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1959 Jazzmasters are special instruments. Some have argued that Fender put special care and attention to these first year of production examples. I think there might be something to that. Additionally, the gold guards produce a distinctive tone that is really special.
Here’s a wonderful example that priced about half of what an original example would go for. This one is an early model with a February, 1959 neck and body date. The body has been refinished in 50s style fiesta red. It is sometimes called “Roman Red” but this is actually a slightly brighter shade of what would later be called “Fiesta Red” in the Fender color charts. There are a few original examples of 59s in this color, which gave us the inspiration for this restoration. The work was done by the incomparable Joe Riggio of Tacoma, WA.
The guitar sounds beautiful. It resonates nicely even when unplugged. It plays great and the frets are in great shape. It currently has a Mustang bridge on it right now.
The guitar came to me with a wrap tail piece installed (Gibson-style). The stock thimble holes were slightly widened to accommodate the aftermarket tailpiece. We put them back to stock for the refinish. The guitar has been refretted. The neck finish is original although there is some overbrushed lacquer on the headstock—that was probably done to “protect” the decal, which obviously isn’t necessary. Two tuner screws are repros. The bridge pickup has been rewound and has new leads. With the replaced tailpiece, the original owner also changed the original gold guard. It has been lost to time so I installed a reproduction gold guard from Herad in Australia that has the correct screw hold pattern. The gold guards had very distinctive routing to the control cavity and their own screw hole pattern. Given its presence on this example and the early body date there is no doubt whatsoever that this original had a gold guard.
The guitar came to me in an Italian-European aftermarket hard case that you will see from time to time for Fender guitars (and other models). This one is branded for a Goya Rangemaster but fits the JM perfectly. The lining is a bit loose but it works! No tremolo bar.