fat neck vintage Jazzmaster recommendations

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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easymeow
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fat neck vintage Jazzmaster recommendations

Post by easymeow » Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:18 am

I’ve been a vintage Martin (acoustic) and ES-335 (electric) player for a long time. I dig the full hand feel of the fat necks. I loathe skinny necks. By “fat” I mean narrowish nut (1 11/16” is ideal) with a very full C.
What do you recommend as far as a vintage Jazzmaster that would fit the bill?

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MrFingers
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Re: fat neck vintage Jazzmaster recommendations

Post by MrFingers » Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:28 am

That would be a "pre-standardisation" neck, so a neck from between 1958 and the spring of 1962.

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easymeow
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Re: fat neck vintage Jazzmaster recommendations

Post by easymeow » Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:35 am

Awesome, thank you.

kracdown
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Re: fat neck vintage Jazzmaster recommendations

Post by kracdown » Fri Oct 02, 2020 5:47 pm

My gold guard '59 has had the most substantial, round C shape of any of the several vintage JM's I've owned. I'd go for one of those.

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bterry
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Re: fat neck vintage Jazzmaster recommendations

Post by bterry » Sun Oct 04, 2020 8:56 pm

1 5/8 is standard on all vintage Jazzmaster necks, unless you find a special-order C width which is very difficult to do.

The full C shape you describe would most-likely occur on a Jazzmaster in either early to mid 1961 or later in mid year 1963 through early 1964. All the necks were handmade so significant differences occur within model years, they didn’t categorize them back then like we do on modern reissues.

You can find fuller C and D shaped necks from any year but also thinner necks as well. ‘59 and ‘60 JMs have the most varied thicknesses IME, with some being pencil thin and others being fatter.

I would actually say the opposite of the poster above, ‘62 to early ‘65 are the most consistent in shape, and also tend to be fuller overall. Before spring of 1962 the variation in neck shape and size was much greater and random.

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