Wood Bodies chops (faded?) question !!!

[manuel-sevilla]

Hi, I've been just looking the Fender Jazzmaster Costello Signature, from the Fender web site ... and it seems that the guitar body is three pieces wood jointed ... is it correct ?
Normally Jazzmaster bodies are painted, but this one is clear transparent ...

I've checked the Warmoth web site, and it seems that all Jazzmaster bodies are three pieces .... possible ?

I need a Fender Guru ... to solve this enigma !!
I mean ... normally American Telecaster and Stratocaster are one piece bodies, isn't it ???

Thanks in advance

[spud1950]

I mean ... normally American Telecaster and Stratocaster are one piece bodies, isn't it ???

No,they're not. 99.9% are two or three pieces. They can even be more. One piece bodies in Alder or Ash, the two common woods used for Fenders are pretty rare.From what I've read, the trees most often do not yield usable pieces of lumber big enough to make a one piece body. You'll see some one piece bodies for sale sometimes by some of the aftermarket body makers,but they always cost more then the multi piece bodies.

[David Schwab]

My '59 Jazzmaster has a two piece alder body, as does my '72 Mustang and the '74 P bass I used to have. I have a friend with a '66 Strat, and that's either two or three pieces of alder.

I've never seen a once piece Fender body. Not saying there never was any, but I've never seen one.

All the big wide old growth tress are gone. Most lumber is 10 to 12 inches wide.

[Baxthorpe]

I have seen a few one-piece Fender bodies - one was a rosewood tele, that the owner had stripped the paint off. The others were ash-bodied Strats for show purposes, around 1977. I also remember a very nice one piece ash top Tele thinline around 74, but of course that was a semi.

[David Schwab]

I have seen a few one-piece Fender bodies - one was a rosewood tele, that the owner had stripped the paint off. The others were ash-bodied Strats for show purposes, around 1977. I also remember a very nice one piece ash top Tele thinline around 74, but of course that was a semi.

Yes, I was even thinking of the rosewood tele... but that's still not one piece! It was two laminated together, top to bottom, with a maple veneerer between them... like the old pancake Les Paul construction. What paint did it have? I've always seen them in natural.

I'm sure if they happened upon a large enough body blank they would use it, especially for show purposes, but that's not typical.

You just don't find wide enough lumber at the volume that a factory uses anymore. Boutique builders can get away with it, but not someone like Fender or Gibson.

Sometimes you find a piece thick enough to re-saw and bookmatch the body, but it's still two pieces. There's nothing wrong with multi piece bodies. Same with necks. Laminated neck shafts are stiffer and more stable than one piece necks.

[Baxthorpe]

Now you mention it, that tele might have been a sandwich - but if it was, I think it had a very thin slice of maple. LOL I ain't seen it in 35 years, and my memory is not wonderful ... I know exactly what you mean, I remember seeing one in a London shop with a thick slice a couple of years later (pre-owned by George Harrison, and I thought it was expensive at £350ish - wonder what it is worth now?).
I'm afraid I have no idea what the paint was on that tele - I only knew the man who had it after it was stripped. I do know that he bought it relatively cheaply because the man who took the paint off made a mess of trying to laquer it (about £85 in 71 or 72, standard s/h price for a tele at the time would be £100 to £120).

Then again, people do not realise just how difficult it is to finish rosewood, especially since you can't get "dangerous" solvents easily these days. I wash 'em with diesel oil and avoid 'em for a month before I start ...

Just as a thought - I seem to remember that Elvis Costello's original Jazzmaster was a solid colour - pink. Maybe he bought another one, but ...
I know he had a pink Musicmaster before the Jazzmaster, because the man who bought the Musicmaster from him brought it into the shop where I worked. My memory says that the man mentioned that the Jazzmaster was the same colour. Then again, my memory is getting shocking, and it has been 30 years ...