Fender American Ultra Jazzmaster

American Ultra: The Next Evolution

To say that Fender guitars are iconic mainstays of American popular music would be the understatement of the century. Try to imagine blues music without the quack of the Stratocaster, or country without the twang of the Tele, or indie music without the bite and chime of a Jazzmaster. It’s hard to do, isn’t it? Fender guitars are so closely interwoven with the DNA of American music that it seems like they have always existed. On stages and studios across American, they have remained a steadfast constant, but the Fender story is also one of change. Leo Fender wasn’t a musician, so he constantly asked his guitar-pickin’ friends how he could improve his guitars to make them play and sound better. Heck, he even pushed back the launch of the Stratocaster for a year because his play-testers didn’t like his original vibrato unit!

Though the shapes and pickup configurations have stayed mostly the same, each modern Fender is the product of almost seven decades’ worth of refinement. We’re proud to present the latest evolution of Leo’s classic designs: the Fender American Ultra series. These guitars have been hot-rodded to provide discerning modern players with an unparalleled playing experience. With their insanely fast necks, brand-new Ultra Noiseless pickups, and sleek contoured bodies, the American Ultra guitars below provide incredible playability, comfort, versatility, and tone.

Style and Grace

The American Ultra Jazzmaster is a workhorse that will get the job done in style. Fender has decked these guitars out in a variety of brand-new finishes sure to induce much drooling, and they have also contoured the body to optimize the player's comfort. When you pick one of these terrific Jazzmasters up, it feels like you're playing the six-string equivalent of a souped-up Corvette because of its sleek lines and superior ergonomics.

Supreme Speed and Comfort

Speaking of speed and comfort, let's talk about the fretboard, which has a compound 10"-14" radius and 22 medium jumbo frets. The compound radius maximizes each section of the neck for pitch-perfect playability. By the first fret, the fingerboard is flat enough that you can still bend strings easily but rounded enough to allow fluid chording. Around the twelfth fret, the radius becomes much flatter, which makes bending strings a breeze.

The medium-jumbo frets also do a lot of heavy lifting to improve playability. Their height allows you to bend easily, but you can still feel the wood with your fingers and get a tactile connection to the instrument.

Of course, we have to talk about how comfortable the neck is beneath that fingerboard! Fender has outfitted these guitars with a Modern D-shaped profile, and it is a marvelous example of a slim, fast-playing neck. If you like to keep your thumb closer to the center of the neck, this profile gives you a nice rounded back to anchor on. But, if you like to hang your thumb over, the shoulders of the "D" give you plenty of leverage to bend easily. If you switch back and forth between the two techniques, congratulations--this neck will feel especially buttery to you.

As a result of these enhanced ergonomic features, the American Ultra Jazzmaster has wonderful handfeel that will suit just about any style of play.

Quiet In Between the Loud Moments

For the longest time, guitar players have waged a war with noise. The original pickups in iconic guitars from the sixties and seventies sounded great and had tons of vibe, but they squealed and made horrible noises in between blasts of loudness. In the eighties and nineties, manufacturers developed noiseless pickups that solved the problem while creating another: the new quiet pickups lacked that "it" factor. So, you could get modern precision, but you had to sacrifice a little bit of mojo.

Now, you no longer have to choose. Our friends at Fender have developed a delectable new set of pickups for the American Ultra series, the aptly-named Ultra Noiseless Single-Coil. These sweet-sounding single-coils have a three-dimensional, dynamic voice that sounds true to the classic sounds of yesteryear. The moment you stop, a Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation occurs and they become quiet as a church mouse. They stay quiet in between the loud moments, and the loud moments sound glorious.

We're proud to showcase the American Ultra Jazzmaster, and we know it will inspire you to reach new heights on your fretboard journey!