I think I'll stick with my Ocean Turquoise, American Original. I paid a nice chunk of change for it only a couple of months ago. Also, I don't care for Modern D (read thin) necks like the American Ultras have - I prefer the chunkier neck my American Original has. For me, that is the biggest deal breaker for the American Ultra Jazzmaster (and many other Jazzmasters for that matter) - its thin neck. Thin necks just don't work for me, since I play classical style with my thumb behind the neck - thin necks make my hand feel like it's trying to act like a C-Clamp. Other than that, the American Ultra seems like a nice (abeit even more pricey than my American Original) Jazzmaster. I will reserve judgement on the Noiseless Jazzmaster pickups though, until I hear an American Ultra in person, or play a guitar loaded with the Noiseless Jazzmaster pickups . Oftentimes to me, Fender Noiseless single coils sound kind of blah.
As for the complaints about the American Ultras not having stainless steel frets - that's kind of a moot point for me. You see I have to get any new guitars I buy, refretted with Jescar EVO Gold hypoallergenic fretwire (refret jobs aren't cheap - it cost me over $400 to get my new, American Original Jazzmaster refretted), due to the fact that I have a severe allergy to nickel, and a major allergy to chromium (which of course, is a major component of stainless steel). I ignore having a refret done to a guitar at my own peril, if I'm going to spend any significant time playing it - my immune system goes bonkers from nickel and chromium, and I get such mega dermatitis all over my body that I can wind up looking like burn victim (it happened back in 2014 - when I was diagnosed with having nickel and chromium allergies). And to answer your unspoken question - yes I cannot use nickel or stainless steel strings on electric guitars. Luckily I found electric guitar strings I can use (I had to search through over 100 different product lines of electric guitar string to find them) - Ernie Ball Cobalts. I tell you, the things I have to do, to keep playing guitar (been playing for 40 plus years).
