THE RUNDOWNFender unveiled its Jazzmaster guitar in 1958, intending to land a one-two punch with an instrument that would be the company’s top-of-the-line successor to the Telecaster and Stratocaster models and appeal to serious jazz guitarists, a type of musician that had so far eluded Fender’s widening reach.Although the distinctive guitar-Fender's first offset model-didn’t achieve success on those specific counts, it nonetheless surprised everybody by reaching widespread adoption in other, more unexpected arenas. In fact, it did this more than once, becoming the go-to guitar during the golden age of surf music in the 1960s, a cheap and stylish instrument for new wave musicians during the seventies, and finally as an iconic and versatile guitar for the alternative and indie rock set-a development that continues to see the Jazzmaster in the hands of rock's most inventive musicians.THE GUITARSleekly curvaceous and contoured like a Stratocaster, the Jazzmaster is longer and heavier because of its offset-waist body, which makes the guitar more comfortably playable and balanced while seated.The original Jazzmaster featured a floating bridge/anchored tailpiece design with a floating vibrato and tremolo-locking system and distinctive single-coil pickups that were wired into an entirely new control layout as the Jazzmaster was the first Fender instrument to have two separate tone circuits.A small slider switch on the upper horn let the player choose between “lead” and “rhythm” circuits, each with their own volume and tone controls.The bright lead circuit had familiar Fender controls—a master volume knob and master tone knob on the lower bout, with a three-position toggle pickup selector switch on the stubby lower horn.The darker, mellower rhythm circuit had its own volume and passive tone controls on the upper horn in the form of inset tone wheels mounted near the slider switch. In the rhythm circuit setting, the Jazzmaster’s bridge pickup, pickup switch and lower-bout controls were deactivated, leaving only the neck pickup and the upper-horn inset wheels operational.The rhythm circuit tone—which, again, is neck-pickup-only—is noticeably darker than the tone produced when the Jazzmaster is in lead-circuit mode with the pickup switch set to neck pickup only. The pronounced difference in the two neck-pickup-only tones is accounted for by the fact that the potentiometers for the lower-bout “lead” tone control and the upper-horn “rhythm” tone control are of differing electrical values.All of these distinctive design elements coalesced to make the Jazzmaster a beautiful and most unusual and elaborate Fender guitar, to be sure, in sound and style.THE PLAYERSToo many to mention, but here are some highlights:Elvis CostelloThurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth)J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.)Nils Lofgren (E Street Band)Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher (My Bloody Valentine)Blixa Bargeld (Einstürzende Neubauten)Jonny Buckland (Coldplay)Win Butler (Arcade Fire)Nels Cline and Jeff Tweedy (Wilco)Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd (Flaming Lips)Adam Franklin (Swervedriver)Tim Gane (Stereolab)Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins)Joshua Hayward (The Horrors)Francis Healy (Travis)David Immerglück (Camper Van Beethoven, Counting Crows)Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo)Hamilton Leithauser (The Walkmen)Stephen Malkmus (Pavement)Aaron North (Nine Inch Nails)Ric Ocasek (The Cars)Alex Rosamilia (The Gaslight Anthem)Robert Smith (The Cure)Adrian Utley (Portishead)Thom Yorke (Radiohead)