The Fender Custom Shop 1959 250K Jazzmaster Journeyman Relic in Chocolate 3-Color Sunburst is a seriously cool take on the early Jazzmaster. Fender started with a 2-piece alder body and paired it with a rift-sawn maple neck, AAA rosewood fingerboard, hand-wound flat-magnet Jazzmaster pickups, and a gold anodized aluminum pickguard. The big twist is the 250K control circuit, which takes some of the Jazzmaster's natural high-end zing and gives it a warmer, smoother voice. This one comes with the Fender Custom Shop brown Jaguar/Jazzmaster hardshell case.
The Jazzmaster debuted in 1958 as Fender's top-of-the-line guitar, but its story quickly went well beyond jazz. Surf, instrumental rock, alternative, indie, shoegaze—the Jazzmaster has become one of Fender's most distinctive designs. This Custom Shop version looks back to that earliest era while adding a few changes that make it particularly appealing to modern players.
The neck is a great example. It's built from rift-sawn maple with a medium-tint nitrocellulose lacquer finish and a ’62 Jazzmaster profile. The Large “C” measures .850" at the first fret and .990" at the 12th, giving it a substantial but very comfortable feel. The flat-laminated AAA 9mm rosewood fingerboard has a 9.5" radius, vintage clay dot inlays, 21 narrow-tall 6105 frets, and a bone nut. It's vintage-inspired without forcing you into the rounder 7.25" radius and smaller fretwire found on many traditional Jazzmasters.
The 2-piece alder body wears a Chocolate 3-Color Sunburst Journeyman Relic lacquer finish, giving this Jazzmaster a fantastic old-school look without going completely overboard on the aging. Chrome/nickel Relic hardware, a gold anodized aluminum pickguard, vintage-style Fender tuners, and the familiar offset body make for a killer combination.
Then there's the electronics. Fender used a pair of Custom Shop hand-wound Jazzmaster pickups with flat magnets, giving you the bright attack, airy top end, and full low end that make a great Jazzmaster sound like a Jazzmaster. The 250K volume and tone pots are the interesting part: compared with the traditional 1 Meg Jazzmaster circuit, they smooth out some of the sharper top end and give the guitar a warmer, rounder response. You still get plenty of Jazzmaster character—just with a little less ice pick and a little more meat. The RSD Jaguar/Jazzmaster bridge adds another welcome modern touch, while the traditional floating vibrato keeps the offset feel intact.
If you've always liked Jazzmasters but wished they had just a little more warmth and a little less zing, this Custom Shop ’59 250K is worth a very close look. It's got the looks, the hand-wound pickups, the killer neck, and just enough clever rethinking to make it something more than another vintage Jazzmaster recreation.
