Fender Player II Jazzmaster

On the bench today is the Fender Player II Jazzmaster Guitar.

Offsets are my second favorite type of guitar with Telecasters being a very strong first. I didn’t realize this until recently when I started looking at my guitar collection. It has changed a lot over the last year or so. I guess I have been on an offset guitar purchasing spree. It really makes sense. I feel the most comfortable with two pickup guitars and I love the ergonomics of the offset body.

I have a Stratocaster, Telecaster, Jaguar, and a Mustang all from the Fender Player II series. I originally purchased them to be used on the GCG channel. I really like the Player II necks and the overall guitars and have hung onto them in my collection. I decided to pick up one of the Jazzmaster Player IIs to complete out the little sub collection I have inadvertently developed.

Here are some of the specifications on the Player II Jazzmaster.

The guitar is made in Ensenada, Mexico
It has a maple c shaped neck with a 9.5” radius, Rosewood fretboard with rolled edges, and 22 medium jumbo frets. The guitar comes with Fender Classic Gear™ Tuning Machines. The back of the neck has a satin and very comfortable finish.

The body is made of alder and has a gloss finish. Guitar comes in Aquatone Blue, 3-tone Sunburst, Black, Coral Red, and Birch Green (this guitar). I am REALLY liking the Birch Green color and have a Telecaster and now this Jazzmaster in this color.


Both of the Pickups are Fender Player Series Alnico V Single-Coil Jazzmaster® Pickups. The controls are comprised of a Master Volume, Master Tone, and a 3-way pickup selector switch.


The Bridge is a Jazzmaster® Bridge with Mustang® Saddles.
The Tremolo is a Vintage-Style "Floating" Tremolo Tailpiece.


New the guitar goes for $829 and used the guitar goes for $469 - $692. I have never seen one used for less than $600. Unless the guitar was amazingly damaged somebody got a really great deal buying this guitar for only $469.

Fender took a page from Sire’s playbook and decided to produce a guitar where Fender paid a lot of attention to the neck. It has paid off for the most part. Although my experience with the Player II necks has been stellar, I have read periodic comments from viewers that have reported problems with fret sprout. My experience is that I have found them to be some of the best name brand but still affordable necks to purchase for builds. Stratosphere regularly sells them on their eBay store for less than $300. This is unheard of for a Fender name brand neck with a rosewood fretboard.

Here are some of the things I like about the neck.

• Great feeling keyboard/comfortable to play due to the c shape, 9.5-inch radius, and satin finish on the back of the neck.
• Rolled edges are something you see after many years of playing a guitar or higher end custom shop guitars.
• Feel and tone of rosewood. Having rosewood as a fretboard option to me is just incredible.
• No fret rough edges or rocking found.

The problems I have experienced with the neck on a Player II guitar, twice has been with the tuners. What is odd is I have been buying these same exact tuners since they were first released and have been incorporating them into my builds. I never had any quality issues – ever prior to now. On two of my Player II guitars, I have had two tuners freeze up and stop working. I reached out to Fender and was able to get replacements sent to me.

On a funny note, getting Fender to provide you warranty parts requires you to send them the serial number of the guitar, a copy of your receipt, a description of the problem, and a short video showing the faulty part in action (not working). I was mentally adding up my time and the customer support person helping me and decided this single tuner, that he was sending me, was as a result one of the most expensive tuners I have ever had - due to the amount of time it took me to gather everything and send it in an email and then his time processing what I sent him. One proud statement though I can make is I have produced a video short for Fender. I am updating my resume now.

This is the lightest Fender or Squier Jazzmaster that I own. The guitar weighs 7 lbs and 12 Ozs or 3.525 Kilos.

The overall fit and finish on player II guitars in general including this guitar has been on par for the most part with American made Fenders except for two quality control issues I found on this guitar.