments now.

not in flashy custom color, but here are a pair of nice 1959 blonds from a Japanese magazine.

^
Ermahgerd!

øøøøøøø wrote:Holy shit! That bill of sale is from Amro Music, Memphis, TN.....

That's where I bought the strings for my very first guitar; I used to go in there and stare at the electric guitars and pine for them. Sadly, they only sell pianos and band instruments now.

wow, total coincidence...amazing to hear they are still open!

I seem to remember Nels Clines Watt guitar originally was Olympic white! I have no proof but I will look for it!

Found this thread via google. Bump!

I’ve seen several custom-color JMs from ‘58/‘59, but, as a general rule they are very rare. Add a gold guard and now you are talking much, much rarer.

‘59s with custom color finishes are much more common than ‘58s - this is true for all Fender guitars, not just Jazzmasters. I.e., in terms of ratios, if you could get 50 ‘59 and ‘58 JMs with custom color finishes together, 49 of them would be from ‘59.

If you could get 50 custom color 50s JMs together, though, chances are more than 1/2 of them would be refins Point is, real custom color ‘59 Jazzmasters are rare and real ‘58 custom color Jazzmasters are impossibly rare.

Not scientific, but the most common custom colors on JMs I’ve seen from the 50s are blonde and red. I’ve also seen oly white, blue sparkle, blue and gold.

My gold ‘58, a Roman Red ‘59, a SB ‘58...