Fender American Acoustasonic Jazzmaster

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reaking the rules is a key part of the

design of the American Acoustasonic

platform. It’s a concept that really

shouldn’t work, but with the release of this

Jazzmaster, the third version, it clearly does.

It was just as much a surprise as the original

Telecaster model when it was unveiled at

the NAMM Show back in January 2019.

“You kept pretty quiet about this one,”

we say as we settle into our chat with

Tim Shaw, although we’re surprised by

his response: “Originally, we thought the

Jazzmaster would come before the Strat.

I forget what the reasoning was, but,

obviously, we did the Strat first.”

One reason for that potential switch

could well have been the larger body size

of the Jazzmaster. Despite the solidbody

shape, these Acoustasonics are acoustic

guitars first and proving that could work

was fundamental to the concept originally

imagined by Brian Swerdfeger, Fender’s

VP of research and design. “I had the idea

three years ago and enlisted Tim Shaw and

Larry Fishman to help bring it to life,” Brian

told us in 2019. The key lay in the sound

port – originally referred to as the ‘Stringed

Instrument Resonance System’ (SIRS) – the

lightly braced top and, of course, the mainly

hollow body. “The design, size, location

and depth [of the port] all contribute to

the voicing of the instrument,” said Brian,

“and give it a fuller voice on your lap. This

voicing, in concert with the movement of

the top, are major components of what you

hear when the guitar is plugged in. What

you hear from the output jack is 55 per cent

from the guitar and analogue circuit, and

45 per cent shaped by the electronics.”

Back to today and Tim Shaw joins us from

his Nashville base to go deeper into the new

Jazzmaster concept.

one resonance I wanted to get rid of –

and extended the bracing on the treble

side a little bit further down. But we did

very little to the sound port in terms

of tuning it at all. So this one was more

cavity, less port!

“It ended up pushing us in different

and interesting directions. I mean, I think

the whole family of sounds here are more

high-definition, if you want to call it

that, than on the other guitars. It’s more

responsive against your body, and the

extra information from the top is giving

us more acoustic subtlety that we didn’t

get with the Strat – the smallest of the

three in the way in which the top works.

It was a lot of fun because it just gave us

more to work with. It’s like, err, a painter

having five extra colours, or having a horn

section you can write for!”

As the latest addition to the Acoustasonic family, this Jazzmaster pushed the design team

in “different and interesting directions”. Fender’s Tim Shaw talks us through its creation

Words Dave Burrluck

Did you find that the Jazzmaster was

tricky to voice in regard to its body size

and resonance?

“Actually, it wasn’t all that hard. The

trick is that there is a whole lot more real

estate on the top because it’s larger and

the Helmholtz resonance was lowered

– because of the cavity size – from the

start. We built up the first prototype and

immediately realised it was going to have

more [acoustic] volume.

“Initially, we figured out what the cavity

might look like because there’s a whole lot

more to route in there. If you remember,

although the Strat looks bigger than a Tele

it actually has less room inside it. This one

was not acreage… but there’s certainly an

allotment or two in there [laughs]. So, after

we listened to the first one we modified

the cavity a little bit – because there was

The Rowdy Cousin

“I think the whole

family of sounds

here are more ‘high-

deﬁ nition’ than on the

other guitars”

A pair of Cream T pickups

based on ones that were

originally designed for a

certain Mr Richards power

this sumptuous Patrick

James Eggle Oz

feature

GUITARIST JUNE 2021

FENDER AMERICAN ACOUSTASONIC JAZZMASTER

GIT472.rev_acou_jazz2.indd 96 12/04/2021 13:54

Summary of content (3 pages)

PAGE 1
feature FENDER AMERICAN ACOUSTASONIC JAZZMASTER The Rowdy Cousin As the latest addition to the Acoustasonic family, this Jazzmaster pushed the design team in “different and interesting directions”. Fender’s Tim Shaw talks us through its creation Words Dave Burrluck B reaking the rules is a key part of the design of the American Acoustasonic platform. It’s a concept that really shouldn’t work, but with the release of this Jazzmaster, the third version, it clearly does.
PAGE 2
FENDER AMERICAN ACOUSTASONIC JAZZMASTER feature 2 1. The Telecaster was the first of the American Acoustasonic models, kicking off the series back in 2019 2. In 2020 Fender took the wraps off the Stratocaster version, which has the smallest body cavity of the now three-strong range 3. Whatever the model, the Acoustasonics all have three pickups: the only one that’s visible is the magnetic humbucker, as seen here on the Strat 4.
PAGE 3
feature FENDER AMERICAN ACOUSTASONIC JAZZMASTER Leo Fender couldn’t have imagined the Jazzmaster in its Acoustasonic dress. We can only wonder what the next model in the series will be! guitar. Brian and I talked a lot about this. People don’t play guitar like they did before. A lot of people are doing exactly what you’re doing: running into a DAW and listening on headphones. This kind of platform suits that well.