Let's talk about 58-60 Sunburst Jazzmasters....

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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Re: Let's talk about 58-60 Sunburst Jazzmasters....

Post by smjenkins » Sat Feb 20, 2021 7:06 am

Here's a couple currently on Reverb.

A '59:

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And a '60:

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The width of the black band on the '60 looks like the '60 that Saurkraut posted earlier.

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Re: Let's talk about 58-60 Sunburst Jazzmasters....

Post by graceless » Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:50 pm

I have actually played this guitar in person and can say that the color on the video is extremely accurate.

As a side note, watching Lemmo play this in person actually shifted my priorities with regards to vintage guitars. The thing is absolutely awesome, don't get me wrong. However, watching this guy play is an almost transcendent experience. Watching him on the internet made me WANT that guitar FOR SURE! Wow, I can sound like him, I thought. But then when I saw him play it in person, it was so different. I almost felt like no matter what instrument he played, he could make it sound absolutely incredible. And nothing would help me sound any better other than practice. I am pretty good - don't get me wrong - can play most rock, have a degree in jazz bass and know my theory pretty well, but holy smokes. He's something else.

I hate to say that after sleeping on it for a while I don't feel a pull to buy a $9500 Jazzmaster. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to own one. But for me, personally, damn, seeing him rip that thing in person made me do some self-searching and actually focus on getting GOOD!

That's not to say I couldn't be tempted into something sweet in the $5k range, lol, end me. I still feel the lust. Just not like I once did. I'll patiently wait for the right piece, at the right time, and that'll be that. But it's not the guitar standing in the way of me sounding better at all.

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Re: Let's talk about 58-60 Sunburst Jazzmasters....

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:45 pm

This one's really nice...

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....and the more I look at this one...

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...the more i think it's close to perfection!
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Re: Let's talk about 58-60 Sunburst Jazzmasters....

Post by Sauerkraut » Fri Mar 19, 2021 6:38 am

Here's two more quite different '59s from ATBGuitars.com:

#1, intense red that seems to have been sprayed quite inconsistenly on the back (missed a spot on the lower bout/near-empty spray can?)
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#2, much less red, or did it just fade more? I like this one best:
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And check out this '61, where the finish doesn't actually follow the body shape. Crazy wide black band too.

Bonus material: This '59/'60 Strat's finish is interesting, but not quite as weird as this Tele, which is so red it actually hurts to look at it. Wow. Also, this '63 P Bass is painful to look at and weirdly similar to this Tele from the same year. Here's something much nicer from 1960 to give your eyes a rest.

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Re: Let's talk about 58-60 Sunburst Jazzmasters....

Post by ohm-men » Fri Mar 19, 2021 8:55 am

Nice! I find this super intersting. I always believed that the so called "target burst" was something CBS did. But apperently, it had been done in th earlier 60's as well. Besides the red varying it seams the intensety of the yellow also differed. The 63 examples almost look like 66-68 CBS burst.

So much to learn still! thanks for posting these!!! :)

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